We’re thrilled to announce that building off the success of last year’s event, SERI is once again a content partner with E-Waste World this summer in Frankfurt Germany, curating a full two days of content in the Circular Electronics content track! Our goal is to help attendees rethink their relationships with electronics by presenting electronics sustainability through a whole lifecycle lens.
If you haven’t been to this event before, it’s three co-located conferences in one combining E-Waste World with the Battery Recycling and Metal Recycling Conferences and Expos. Within E-Waste World are two tracks, E-Waste & WEEE Recycling and our track, Circular Electronics. Whereas the E-Waste & WEEE Recycling track focuses specifically on end-of-life, SERI is again building the Circular Electronics track to take holistic view of what it takes to make electronics sustainable, considering everything from design and materials choices through use, reuse, and then end-of-life.
Our goal with the Circular Electronics track is to bring in speakers and attendees who may not have attended the conference in the past including manufacturers, designers, reverse logistics professionals, refurbishers, ITAD providers, IT Resellers, Repair organizations, and corporate sustainability leaders, among other stakeholders that have a role to play in making electronics sustainable and building a circular economy.
“Making electronics sustainable and building a circular economy requires all stakeholders thinking a little differently,” said Jeff Seibert, SERI’s Chief Provocateur. He continues, “In our roles and responsibilities, it’s easy to think of the decisions we make in a vacuum. But really, they are all interconnected and interdependent. For example, how do materials and design choices impact repairability and recyclability further down the line? What are the impacts of product passports and right to repair legislation on how long products stay in use? What role can IT resellers play in a circular economy and how do our recycling choices impact the materials streams for new products? And what role does ESG reporting play in the entire process? It’s all related, and we need to think that way.”
SERI’s CEO Corey Dehmey continues to serve on the Conference Advisory board and sees this track as a powerful opportunity to shift thinking. “Especially in Europe, there’s a tremendous culture and strong infrastructure for all types of recycling, electronics included. But making electronics sustainable and circular requires shifting our decisions starting at the very beginning of the electronics lifecycle and all the way through end-of-life. It has to be more than just a materials recovery conversation” said Dehmey.
Towards the end of April, we will share a full conference agenda and begin highlighting individual sessions and speakers. Until then, the conference website is a good way to get a sense of what this conference has to offer.
We hope to see you in Frankfurt in June!
