Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Web Academy Webinar: Electronic Waste Generation and Management and the Cost of Digitalization to the Environment

Over the last three years, EPA has consulted with the Consumer Technology Association, the Staples Sustainable Innovation Lab and Dr. Callie Babbitt from the Rochester Institute of Technology to develop, design and implement research to explore the impacts of electronics across their life cycle. In this webinar, Dr. Babbitt presented the results of this study by sharing the major trends in electronic waste generation and management and the implications for sustainable materials management. 

This presentation describes the changing trends in electronic-product consumption and waste generation, and how these trends influence economic, social and environmental issues surrounding material extraction, production, use and disposal. Particular emphasis was put on emerging technologies and their reliance on critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements.