Life-EPICS Project - Electronic Products - Impacts on Circular economy and Sustainable development

Introduction

Electrical and electronic equipment continues to be one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU, with a current annual growth rate of 2%. Value is lost when fully or partially functional products are discarded because they are not reparable, the battery cannot be replaced, the software is no longer supported, or materials incorporated in devices are not recovered.

Importance of Consumer Empowerment

Empowering consumers with better information about the environmental friendliness of the electronic products they buy, and providing them with cost-saving opportunities is key for a more circular economy.

Project Overview

Promoted by Euronics GEIE, the Life EPICS project will involve 3,000 physical stores in 6 different countries – Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Latvia, and Estonia - mainly operating on 3 clusters of actions:

1. Training Activities: For over 3,000 store managers and around 15,000 sales employees to improve communication and information on the products' sustainability in the stores and to promote best practices for the stores' sustainable management.
2. Creation of RepAir and ReLife Corners: Six pilot projects to create dedicated corners for repair and reuse of electrical equipment and products, also through 3D components printing, providing effective service to consumers.
3. Facilitating Consumer Understanding: Developing and testing a tool (algorithm) for the potential creation of an integrated Electronic Products Sustainability Index (Connectivity, Repairability, Recyclability, and Energy consumption as main criteria) for an easy-to-understand score/label useful for both sales staff and consumers.

Planned Results

The planned results are:

• Improve sales of products that provide a better sustainability rating.
• Have an outreach of at least 243 million annual impressions + website visits by the end of the project through communication and social media campaigns.
• Repair at least 48,600 electronic products in the “RepAir and ReLife corners” during the project.
• Contribute to a reduction in energy consumption with 42.7 GWh of energy consumption/year avoided by 2027, with more than 64 GWh saved during the project.
• Ensure a reduction of about 7,260 tons of CO2/year by 2027, with almost 11,000 tons avoided during the project.
• Launch scale-up activities in at least 16 other European and non-European countries, in 3 of them already during the project.