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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Use, Storage, and Disposal of Electronic Equipment in Switzerland
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Esther Thiébaud
  • Lorenz Hilty
  • Mathias Schluep
  • Martin Faulstich
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Environmental Science & Technology
Publisher American Chemical Society (ACS)
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0013-936X
Volume 51
Number 8
Page Range 4494 - 4502
Date 2017
Abstract Text Electronic devices contain important resources, including precious and critical raw materials. For an efficient management of these resources, it is important to know where the devices are located, how long they are used and when and how they are disposed of. In this article, we explore the past and current quantities of electronic devices in the in-use stock and storage stock in Switzerland and quantify the flows between the use, storage and disposal phase with dynamic material flow analysis (MFA). Devices included are mobile phones, desktop and laptop computers, monitors, cathode ray tube and flat panel display televisions, DVD players, and headphones. The system for the dynamic MFA was developed as a cascade model dividing the use phase in first, second and further use, with each of these steps consisting of an in-use stock and a storage stock for devices. Using a customized software tool, we apply Monte Carlo simulation to systematically consider data uncertainty. The results highlight the importance of the storage stock, which accounts for 25% (in terms of mass) or 40% (in terms of pieces) of the total stock of electronic devices in 2014. Reuse and storage significantly influence the total lifetime of devices and lead to wide and positively skewed lifetime distributions.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1021/acs.est.6b06336
Other Identification Number merlin-id:15423
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