Americans currently own nearly 3 billion electronic products and as new products are purchased, obsolete products are stored or discarded at alarming rates. About two-thirds of the electronic devices removed from service were still in working order. However, only about 15% of this material is recycled while the vast majority is disposed in landfills. The existing system for managing E-waste is generally not sustainable because mechanisms for collecting, sorting, reuse, refurbishing, repairing, and remanufacturing are not well developed and/or implemented. Problems associated with market issues, obsolescence issues, feedstock collection, feedstock management, and product-design need to be addressed. Given the complexity, uncertainty and diversity of the E-waste problem, a rigorous multidisciplinary academic approach is necessary to develop and implement systems that effectively utilize and recycle these products.

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) is a consortium dedicated to the development and implementation of a more sustainable system for designing, producing, remanufacturing, and recycling electronic devices.
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