Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1537616
26 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 lasted for a while, but then they stopped working, and they started to pile up. We wondered, "Oh wow, now what do we do with them?" Dehmey: You know, Kelly, I don't think any of us ever planned to get into this business, me included. I got into this space because I was doing a tech refresh project of 350,000 PCs all over the world, and at that time, nobody thought about what to do with the stuff we were replacing. This is exactly where eSum- mit dovetails with Evolve. It's changing the dynamic, the mind- set toward looking at the idea of "waste" from the viewpoint of the full product lifestyle. It's plan- ning and being proactive. As electronics keep growing into so many wonderful things, my def- inition of sustainability is hav- ing all this great tech without the harm that we're causing from it. That's the goal. This may be a slightly con- tentious point, but it is a busi- ness reality that at some point in the economics of manu- facturing and consumption, it was decided that it was better for business if products didn't last and we just had to buy new ones. In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a new one than repair the old one. Paper print- ers come to mind. Dehmey: Over the years, we have learned that roughly 85% of a product's carbon footprint is generated just in making a new device and bringing it to market. We now understand that it has a huge impact. So, how do we mit- igate that? We're not saying we shouldn't make new devices, but how do we get the most use out of them, whether it's better qual- ity, more interoperability, or mak- ing sure they get to areas in our communities or the world where they are still useful? These con- cepts are all part of the conver- sation. How do you make the model work? How do you make circular supply chains? The eSummit is trying to achieve a vision of how we can look forward. We always want to be thinking about where tech- nology is headed so that we can plan for it, and how we build with sustainability in mind throughout the whole product lifecycle, and not just react to the problems that are thrown our way at the end. Scanlon: Corey already intro- duced "regenerative." React is also a "re" word, but it isn't as useful as others, like reduce, reuse, and recycle. There are other "re" words as well, like repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose, recover, and redesign. We want to shift away from react. Dehmey: Kelly and I have talked a lot about recognizing that the procurement of materials for new products and the recovery of those materials at the end aren't connected. The recycling com- munity needs to understand the quality and the types of materi- als that need to be produced in order to be used in new manufac- turing. The manufacturers need to understand what's possible, what is available, and where the opportunities are, and procure ▼ P a n e l s p e a k e r s t a k i n g q u e s t i o ns a t f i r s t e S u mm i t , 2 0 2 4 .