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82 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 H A P PY 'S T EC H TA L K # 41 Sustainability and Circularity for Electronics Manufacturing by Happy Holden, I-C onne ct0 07 I attended INEMI's June 12 online seminar, "Sustainable Electron- ics Tech Topic Series: PCBs and Sustainability." Dr. Maarten Cauwe of imec spoke on "Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Models for Assessing and Improving the Environmental Impact of PCB Assemblies," and Jack Herring of Jiva Materials Ltd. spoke on "Transforming Elec- tronics with Recyclable PCB Technology." This column will review information and provide analysis from both presentations. Life Cycle Inventory Models Dr. Cauwe noted that over the past several years, there has been rapid growth in technologies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change. We have made great strides in broader sustain- ability targets, particularly in recycling, use of renewable chemi- cals, and overall process efficiency, resulting in energy savings. PwC's recent report on sustainability 1 shows that companies find sustainability valuable to their businesses. Rising energy demands, evolving customer (OEM) expectations, and a perceived long-term competitive advantage are factors that keep companies focused on sustainability and circularity, including decarbonization, waste, and obsolescence. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Europeans have always taken the lead on environmental con- cerns. The PEP ecopassport pro- gram for electronics manufacturing is a framework for creating and pub- lishing environmental declarations (PEP) with a database that assesses the environmental impact contrib- uted by electronic assemblies. It is based on LCA and contains detailed data on materials, energy, water usage, and waste generation for var- ious components (Figure 1). We perform this using the LCA, a combination of LCI and LCIA. LCI quantifies products' inputs and out- puts, while LCIA assesses the envi- ronmental impacts. Life Cycle Impact (LCI): Assem- bles data on all materials entering and leaving (a so-called materials balance) the fabrication or assem- bly process at an electronics prod- uct facility (ISO) to create a para- metric LCIA model. Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA): Engineers design LCIA mod- els for use in a range of manu- facturing processes and product designs. Inputs include design data, energy, water, and waste for PCB manufacturing processes. ▼ F i g u re 1 : L i fe Cyc l e As s e s s m e nt ( LCA) , c o m p o s e d of t h e L i fe Cyc l e I nve nto r y a n d L i fe Cyc l e I m pa ct As s e s s m e nt . ( S o u rc e : i m e c a n d i N E M I )