Ep.37: The World's First Fully Recyclable Electronics Could Help the E-Waste Crisis | with Dr. Aaron Franklin

<p>According to the EPA “Although E-waste represents 2% of America's trash in landfills, it equals 70% of overall toxic waste”.According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, it takes roughly 500 lbs of fossil fuels, 50 lbs of chemicals, and 1.5 tons of water to manufacture one computer and monitor. We have an E-waste problem. But, scientists and engineers are making strides to create more environmentally friendly electronics, including our guest, Dr. Aaron Franklin of Duke University.</p> <p>Dr. Franklin and his lab caused a lot of hype recently, because they developed the world’s first fully recyclable printed electronics. Electronics are very difficult to recycle, because the silicon chips they use can’t be recycled. But Dr. Franklin’s work developed a recyclable electronic component using this material called nanocellulose, which can be recovered and reused without losing much of their performance variability. We’ll hear from Dr. Franklin about this work, the implications that it has on solving the e-waste problem, and next steps we need to take to make electronics more eco-friendly.</p> <p>Learn more about Dr. Franklin's work <a href="http://franklin.pratt.duke.edu/">here!</a></p> <p>____________</p> <p>Visit our website to keep up with the OC team and for a full transcript of this episode! <a href="https://operationclimatepo.wixsite.com/operationclimate" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://operationclimatepo.wixsite.com/operationclimate</a></p> <p>Follow us on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/operationclimate/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@operationclimate</a>!</p> <p>Follow us on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/opclimate" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@opclimate!</a></p> <p>Subscribe to us on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2qm_roMDnT8c3X6GztKLnA" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Youtube!</a></p> <p>To contact us, DM us on Instagram or email us at operationclimatepodcast@gmail.com!</p> <