Ecological foraging models as inspiration for optimized recycling systems in the circular economy

Abstract

Converting the consumer electronic product system from a linear system to a circular one has a number of key challenges. A mismatch is observed between the rapidly changing devices entering the market and the slowly evolving voluntary design policies, regulations, and e-waste processing business strategies. Conventional electronic waste (e-waste) management systems were historically optimized to extract high-value components from large products that were relatively easy to disassemble, but the products now entering the waste stream are more often light-weight mobile devices that are typically not covered by regulations or do not contain as high a concentration of valuable metals. This article proposes that transformations in the e-waste processing system aimed at closing the material loop should look to the circular processes found in natural ecosystems, which have evolved to optimize closed loop nutrient cycling. Like species in nature, e-waste processors make decisions about where and what to “eat,” balancing a food’s quality and abundance with the energy expended in obtaining it. Adapting the concept of optimal foraging theory, we demonstrate here a conceptual framework that draws parallels between foraging behavior in the ecological and industrial world, evaluates four potential mathematical models that case be applied to the e-waste case, and demonstrate how optimal foraging decisions can guide business, design, and end of life management toward circular economy goals in the consumer electronic system.