RFID reduces the amount of electronic waste and also speeds up and facilitates the recycling process

In Europe, e-waste increases 3 to 5 percent each year, almost three times faster than the total amount of waste material, while developing countries are expected to triple their e-waste production over the next five years, according to an environmental protection group.

In view of this, many experts are pinning their hopes on RFID as a means of reducing the number of computer components, mobile phones and other electronic products that find their way into our landfill sites. In fact, the electronics industry may be the first to use RFID to improve the recycling rates of computer components and other electronic hardware. Already, many electronic items are RFID tagged because they are valuable.

Reducing electronic waste

Each electronic device is produced by multiple suppliers – sometimes even hundreds of suppliers. Eventually, the individual components of a desktop computer or a DVD player will be tagged, so that companies can deal with faulty equipment by tracing it back to the original source. Using RFID tags with unique identification numbers called Electronic Product Codes (EPC), together with a database of information on components, companies will be able to return faulty parts and salvage the rest of the hardware. Or, when it’s time to recycle, makers of the individually tagged components can bear some of the cost of recycling – something that will motivate companies to produce goods that are more environmentally friendly.

Speeding the recycling process

RFID also has the potential to speed up and facilitate the recycling process. For instance, RFID makes it simpler and faster to return empty bottles for which you have paid a deposit.

Or, if items are tagged according to their recycling value, waste management companies could sort waste material more easily, increasing the overall rate of recycling. As one expert said, instead of needing to be sorted by hand, the different kinds of recyclables – green glass, clear glass and plastic, for example – would “sort themselves” into separate bins via RFID. Imagine that!