Scaling zero-waste electronics for Europe's sovereignty

♻️ Introduction

In a world approaching 40 billion connected devices, the environmental cost of electronics can no longer be an afterthought. Life-cycle assessment studies show that 50–80 % of a product's total environmental footprint is locked in before it leaves the factory, driven by the chemicals, energy, and raw materials consumed in manufacturing PCBs, chips, and batteries.

That footprint is multiplying fast. Earbuds, wearables, smart-home accessories, and connected medical devices already ship over a billion units a year, and the market is growing at 5–8 % annually. Yet almost none of these products are designed with their end-of-life in mind

The EECONE project (European ECOsystem for greeN Electronics) was created to change that. Funded by the EU's Chips Joint Undertaking and backed by partners including STMicroelectronics, Dassault Systèmes, CEA and Leonardo, EECONE's goal is to push environmental thinking into the earliest stages of product design so that circularity is built in, not bolted on.

To prove the approach, the consortium needed a familiar, high-volume product with a clear e-waste problem. They chose the TV remote, with the help of 4MOD Technology, a Nantes-based designer and manufacturer of smart connected products.

The scale of the problem

The numbers speak for themselves. 400 million TV remotes are produced every year. A typical remote consumes 4 to 8 AAA batteries over its lifetime, and those batteries alone can represent up to half of the device's total environmental impact. Collectively, that is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 90,000 cars.

4MOD's goal as EECONE use-case owner was ambitious but clear: cut the remote's environmental footprint and e-waste in half, without compromising cost or performance.

Building the solution

Working with researchers at CEA, who developed the screen-printing (and associated fabrication) process for the flexible PCB and provided the underlying material/energy inventory data used for the LCA, and with Dassault Systèmes technology experts, the team integrated life-cycle assessment (LCA) metrics directly inside CATIA® on the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform. Designers could then see live on screen how changing a substrate, switching inks, or resizing a solar cell shifted global warming potential and other impact indicators, turning sustainability into an instant, iterative design parameter.

Design lever	Conventional RCU	EECONE prototype
PCB substrate	2 Layer FR‑4 made in China with an industrialized process	2-layer Additively‑printed flexible PCB, using copper ink, made in France with an industrialized roll to roll process
Energy source	2 × AAA batteries	Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell
Total CO₂ e (cradle–grave)	1.59 kg	0.53 kg (‑66%)
E‑waste reduction	—	‑50 %

🚀 How?

• Additive printed electronics

  • Flexible substrates and conductive inks reduce material mass, chemical use and eliminate panel cutting waste.

• Organic photovoltaic harvesting

  • Lightweight, non‑toxic organic photovoltaic films trickle‑charge a super‑capacitor under normal indoor lighting, eliminating disposable batteries altogether.

• Model‑based sustainability

  • Real‑time LCA dashboards inside the design environment turn every engineer into an eco‑designer, no specialist training required.

If every remote sold next year adopted the technologies developed within EECONE, the CO₂ saving would exceed 400 000 t, equivalent to 2 billion of km driven by a car but the potential goes much further. The same workflow is now being applied to electronics devices where batteries dominate the footprint and where flexible electronics unlock new form factors like wearable electronics, mobile payment devices, electronic toys and more.

EECONE shows that circularity is no longer a trade-off between sustainability and business performance. With a shared digital thread and model-based eco-design, product teams can cut cost, shrink carbon, and improve customer value in the same stroke. 

Scaling with the Virtual Twin

The EECONE use case demonstrated what is possible for a single product. The next step is making it repeatable across entire portfolios. That is the role of Dassault Systèmes' Virtual Twin as a Service (VTaaS) on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

VTaaS connects bill of materials, process data, and supplier information to LCA models through a single digital thread. Teams can run scenario simulations, compare cost, carbon, and circularity trade-offs side by side, and maintain compliance readiness for the ESPR, Battery Regulation, WEEE/RoHS/REACH, and the Digital Product Passport.

In practice, engineers get an always-on "what-if" workspace: test a design choice, see the impact on footprint, cost, and durability, and generate DPP-ready outputs in one step. Eco-design becomes a scalable operating system, not a one-off exercise.

Our Vision

Make circularity the default setting of electronics design. As these tools expand across wearables, wireless peripherals, medical devices, and beyond, each new generation of products can be manufactured with lower embodied carbon, fewer disposable batteries, and verified environmental disclosures.

Design once, optimize always...by design, not by exception.

📚 References

·         Canalys. Smart Personal Audio Market Report Q2 2024.Global smart personal audio shipments reached ~455 million units in 2024 (+11.2% YoY), with true-wireless earbuds representing roughly 70–75% of total shipments. 

·         IDC. Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, August 2024 Update.Global wearable device shipments expected to reach 537.9 million units in 2024, up 6.1% year-on-year, with continued mid-single-digit growth toward 2030. 

·         Counterpoint Research. Global TV Market Tracker.Global TV shipments estimated at ~230 million units in 2024, stable to +2% YoY. 

·         Futuresource Consulting. Global Set-Top Box Market Report 2024.Global STB shipments ~181 million units in 2024 (-1.4% YoY), indicating a large installed replacement base.https://www.futuresource-consulting.com

·         Fortune Business Insights. Medical Devices Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, 2024–2032.Global medical devices market valued at US $542.21 billion in 2024, projected to reach US $886.68 billion by 2032 (CAGR ~ 6.7%). 

·         MedTech Europe. Facts & Figures 2024 / Data Hub.European med-tech market valued at ~€170 billion in 2024, accounting for ~27% of the global market, with an estimated CAGR of 5–6% across main segments (IVD, cardiology, imaging, etc.). 

·         Omdia. True Wireless Stereo (TWS) Earbuds Market Forecast 2024–2030.Projects steady 9–12% CAGR for global TWS shipments through 2030. 

·         Euromonitor International. Consumer Electronics – Global Industry Overview.Aggregated annual growth of 5–8% across adjacent device categories (personal audio, wearables, home entertainment, and connected health).