Fraunhofer IZM: The path to a closed plastics loop: New EU toolkit for sustainable electronic products

With “Developing Recyclable Electronic Devices: A playbook for design for & from recycling”, Theresa Aigner (Fraunhofer IZM) and Thijs Feenstra (PEZY Group) present a book that reveals the reality of circular product design – and shows concrete ways in which design, material development and recycling can move closer together. The publication sees itself as a playbook: a collection of practical recommendations that show that recyclability does not begin at the end of a product’s life, but rather with the first design decision.

A playbook for circular electronics

The book combines four years of research, cross-industry collaboration and practical tests and makes it clear why circular electronics often fail less due to a lack of ambition than due to a lack of coordination between the players. In five practical case studies, stakeholders along the entire value chain – from recycling to product design – have recorded real-life tips, practical guidelines and advice for the work of designers, engineers and product developers in the playbook. This allows them to get straight into the implementation of circular devices without the development teams having to become recycling experts themselves. The e-book is a publication of the INCREACE project funded by Horizon Europe. It is available for free download at: https://increace-project.eu/increace-results/increace-book/.[1].

On March 26, 2026, the book was presented to the professional public for the first time at the CIC Berlin. As part of an all-day workshop program, the participants – mostly product developers and designers – were given the opportunity to try out the tips from the playbook directly. A visit to Open Funk in the MotionLab demonstrated circular design in practice.

On this occasion, author and sustainability and circular economy expert Theresa Aigner from Fraunhofer IZM emphasized: “We weren’t looking for a single solution, but wanted to understand how recycling systems work in reality, because every product has its own limitations, risks and opportunities. Circular design is therefore not about optimizing towards a single ideal, but about making informed and transparent compromises. With this guide, we want to motivate and support product developers and designers to get started and build on the knowledge we have gained over the years.”

New evaluation tool for product development

In addition to the book, the INCREACE consortium has developed a practice-oriented tool for circular product design as part of the project: the Recyclability Assessment Tool (RAT). The RAT is used for the independent and standardized assessment of the recyclability of electronic products. It was developed by Philips and PEZY and tested and optimized by industry partners. It enables design and development teams to identify critical factors that could affect the recyclability of their products – such as problematic materials, compounds or surface treatments – at an early stage of the development process in order to find possible alternatives.

Tool for design and product development teams to plan and evaluate recyclable designs. | Image: INCREACE

The consortium is offering a webinar on April 9, 2026 to introduce the tool more broadly. Michel Henning (PEZY) and Sharina Ligtelijn (Philips) will demonstrate the use of the RAT and show how product developers can take recyclability into account as early as the design process. Interested parties can register here.

Importance for the EU plastics strategy

The book and the tool together form a new foundation for circular development of electronic products in Europe. The measures and publications of the INCREACE consortium, such as the Playbook and the RAT tool, show once again how important it is for the EU’s plastics strategy to think about recycling right from the design phase and to provide the public with guidelines for product development.

As recently as December 2025, the EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy Jessika Roswall emphasized during the adoption of the current catalog of measures to promote the circular economy of plastics in the EU that urgent action is needed at EU and Member State level to facilitate recycling and the use of recycled materials and to promote innovation. According to her, the objectives of the Competitiveness Compass, the Clean Industrial Deal and the RESourceEU Action Plan can only be fully realized with stronger and better coordinated action. This is exactly where the INCREACE consortium comes in and has developed direct tools that start at the product design stage, as the Playbook and the RAT help product developers to use recyclates and design products for recycling.[

The INCREACE project will culminate on May 20, 2026 in Brussels at Hoek 38 – a venue and meeting place for research and knowledge run by the FWO (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen). On this occasion, the playbook “Developing Recyclable Electronic Devices” will be officially handed over to EU representatives responsible for the implementation of the EU strategy. Furthermore, the project results will be presented in presentations, innovative demonstrators will be shown and interactive workshops will be offered.

This event is aimed at representatives from the recycling industry as well as product developers, researchers, OEMs, political decision-makers and the press. Interested parties can find more information about the ceremony and register for the free information event here.

This press release has been automatically translated. 

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Further links

👉 To the original announcement

👉 Registration webinar

👉 The e-book “Developing Recyclable Electronic Devices”

👉 “Recyclability Assessment Tool”

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[1] The book complements the previously published guide from the predecessor project PolyCE from 2021 entitled “Design For Recycling. Design From Recycling.” These recommendations for action for effective plastics recycling were presented to Frans Timmermans, the Commissioner for Climate Action and Vice-President of the EU Commission responsible for the Green Deal at the time.

[2] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/document/download/60277c52-77f0-4860-b6cc-cdaf6665e336_en?filename=COM_2025_805_1_EN_ACT_part1_v3.pdf