More than 2 million tons of computers, laptops, cell phones and other electronic gadgets become obsolete in the U.S. each year, but only a fraction of that e-waste is recycled.
Despite the growth of takeback programs and e-waste recycling services, all too often consumers discard their old electronics or let them pile up in a dark corner of their homes or offices.
The problem is "the end of life process is incomplete," said Aaron Engel-Hall, a master's candidate in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. "There is a gap between consumer and recycler."
But what if people didn't have to haul their gadgets to an e-cycling center, or find a service to pick it up from them? What if they could do everything needed to make recycling possible at home?
A team of students from Stanford and Aalto University in Finland answered those questions by designing a prototype for a laptop that can be disassembled easily so the electronic components can go into an envelope for mailing to an e-cycling program and the rest can go into the household recycling bin. And all that can be done by hand in less than two minutes without any tools. (The laptop is pictured above and the images below show how it comes apart.)
Actually, disassembly can take as few as 45 seconds, said Engel-Hall, who was a member of the design team. "This laptop represents a new class of electronic products," he said. "You can disassemble this on your couch. In 10 steps. With no tools."
Engel-Hall talked about the project last week at Autodesk's Sustainability Summit in San Francisco, where the company showcased the latest additions to its lines of design software and prominent applications of its tools -- such as the design of the NASA Ames Sustainability Base that's scheduled to open in May, the electric bike PiCycle that's getting a lot of buzz, and the recyclable laptop.
Engel-Hall and his two classmates in Stanford’s ME310 course made up the U.S component of the eight-member team. In the course, students from Stanford and other universities collaborate on design challenges posed by global companies. The Stanford-Aalto team’s challenge to design a fully recyclable consumer electronic device came from Autodesk, which provided the funding to support the team’s work as well as design software. (As part of its education program, Autodesk provides its software free to students.)
Anything that cuts down on
Anything that cuts down on waste gets my vote. I agree that it needs to be taken to the next level and others in the electronics gear biz need to think along the same lines. With oil prices soaring again, we need to use less plastic.
my question is what stops
my question is what stops Autodesk from writing these Advertorials. the entire point of this "article" on page 2 where it said:
"design and prototype their project and used Autodesk Inventor 3D mechanical design software and Autodesk Inventor Publisher to do it. The tools were invaluable in creating 3D prototypes and animated displays"
at which point, when i saw that Autodesk provided the images of the laptop design and the video....
while it's a great concept and idea this whole article is an Ad.
be awesome for the diy repair
be awesome for the diy repair crowd. if its easy to get into its easy to replace too.
Nice idea but... ...i would
Nice idea but...
...i would like to see apple doing that xD
("Pentalobular" screws) ehehehe
Nice idea...I wish this could
Nice idea...I wish this could be done for larger items like printers, TV's monitors as well.
Nice idea but what stops me
Nice idea but what stops me or anybody from stealing your screen and hardware.
What stops me from picking
What stops me from picking your laptop up, putting it in my backpack, and walking away?
Questions about what stops me
Questions about what stops me from stealing your laptop and walking away displays a epic miss of the point the article is raising! There is after all nothing from stopping you from picking up any laptop and walking off with it - they are afterall designed to be portable.