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 From Abacus and Sundial to 5G
Susanna Kallio1, Tom Okrasinski1, Arjen Salemink1, Pia Tanskanen1
1
Nokia, Espoo, Finland

Abstract
Modern telecommunications equipment can do wonders. But it takes myriad materials and processes to
make them, including metals –some precious and rare earths– and organic polymers. Each material is used
for a purpose, and almost all elements from the periodic table are used in high technology electronic
equipment. This paper explains the reasons and requirements behind using specific materials and explains
what needs to happen for the industry to close the loop to improve its circularity.
Material alternatives need to be continuously developed to reduce the environmental impact of products.
Recycling parts and materials from obsolete products offers an advantage of closing the product loop by
allowing such recycled content to remain in the manufacturing loop. For this to successfully happen requires
a balance between the product’s function, performance, reliability, price, and environmental impact.
The electronics industry today has long supply chains with highly specialized companies developing
component technologies from integrated circuits to resistors, cables, connectors, and mechanical parts.
Even if parts of a supply chain are shared with other industries (e.g., wind turbines, electric vehicles), and
the price of materials goes up due to increased use, the recycling of some materials will only become
economic when extraction from the earth’s crust is done in a way that is fair to the environment as well as
workers.
Closing the material loops in telecommunications requires collaboration not only within the industry value
chain but also across the other industry sectors. The first challenge is to create a knowledge base of the
types and amounts of materials within those components. Second, a close collaboration within the supply
chain is needed to foster innovation on material usage in new technologies, meet ever increasing technical
specifications, and develop and implement processes to handle products and materials at the end of their
life. Supporting databases such as Life Cycle Assessment tools need to be advanced to ensure the
assessment and quantification of environmental impact of these new materials as they are being introduced.
Third, efforts in research need to continue to provide new technologies and address socio-environmental
challenges that belie the development of sustainable telecommunications. A further challenge will be to set
up a responsible supply chain for such materials in partnership with other industries that make significant
use of the same materials.

Keywords:
5G, telecommunications, material composition, critical raw materials, precious metals, rare earth metals,
environmental impact, life cycle assessment, design-for-environment, recycling, circular economy

1 INTRODUCTION (nonradioactive) elements in the periodic table, at least 70

Electronic products have been providing continual
advancement in their functionality and usefulness to
society through rapidly developing technologies that make
for increasingly smaller and more integrated products. This
is mainly driven by the extent of circuitry miniaturization
that has produced circuits having billions of transistors in
its centralized processors. Functions that were earlier
covered by several separate products are now consolidated
into one product that is tinier and more material and energy
efficient than any of its previous generation parts.
A significant impact of this physical miniaturization and
functionality consolidation has been the increase in the
number of material types and processing steps that
comprise a new product introduction. This has resulted in
using myriad material compositions. Of the 83 stable
elements can be found in electronic devices such as
smartphones [1]. That is 84% of all the stable elements.
This complexity of materials and their associated processes
consuming energy and further processing materials
produce environmental impacts that must be accounted for
and minimized for the product to be more sustainable over
its full life cycle. Typically, from a materials perspective,
the life cycle stages include raw materials extraction,
intermediate materials and components manufacturing,
final assembly and test, distribution and installation, use
and maintenance, and end-of-life reuse and recycling.
The materials that make up electronic products have very
specific purposes and defined functionality – as they
should, due to the cost and limited availability of many of
them. Most electronic products consist of metals,

Proceedings of EcoDesign 2021 International Symposium

304
polymerics or plastics, and inorganic materials that provide
the conductive paths and insulative layers necessary to
perform their tasks. Included in these materials are
precious metals, such as gold and silver, rare earth metals
such as neodymium, and critical raw materials (CRMs)
that are exclusive to a particular country or politico-
economic region. Some materials may be sourced in
relatively low volumes from regions that are under current
social strife – the so called “conflict minerals” such as tin,
gold, tantalum, and tungsten [2]. Other materials are on a
regulatory ban or restriction list in countries or regions and
must be avoided or substituted before the product can be
marketed in that location.
Each material imparts a specific and sometimes unique set
of characteristics or features to the electronic device. A
product designer does not intentionally add a component
and its associated materials to a product without having a
specific need for it. Each function and performance
specification must be met with a minimal use of material
and energy. Any unnecessary features, materials, and
energy use will most likely drive up cost to manufacture
and operate. The latter is especially important now, as
energy use of a product during its intended lifetime could
be substantial.
Product end-users want their electronic devices to be less
expensive but also less energy consuming to operate. As
such, it is in the best interest of the designer / manufacturer
to fully understand the type and extent of materials used in
a new product introduction, and how those materials
impact the environment over the product’s intended life.
With this knowledge, the design team can make selections
and improvements in association with the supply chain to
provide a product with minimal environmental impact.
This paper assesses a particular product designed and
manufactured by Nokia regarding its materials
composition and intended use and lifetime. Information
from its materials assessment are then correlated to
Nokia’s design-for-environment program and the means
taken to further reduce environmental impact over the
product’s lifetime.
the need for any fans or air conditioning equipment. A
photo of the 5G radio is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Nokia 5G radio (AirScale AEQD)
In past generations of cellular radio technology, e.g.,
2G/3G/4G, these radio functions were carried out in
several separate HW units, all located at the base of the cell
tower. Heavy lengthy RF cables then ran from the base of
the tower to the antennas at the top. Extensive power losses
were attributed to these lengthy RF cables, such that a
significant portion of the radio unit’s output power was lost
in the RF cables.
Today, the combined unit at the top of the tower is both
materials and energy efficient, so much so that in a
comparison of the Nokia Mobile Networks Flexi Radio
with Passive Antenna to its latest generation AirScale
Compact Active Antenna, the latter provides a total
materials reduction of around 70 percent (804 kg) over the
Flexi Radio with Passive Antenna per deployed unit. This
includes materials savings in products (base station and
antenna) of 41 percent and feeder system savings of 89
percent, with the elimination of the long RF feeder cables
and ancillary cable clamps. These reductions in electronics
and cabling result in an overall product carbon footprint
reduction of 85 percent (4,058 kg CO2e) [3].

2 MATERIALS IN A 5G RADIO
2.1 Materials break-down and application
In this paper, the authors assessed the materials used to
manufacture a Nokia 5G radio (AirScale MAA AEQD unit
model). This is a remote radio head unit that is placed at
the cell tower top. This single unit consolidates radio
frequency (RF) electronics, power amplifiers, baseband
and signal filters, backhaul opto-communications
hardware (HW), and an antenna array and radome for 64
transmitters / receivers operating in the 3.7 GHz frequency
spectrum. A heatsink is integrated into the exterior cover
plate of the HW assembly. It provides passive cooling for
the power amplifiers and other active components, without
Figure 2: 5G radio main HW subassemblies

305
A detailed materials assessment was performed on the 5G
radio. An exploded view of the 5G radio showing the main
HW equipment subassemblies is shown in Figure 2.
The 5G radio bill of material lists 457 unique part codes in
various quantities adding up to 22,545 parts in the full
assembly weighing a total of 45.4 kg.
2.2 Major materials categories
A breakdown of the major materials categories found
within the radio unit is shown in Figure 3. By weight, the
metallics category (metals and their alloys) dominates the
materials composition at 76% of the total product weight
of 45.4 kg. Well below that is the polymerics category
(plastics and elastomers) at 10%, the inorganics category
at 9%, ceramics category at 4%, and the organics category
(organic materials other than polymerics) at less than 1%.
Note that the materials data shown in the figures within this
paper have their weight related axis represented in
logarithmic scale, due to the wide range of materials values
presented.
Figure 3: Breakdown of major materials
Shown also in Figure 3 is the part count in which each of
these major materials categories is found. Most electronic
parts contain a variety of materials. In fact, 98% of parts
contain one or more metals. 48% of parts contain
polymerics, 81% contain inorganics, 67% contain
ceramics and 64% contain organics other than polymers.
Interesting to note is the low percentage of parts containing
polymerics relative to their total weight in the product.
This indicates that only a few components contain the
majority of polymerics. This association is beneficial in
terms of best eco-design practices for using polymerics,
which are more difficult to recover / reuse at the end of the
product’s initial life.
2.3 Metallic materials
Aluminum in alloy form is the most abundant metallic
material used in the Nokia 5G radio. It comprises 41% of
the total product weight. Yet, it is contained in only 982
parts, meaning where it is mainly employed represents
components that are bulky in weight, such as the chassis,
protective enclosures, structural frames and brackets, and
heat sinks. As such, this predominant amount and
concentration lends itself to easier separation, reuse, and
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recycling. Many of aluminum’s uses are in diecast parts.
Other aluminum alloys are employed mainly as wrought
sheet components.
Figure 4: Breakdown of top 10 metallic materials
The remaining metallics in the top 10 by weight (see Figure
4), are copper, iron, chromium, nickel, silicon, zinc, tin,
manganese, and magnesium. Copper alloys are used for the
metallic conducting foils within the PWBs (printed wiring
boards). Iron alloys are primarily used in grades of
stainless steel for RF shielding and structural brackets and
fasteners.
2.4 Polymeric materials
Polymerics comprise just 10% of the total product weight
(in 10,817 parts) of the 5G radio. Epoxy resins in various
grades and formularies make up the bulk of the polymerics.
They are used for their insulative properties and as the
main structure and bond for the metal foil circuitry layers
within the PWBs. Epoxy is also used as the encapsulating
material for the semiconductor chip and their interlayer
substrates and lead frame wire bonds – collectively called
integrated circuit (IC). Epoxy resins are thermoset plastics,
and once compounded, molded, and cured, cannot be
remelted and reused. The second most used polymeric
material is silicone rubber, which is used for flexible
molded parts, seals, and RF cable insulative layers.
Tetrafluoroethene polymers (PTFE) are also used in
connector assemblies, cable insulation layers, and other
insulative layers. Other lesser used polymers include,
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), liquid crystal
polymers, nylon, and acrylate resin.
2.5 Inorganic, ceramic, and organic (non-polymer)
materials
Inorganics and ceramics represent the other broad class of
materials that provide insulative properties in its
applications. Inorganics (9% of the total product weight
spread over 18,260 parts) are mainly used as additives to
plastics and rubbers to impart specified performance such
as flame retardancy, insulative effects (especially at high
radio frequencies), resilience, heat tolerance, and
pigmentation for coloring. Figure 5 shows the top ten
materials of the 50 inorganic materials used in the product.
Glass in the form of fiber that is woven into micro mats is
the predominant material used in PWBs as the reinforcing
material for the epoxy resin. The other materials in this top
ten list include silica, iron oxide, manganese oxide, iron
strontium oxide, barium sulfate, magnesium hydroxide,
graphite, sulfur compounds, and chloride compounds.
Figure 5: Breakdown of the top 10 inorganic materials
Ceramics are inorganics that are heated to very high
temperatures to fuse their molecules into a more vitreous
material. They offer uniquely specified properties
including electrical characteristics, resilience and
endurance from heat, moisture, and vibration. They
represent 4% of the total product weight spread over
15,166 parts. As shown in Figure 6, the top ten of the 24
ceramics employed in the 5G radio are oxides of
aluminum, titanium, barium/titanium, yttrium, zinc,
calcium, magnesium, neodymium, and zirconium.
Figure 6: Breakdown of ceramic materials
The last remaining materials category at just 0.5% of the
total product weight (spread over 14,357 parts) is organics
other than polymerics. They include non-polymerized
carbon-based materials that in tiny amounts impart unique
characteristics to the plastics and elastomers, such as flame
retardance, flexibility, hardness, and resilience. They may
also be used to provide a coating to a metallic material,
offering protective or other specified features.
2.6 Precious metals
A particularly important class of materials is the precious
metals. They impart very specific properties to electronic
components and are most often used for their corrosion
resistance.
However, they produce environmental harm in their
extraction process from natural ores. Due to their intrinsic
value and relative scarcity, they are expensive, and thus
offer a substantial cost incentive for recyclers to recover.
Of the precious metals class, 5 materials are used in the 5G
radio: silver, gold, palladium, indium, and platinum.
Figure 7 lists their count and weight within the product.
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Silver is the most prevalent at 55 grams in weight spread
over 14,148 parts. Gold is much less used at only 3 grams
and 2,284 parts. The remaining three metals are used in
miniscule quantities.
Figure 7: Precious metals
2.7 Rare earth metals
Rare earth metals (REMs) are another class of materials
that provide essential properties to electronic components,
and are most often used for their magnetic, optical, and
electronic properties.
Figure 8: Rare earth metals (REMs)
They are important to the electronics industry since each
one is exquisitely unique, where virtually nothing else can
substitute. Of the 17 elements designated as REMs, 4
elements are used in the 5G radio: yttrium, neodymium,
terbium, and samarium. Figure 8 shows the weights of
these materials used in the product. 27 grams of yttrium is
employed in RF filters. The other three REMs are used in
miniscule quantities (totaling 0.5 grams). These four
REMs are employed in 689 parts in the radio unit.
2.8 Critical raw materials
In different regions of the world, certain raw materials used
in products have been deemed to be critical to that region’s
economy and livelihood. The European Union (EU) has
done an analysis, and maintains a current list containing 30
critical raw materials [4].
The 5G radio product contains 23 CRMs distributed over
21,194 parts. Figure 9 shows the type of CRM, total weight
and entry count. The amount of CRM in the product ranges
from 18,744 grams for aluminum derived mainly from
bauxite to 0.000004 grams of niobium – which is both a
CRM and a REM. The chart shows the CRMs listed on the
horizontal axis in order of their criticality to the EU. The
Figure 9: Critical raw materials (CRMs)
3 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MATERIALS
3.1 Product carbon footprint (PCF)
An LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) was performed on the
5G radio product to determine its carbon footprint for the
manufacturing stage. It resulted in a value of 1,336 kg
CO2e (Global Warming Potential, with a 100-year time
horizon) for the configured product. Figure 10 shows the
breakdown of the LCA’s manufacturing stage PCF by
major component category.
Figure 10: Manufacturing stage PCF
Results show that the integrated circuits and RF power
devices in the product – varying from 2-lead RF diodes to
ICs with input/output pin counts up to a 1,760-pin PBGA
(plastic ball grid array) – produce the largest fraction of the
PCF (63% or 846 kg CO2e) for this stage. This is followed
by the metallic components, and especially the aluminum
parts, that produce the second largest fraction of the PCF
(23% or 307 kg CO2e) for this stage. The PCF of the bare
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highest criticality CRM is on the left – scandium – and
lowest criticality CRM is on the right – barium.
PWBs within the product for the main circuit packs and the
active antenna array, along with the passive board-
mounted components, such as resistors, capacitors, and
inductors, contribute the third largest fraction (13% or 170
kg CO2e). Polymerics contribute only 0.7% or 9 kg CO2e.
A few small internal cable assemblies and the product’s
final packaging – consisting of corrugated paperboard and
a specialized static intercepting bag – make up the
remaining fraction (0.3% or 4 kg CO2e) of the PCF.
4 SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL SELECTION
4.1 Total environmental impact
The exploded view of the 5G radio in Figure 2 depicts the
design-for-environment principles and best practices of
designing for materials efficiency. Multiple disparate
elements of the 5G radio have been compacted into the
finished product housing, resulting high materials
efficiency and an overall reduction in weight.
The penalty for this consolidation though is a further
integration of components and functionality, such that
many material types are combined in ever smaller amounts
but with increasing complexity. This tends to then make
recycling efforts more challenging, as recovering very
small amounts of a specific material over many very small
components requires more process steps and energy
consumption to recover, concentrate and refine for
renewed primary use. Such actions are governed by the
laws of physics and thermodynamics, which have finite
constraints and bounds.
The 5G radio product LCA, as described in section 3
above, highlights the key components that produce the
largest amount of eco-impact during their manufacturing
stage. Of the structural metallic components, aluminum
used in die-castings for the enclosure, structural parts, and
heat sinks account for most of the eco-impact (66%). This
is followed by aluminum used in wrought applications
such as deep drawn sheet metal stamping and forming.
To reduce this eco-impact, recycled aluminum can be used
at an increasingly higher percentage. The Global Warming
Potential (GWP) for aluminum alloys made from bauxite
ore and used in diecasting is about 11.1 kg CO2e per kg of
aluminum. In comparison, aluminum made from 97%
recycled aluminum has a GWP of 0.8 kg CO2e per kg of
aluminum [5]. The net GWP reduction is about 93%, and
if fully employed in the 5G radio product, it would reduce
the overall manufacturing GWP by 245.5 kg CO2e (28%).
Nokia has been working with its aluminum diecast
components suppliers to convert to smelters sourcing
higher recycled content in their aluminum alloy ingots. A
recent study of Nokia’s suppliers indicated that 54 percent
of the 23,200 metric tons of cast aluminum parts used in
Nokia products in 2020 do have recycled content in them.
This material is from pre-consumer material, as there are
still challenges related to material purity when adding post-
consumer material into these components [6].
4.2 Precious metals
As stated earlier, five precious metals are used in the 5G
radio. Silver is the most prevalent and notably spread over
62% of all individual parts as silver is used in the solder on
the PWBs and is a substitution material for lead that was
previously used. Gold is much less used (3 grams) and the
remaining three precious metals are used in minuscule
quantities. Although these metals have high levels of eco-
impact when sourced from naturally occurring ores around
the world, their economic value is very high such that it
promotes high recycling rates within the recycling
industry. As these metals are used in quite small amounts
for generally corrosion resistant plating and coatings
within components, their recycling/recovery is most
efficiently achieved by mechanically shredding the
populated PWB and smelting the resulting mix. Chemical
separation technologies are being further developed that
could improve on the efficiency and lower the overall eco-
impact of precious metals recovery.
4.3 Rare earth metals
The four REMs that are used in the 5G radio are yttrium,
neodymium, terbium, and samarium. As mentioned earlier,
yttrium is mostly employed in RF filters, totaling 27 grams.
The other three REMs are used in minuscule quantities
(between 0.45 grams for neodymium and 0.00061 grams
309
for samarium). These REMs are employed in 689 specific
parts in the radio unit. Therefore, their deployment is
relatively limited, but the amount of recovery for all but
the yttrium is economically challenging. The yttrium
present is dispersed over 419 component locations making
recovery by recyclers a challenge. The information on the
yttrium containing components can be made available to
recyclers to promote its recovery and reuse.
4.4 Critical raw materials
As shown above, the quantity of CRMs in the 5G radio
varies widely. Although aluminum is the most abundant
CRM in the product (41% of the total product weight),
aluminum is low on the CRM list when ranked by its
supply risk and economic importance to the EU region.
Nonetheless, it must still be treated as a critical raw
material and reused / recycled as much as possible. In
addition to the more highly ranked yttrium, magnesium is
present at 142 grams. Yttrium being also a REM offers
specific properties that make it quite relevant for a circular
economy. As mentioned previously, where relevant,
information on location can be shared with recyclers.
The other CRMs provide specific characteristics and
properties that require their use in the 5G radio. As such
these materials are key to the telecommunications industry
requiring supply chain partners to consider potential
supply risks. Mitigation strategies range from
eliminating/reducing use, substitution, stockpiling
materials and setting up effective recycling schemes [7].
However, more than half of them are in quantities below 1
gram such that efficient recovery is currently technically
and economically unfeasible.
4.5 Substituting epoxy resin
Polymerics comprise just 10% of the total product weight
of the 5G radio, and epoxy resins in various grades and
formularies make up the bulk of the polymerics. Their
chief use is in PWBs and IC’s. Cured epoxy resins cannot
be remelted and reused, and therefore end-of-life reuse and
recycling options are low. They are typically incinerated,
whereby their composition provides fuel for combustion,
but their chemical constituents including certain flame
retardants such as brominated compounds, require special
treatment to remove and deal with during incineration.
On the surface, this makes epoxy resins a clear target for
substitution with another material that is more reusable,
recyclable, and less impactful to the environment.
However, deeper analyses of finding an ideal substitute for
epoxy is quite challenging due to the extent of the
specifications and requirements that a particular product
application must have satisfied, such as high temperature,
high frequencies (RF and/or digital), dimensional stability,
dielectric constant, thermal expansion, thermal
conductivity, etc. No one material will have the optimal
value for all the properties that might be considered
important for a particular electronic product.
Research has been performed on finding suitable recycling
methodologies. Most recently reported in the literature is a
small-molecule assisted approach based on a dynamic
reaction to dissolve thermosetting polymers containing
ester groups and recycled electronic components from
PWBs [8]. This effective approach operates below 200 °C
and the polymer could be dissolved in a short time. It has
a remarkable ability to recycle a wide range of commercial
PWBs, including boards made of typical anhydride epoxy
or polyester substrate. In the process, even the recycling
solution could be reused multiple times. In addition, the
wasted solution after recycling could be used for board
bonding and damage repair.
5 CIRCULARITY OF MATERIAL FLOWS
Best practices for circularity suggest a tiered approach
when dealing with network telecommunications
equipment at their end of initial (first use) life.
• Tier 1 is to reuse the product as is or refurbished in as
whole a form as possible, i.e., reuse the product as is or
retrieve the product from the initial customer, refurbish
the product (clean, test, update any firmware as needed
as well as replace any components that may wear out,
e.g. cooling air filters), and resell it for an additional
usage period – up to the design life / reliability limits
of the product.
• Tier 2 is to reuse the product in its wholeness, but with
repurposed functionality, i.e. more limited and lower
value functionality.
• Tier 3 is to recover and reuse any subassemblies and
components that can be resold for full functionality as
an extension of their initial lifetime / usage.
• Tier 4 is to fully recycle all components into their
constituent materials for additional processing into new
materials for new primary use and high value.
The tiers described above don’t necessarily follow each
other in numerical order for each product.
A key goal here is to close the product loop by allowing
product, parts, and material to remain in the manufacturing
loop. For this to successfully happen requires a balance
between the product’s materials composition, function and
performance, recovery, reuse, recycling infrastructure, and
the associated environmental impact.
Because of the relatively long service life of
telecommunications network infrastructure equipment –
10 to 15 years, extending such products through a second
lifetime is limited by the product components reliability,
which for a full second life would have to reach 20 to 30
years. . In addition, such long lifetimes are much greater
than the technology development cycles that are often just
a few years long. This disparity makes for the availability
of newer more material and energy efficient products, with
new functionalities, that compete with lifetime extension
programs for previous generation products. However, this
310
should not deter efforts to reuse products at their initial end
of life. Product reuse programs can typically offer such
equipment to customers in markets where technology
value remains, especially if combined with product feature
upgrades such as software updates, and pluggable-
swappable subassemblies that can be upgraded.
Product downcycling and component reuse in the network
infrastructure market is quite low and of insignificant
product value extension due to the uniqueness of the
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) being more
widely developed and deployed within the network
infrastructure industry, along with the products long
lifetimes.
Product service systems (PSS) in which network
equipment can be offered as a service, i.e. virtualization or
infrastructure as a service, promote maximized equipment
utilization. Such services and products must be managed
as a joint effort between network operators and equipment
vendors to achieve high utilization rates. However, a PSS
is no implied guarantee for a circular economy, and such
strategies do not necessarily lead to decoupling economic
growth from resource consumption in absolute terms. As
recent research has suggested, PSS enablers of resource
reduction should focus on three requirements for absolute
resource decoupling: ensure net resource reduction, avoid
burden shifting between life cycle stages, and mitigate
rebound effects [9].
Setting up circular mechanisms for substances and
materials that are not recycled today faces several hurdles
such as economics (value of recycled material, what is the
main use of the material), potential material substitution in
the future (either because of innovation or legal
restrictions), as well as volumes of products getting into
the recycling program. Standardization supports
discussions in the supply chain with standardized methods
for circular mechanisms, like calculating recycled material
content as in EN45557 [10]. More research is needed for
finding substitute materials with lower environmental
impact.
6 SUMMARY
We have come a long way from the abacus and sundial of
ancient civilizations to the modern 5G telecommunications
equipment that reaches ever increasing levels of
performance and functionality that benefits today’s
society.
To accomplish this takes myriad materials and processes
to make them, including metals – some precious and rare
earths, and some critical to the socio-economic prosperity
of a region. Each material is used for a purpose. However,
this complexity of materials and their associated processes
consuming energy and further processing materials
produce environmental impacts that must be accounted for
and minimized for telecommunications equipment to be
more sustainable over its full life cycle.
For a sustainable future, we need to continue to minimize
material usage and pursue to eliminate/substitute materials
with environmental impact in mind; ensure that used
materials are to a high extent reusable, recyclable, and
recoverable; and circulate products and materials to keep
them in the economy in a sustainable way.
As presented above, we assessed 5G radio materials along
with their associated environmental impact. By weight, the
metallics dominate the materials composition with
aluminum being the chief material used in the form of
alloys for diecast parts and extruded structural
components. As aluminum has a high degree of eco-
impact, using recycled content in its source materials can
dramatically reduce the associated metal’s carbon
footprint.
The eco-impact from the manufacture of ICs employed in
the product produce the dominant amount of the product’s
carbon footprint at 63% of the total PCF. However, their
growing use and size produces more net benefit in
material, energy avoidance, and functionality
advancement than the resulting negative eco-impacts in
making these technically complex devices.
For the five precious metals, four REMs and half of the
twenty-three CRMs employed in the 5G radio, the
quantities used, and their distribution over numerous
components prescribe that their recycling/recovery is most
efficiently achieved by mechanically shredding the
populated PWB and smelting the resulting mix. The few
parts that contain REMs / CRMs in sufficient quantity, e.g.
yttrium in RF filters, can be marked and/or instructions
provided to recyclers for more effective recovery.
Epoxy resins have specialized functions within the PWB
layers and in IC encapsulations. Recycling / reusing these
resins are currently unfeasible. Substituting suitable
alternatives takes unique materials that must meet the strict
and numerous specifications governing each application.
Some research work has put forth viable alternatives to
date. The main dilemma, however, is that substitution in
the future does imply that recycling efforts lose their merit.
Via a tiered approach of reuse, refurbishment, repurpose,
recovery and recycling, a telecommunication product
reaching its initial end of life can be processed for optimal
value recovery and minimal environmental impact. A key
to this is closing the product loop by allowing product,
parts, and material to remain in the manufacturing loop.
For this to successfully happen, requires a balance between
the product’s function, performance, reliability, price, and
environmental impact.
The recycling of specific materials will only become more
economic if extraction from the earth’s crust is done in a
way that is fair to the environment as well as workers. The
first challenge is to create a knowledge base of the types
and amounts of materials within those components.
Second, a close collaboration within the supply chain is
needed to foster innovation on material usage, meet ever
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increasing technical specifications, and develop and
implement processes to handle products and materials at
the end of their life. Supporting LCA tools and their
associated databases need to be advanced to ensure the
assessment and quantification of environmental impact of
these new materials as they are being introduced.
Third, efforts in research need to continue to provide new
technologies and address socio-environmental challenges
that belie the development of sustainable tele-
communications. A further challenge will be to set up a
responsible supply chain for such materials in partnership
with other industries that make significant use of the same
materials.
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