Abstract
It is estimated that the electrical equipment discarded in 2021 weighs more than 57 million tonnes. Less than one-fifth of this electronic waste (e-waste) is recycled. Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are an integral component of any electronic equipment, and this is a useful type of waste due to its high metal content of nearly 30%. This practice-based research aims to explore how to transform metals recovered from e-waste using a hydrometallurgy technique (that works with metals in solution) into wearable jewellery. There are two parts unfolded in this research, one is from a technical perspective, applying electroforming that works with metals in solution from hydrometallurgy, the main technique is focused on electroforming; the second part is from a design perspective, researching the wider application of emotionally durable design to transform the emotional attachment from the old materials to the new objects. As such this research seeks to contribute to delivering significant improvements in sustainable development.
Keywords
Design Research, Sexuality, Intimacy, Participatory Design, Long-term care
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.634
Citation
Ding, K.(2023) From E-waste to Jewellery: creating emotionally durable jewellery with the metal recovered from electronic waste, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.634
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
doctoralpapers
Included in
From E-waste to Jewellery: creating emotionally durable jewellery with the metal recovered from electronic waste
It is estimated that the electrical equipment discarded in 2021 weighs more than 57 million tonnes. Less than one-fifth of this electronic waste (e-waste) is recycled. Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are an integral component of any electronic equipment, and this is a useful type of waste due to its high metal content of nearly 30%. This practice-based research aims to explore how to transform metals recovered from e-waste using a hydrometallurgy technique (that works with metals in solution) into wearable jewellery. There are two parts unfolded in this research, one is from a technical perspective, applying electroforming that works with metals in solution from hydrometallurgy, the main technique is focused on electroforming; the second part is from a design perspective, researching the wider application of emotionally durable design to transform the emotional attachment from the old materials to the new objects. As such this research seeks to contribute to delivering significant improvements in sustainable development.