As we know, adhesives and sealants deliver benefits to businesses, consumers, and the environment, contributing to the principles of the circular economy. The proposal for a new EU Ecodesign Regulation is relevant to adhesives and sealants due to new regulatory standards for products where adhesives and sealants play an important role.

This legislative file has been in force since 2008 and is undergoing regular revisions. The proposal for a new EU Ecodesign Regulation involves regulatory standards for mobile phones, tablets, and laptops, where adhesives and sealants play an important role. Adhesives and sealants have truly unique properties in the electronics sector. Their adaptation for usability, repairability, and recyclability of electronics is therefore certainly possible.

Because of their unique properties in the electronics sector, adhesives and sealants make a difference in terms of process efficiency, design optimization, durability, repairability, and recycling. The EU ecodesign, resource-efficiency requirements for smartphones, other mobile phones, cordless phones, and slate tablets over their service life include design for reliability (e.g. scratch resistance), design for repair (e.g. removable fasteners), and requirements for recycling (e.g. compatibility and traceability).

Thanks to adhesives and sealants, electronics are particularly reliable. Further clarification, though, is needed regarding the repair and recycling of electronic waste. Better communication across the value chain is necessary, and consumer awareness must be created.

The European Commission intends a circular economy for plastics to avoid waste and to promote recycling. Hence the EU-wide Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was established, which sets a goal for the recycling of electrical waste. In addition, the Plastics Strategy is intended to lessen environmental litter to further a circular economy for plastics. Against this backdrop, the role of adhesives is critical, because adhesives used in electronic products allow debonding of parts so that repairability and recycling, and so a circular economy, are feasible.

How, then, do adhesives make debonding possible? The key notion is that of a trigger (stimulus), which can switch off adhesion of the adhesive to the substrate. In general, two kinds of separations of the adhesive from the substrate can take place because of a trigger. In one case, separation can occur by mechanical force supported by temperature. (The adhesive has not been modified). In the other, separation can occur because of, for instance, light, temperature, electricity, or magnetic fields. (The adhesive has been modified by additives or by an alteration of the polymer).