American technology company Framework has designed a laptop with modular components that can be repaired and replaced to increase the product's lifespan while reducing e-waste.
The Framework laptop is available in either a preassembled or a DIY version that customers can assemble themselves. It comes with a screwdriver and spudger to allow owners to easily customise, upgrade and repair their device.
Individual components such as the motherboard can be repurchased, reused or broken down and recycled, to help facilitate a more circular economic system.
The modular Framework laptop is designed to be disassembled
Framework CEO Nirav Patel said the company's ultimate aim is to tackle the mounting problem of electronic waste.
"We've gone from 44.4 million tonnes of e-waste per year in 2014 to 53.6 million tonnes in 2019," he told Dezeen. "As an industry, we can't keep moving in this direction." Rather than just focusing on recycling, Framework hopes to combat this issue by helping consumers to generate less waste and making products that last longer than traditional mass-market devices, which Patel describes as "disposable one-offs".
Each component has a QR code directing users to instructions and replacement parts
The lightweight laptop, which is the brand's debut product, features a 16-millimetre-thick, 13.5-inch screen housed inside a casing made from 50 per cent post-consumer recycled (PCR) aluminium.
Framework's Expansion Card system allows buye...