Austrian designer Franziska Kerber is revolutionising e-waste with paper-based devices

Published connected 13/06/2025 - 12:00 GMT+2•Updated 18:32

Every year, millions of tonnes of physics discarded extremity up successful landfills, mostly because mini devices are built from materials that are astir intolerable to abstracted and recycle efficiently. At conscionable 24 years old, Austrian business designer Franziska Kerber is moving to alteration that: She has developed PAPE, a sustainable, paper-based replacement to integrative and fibreglass utilized successful nan casings of mini physics devices.

​​Thanks to her activity connected PAPE, Kerber has been recognised arsenic 1 of nan apical 10 winners – called Tomorrow Shapers – of nan 2025 Young Inventors Prize, awarded by nan European Patent Office. 

Transforming electronics pinch paper-based components

“Electronic discarded is nan fastest-growing discarded watercourse worldwide and astir physics products are not designed successful a measurement for them to beryllium recycled,” Kerber explained. “So I was aiming to create a merchandise that not only improves recyclability, but creates a afloat information strategy astir it.” 

Unlike accepted plastics, which often trap valuable materials wrong a device, PAPE is designed to dissolve successful a targeted process. This allows manufacturers to retrieve physics components without nan request for shredding aliases chemic separation. PAPE is made from unused insubstantial fibres, is durable and biodegradable, and was designed from nan crushed up pinch worldly betterment successful mind. 

Combining creation and sustainability to summation recyclability

Kerber’s committedness to sustainable creation was shaped by some family and education. Her father, a physicist and award-winning inventor, introduced her to dissolvable electronics astatine a young age. While studying business creation astatine FH Joanneum, she became progressively focused connected information systems and worldly reuse – realising that solving e-waste requires much than conscionable 1 recyclable component. 

“Even if researchers create dissolvable, recyclable circuit boards, it doesn’t really alteration thing if nan remainder of nan merchandise conscionable ends up arsenic discarded again. The full creation has to germinate – otherwise, we’re conscionable shifting nan problem alternatively of solving it,” she said. 

To create PAPE, Kerber experimented pinch compressed insubstantial fibres, refining nan merchandise done iterations that tested power resistance, airflow, and durability. PAPE was specifically created for mini user electronics for illustration WiFi routers and fume detectors, which are wide but seldom recycled properly. 

“I dream that this invention reaches a constituent erstwhile group talk astir which WiFi router they should bargain next, they will deliberation astir PAPE because it’s conscionable nan amended sustainable action and I emotion nan design,” Kerber added. 

She is now moving pinch startups and companies processing recyclable PCBs to bring PAPE to nan market, aiming to displacement nan user electronics manufacture toward genuinely information solutions. 

Moreover, Kerber’s activity contributes straight to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) – highlighting really thoughtful creation tin trim discarded and thief style a much sustainable future.