ReThink Awards

WHAT ARE THE ReTHINK AWARDS?

The ReThink Awards are SERI’s way of recognizing and celebrating the organizations that have created systems-level impact toward the sustainability of electronics by rethinking.

These organizations are not making incremental improvements but are catalyzing changes that could transform entire approaches to electronics, industry wide.

They are the disruptors. The challengers. The leaders. They go above and beyond what’s required or expected. They take the first big leaps forward and make it just a little bit easier for others to follow. And they are the ones who dare to ask, “what if?” Because doing the same things in the same ways will just give us more of the same. And that isn’t sustainable.

AWARDS CRITERIA

NOMINEES SHOULD:

  • Demonstrate a specific approach or decision-point that breaks conventions and disrupts the status quo, driven by a new way of thinking about an aspect of the electronics lifecycle
  • Work to advance electronics sustainability beyond normal business operations and regulatory requirements

SELECTION CRITERIA:

  1. What actions were taken that demonstrates thinking differently?
  2. What was the impact within that organization or the industry?
  3. How does this positively impact the sustainability of electronics?

2025 NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

The ReThink advisory board and designated staff will select winners based on selection criteria. Winners will be announced at eSummit 2025

THE ART OF ReTHINKING

When we were thinking about the physical awards, we wanted to create something that embodied the spirit of thinking differently on the way to electronics sustainability. And then it hit us. What if we took what most people would consider worthless – disassembled parts and pieces from end-of-life electronics – and turned them into something valuable – unique pieces of art?

Planning for the 2025 awards, the first task was sourcing materials.

Fortunately, PAR Recycle Works in Philadelphia saw the vision and generously donated a box of parts for the project. PAR stands for People Advancing Reintegration and like SERI, is a nonprofit organization with a strong mission.

ReThink Awards

Next we had to find an artist who would also embrace the vision, and by pure chance, we found Steve Heller, an artist outside of Woodstock, NY who works almost exclusively with materials that others’ see as waste. Steve was immediately excited by the project, and we let his creativity run free.

More to come on the 2025 ReThink Awards, but we couldn’t help but give you a little peek at what we’ve got in store!