A question at the heart of circular electronics
ReBond Technologies was founded in January 2026 by Kingi Kigongo, who has a background in Chemistry and Mathematics and currently serves as a Tutorial Assistant at the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), where he teaches Engineering Mathematics. The start-up emerged from a simple but transformative question: why are electronic devices designed to stay permanently bonded when their valuable materials need to be recovered at the end of their life?
As the global e-waste crisis continues to grow, Kingi became increasingly concerned that one of the least-discussed barriers to circular electronics was not the electronic components themselves, but the permanent adhesives used to hold them together. While these adhesives ensure product durability, they also make repair, refurbishment, and high-quality recycling significantly more difficult.
ReBond Technologies is currently a one-person start-up, with Kingi as Founder leading concept development, technology strategy, research coordination, and the company's overall vision. As the innovation progresses, he plans to expand the team by collaborating with experts in polymer chemistry, materials science, electronics engineering, product development, and business commercialisation.
That commitment and ambition is already embedded in the company's name: "ReBond" stands for "Reversible Bonding" – the idea that adhesive bonds should no longer be permanent barriers to repair and recycling, but intelligent connections that can be safely reversed once a product reaches the end of its useful life. "Technologies" points to the longer-term ambition: not a single adhesive formulation, but a portfolio of sustainable material technologies supporting circular manufacturing and next-generation electronics.
A bond designed to come apart
"Instead of making recycling technologies increasingly complex, what if electronic products were designed from the beginning to come apart safely and intentionally?"
, explains Kingi. Very little attention, he observed, was given to one small but critical material that often determines whether products can be repaired or recycled efficiently: the adhesive.The current concept is a bio-based, water-triggered reversible adhesive system, based on a polymer network in which polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) serves as the primary structural polymer, modified with glycerol as a plasticiser and natural additives such as starch to enhance sustainability.
During normal operation, the adhesive forms a stable polymer network through intermolecular interactions, primarily hydrogen bonding, providing the mechanical strength required for electronic assembly. For controlled debonding, exposure to hot water (60-80°C) is designed to weaken these interactions and soften the adhesive structure, enabling electronic components to be separated in a clean and non-destructive manner without relying on certain organic solvents that may pose health or environmental risks, or on excessive mechanical force.
According to the company, the formulation is intended to be simple, low-cost, and tunable, allowing the mechanical strength to be adjusted for different applications. It is also designed to be compatible with existing manufacturing processes, making it suitable for both industrial and low-resource settings.
Beyond environmental benefits, the start-up believes this approach can generate economic and social value. Easier repair and material recovery could reduce resource losses, lower recycling costs, and create safer opportunities for repair and refurbishment industries. In countries such as Tanzania, where devices are often dismantled by informal recyclers using unsafe methods, a low-cost and non-toxic route to disassembly could reduce health risks, minimise environmental pollution, and open up opportunities for safer, small-scale recycling and repair activities.
The innovation is currently at proof-of-concept stage: a laboratory demonstration has validated the reversible bonding mechanism using water-triggered debonding, and initial formulations have shown promising results. Further optimisation is planned to balance bonding performance, durability during product use, and reliable debonding under predefined end-of-life conditions, ensuring that sustainability and engineering performance are considered together rather than as separate objectives.
Next up at ReBond Technologies
ReBond Technologies' primary focus is on transforming its concept into a scientifically validated and commercially viable technology. The immediate priority is to strengthen the scientific foundation of the reversible adhesive platform through formulation optimisation, laboratory validation, performance evaluation, and sustainability assessment aligned with the principles of circular electronics and Sustainable Chemistry.
In parallel, the start-up is building the ecosystem required for commercialisation. As ReBond Technologies is currently at the proof-of-concept stage, it is actively seeking partners in the electronics and materials sectors and aims to collaborate with industry stakeholders and research institutions to validate the adhesive, test its performance in real-world applications, and explore pilot opportunities for reversible bonding technologies. The company is also refining its intellectual property strategy to support future market adoption.
With their innovative approach, ReBond Technologies, who joined the ISC3 Global Start-up Service as one of the Innovation Challenge finalists in June 2026, actively contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
