Reuse of EEE consumer products, a potential End-of-Life strategy for CRM's

Reuse of EEE consumer products, a potential End-of-Life strategy for CRM's

Watelet, F.S.A.

Peck, D.P. (mentor)
Flipsen, F.S.J. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Design Engineering

Master of Science Integrated Product Design

2013-07-22

BACKGROUND Several elements displayed in the 2011 MEErP’s (Methodology for the Ecodesign of Energy-related Products) and JRC’s (European Commission Joint Research Centre) reports which will be used in preparatory studies for measures under the recast of the Ecodesign Directive, indicate that a European list of Critical Raw Materials (CRM’s) constituting the basis for a large amount of EEE (Electrical and Electronic Equipment) consumer products are under pressure. Those CRM’s could consequently be restricted by the future European legislation, thereby impacting industrial designers’ work. In both reports, the word “reuse” appears as one of the possible ways for the treatment of end of use-stage products. With the creation of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010, the idea of a “circular economy” appeared. The aim of circular economy is to close this loop by recovering by all means the material consumed and, consequently the CRM’s. The EMF considers “reuse” as a major option which will lead to a nearly perfect material loop. In addition, the StEP – Initiative, a UNU programme aiming to reduce Waste EEE transfers to third world countries under the pretext of reuse, decided to support the research in order to explore “reuse” as a possible way to reduce illegal WEEE exports. A potential option to solve the e-waste problem was furnished in 2011 by the British Standard Institution which released the PAS141:2011 Standard aiming to standardize the preparation of WEEE for reuse. The above mentioned motivations led the author to address three research questions which aim to enhance the “design for reuse” process. RESEARCH QUESTIONS RQ1: Does the PAS 141:2011 Standard address reuse as described in the European Union’s literature? First, the researcher analysed the European Union’s literature on Ecodesign and “reuse” against the PAS141:2011 Standard and compared them. Following this analysis, it became clear that the UK Standard only prepares products for reuse after use-stage. As a consequence, there is a need to create design guidelines to facilitate industrial designer’s work when developing a product to be reused after a use-stage. To develop design principles, it was first essential to define “reuse”. The notion of “reuse” as such does not exist since it implies design for assembly / disassembly and design for repair / refurbish. Consequently, a “design for reuse” principles list was established based on relevant literature. RQ2: Do “design for reuse” principles potentially assist the designer to identify design weaknesses and strengths in terms of reuse? Next, a random EEE consumer product provided by Philips Consumer Lifestyle (which is also involved in the StEP – Initiative) as case study was analysed, tested and disassembled to determine the potential assistance of the “design for reuse principles list” (DRP) in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses in terms of reuse. RQ3: Based on the case study product’s analysis, what are the assumed benefits of “design for reuse” in terms of CRM’s? As one of the key design principles for the reuse of EEE consumer products concerns material identification, the elements constituting the case study device were listed and compared with the CRM’s list established by the European Union. This phase of the project showed that many valuable materials could be reused after use-stage and that the adoption of a reuse strategy could be interesting for countless business sectors in terms of parts, components and material recovery. In case the “reuse” option is not possible (for instance because the product is too damaged), this strategy also becomes useful for other End-of-Life options such as remanufacturing or recycling. As a common characteristic to all the above mentioned challenges Europe has to face, time seems to be the most difficult issue to tackle. Time is essential in the manufacturing supply chain as CRM’s shortages would be dramatic for the European economy. In addition, time is important in the assembly and disassembly processes as those operations are directly related to costs. Furthermore, time is crucial for our resources, social models and business activities. Time can however be optimized by different design decisions at early design stages which will define the End-of-Life of thousands of billions of consumer products, representing potential material supplies for the future generations. If the needed time to disassemble a product is optimized, there is a great chance companies will pay more attention to the potential of WEEE consumer products in terms of material waste, thereby closing the material loop and proposing a solution to the e-waste problem.

Reuse
Critical Raw Materials
CRM's
End-of-Life
Circular Economy
Consumer products
Design for reuse

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Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2013 Watelet, F.S.A.