Comparing environmental product footprint for electronic and electric equipment: a multi-criteria approach

Electronic and electric devices are now applied in most human activities: their diffusion is increasing worldwide; furthermore, most of them are characterized by a high replacement rate due to technological obsolescence. Consequently, environmental problems due to their diffusion are increasing; several aspects are involved from the energy consumption derived from their manufacturing processes and their use phases to their end-of-life (EOL) management. Such legislative (e.g. the European Energy Efficiency directive for household appliances) or voluntary interventions (e.g. based on the ISO standards) have been introduced for such devices: the aim is to incorporate environmental considerations in product design and manufacturing in order to benefit the environment. Some attempts are focusing on defining standardized models for the overall lifecycle including waste management. The aim of this paper is to introduce a reference model for comparing environmental product footprint of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). All life cycles of EEE will be evaluated: a specific focus is on the EOL management process as their waste management represents a complex problem for developed and developing countries. A multi-criteria decision-making model will be developed based on the well-known analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method: differently from traditional AHP applications, an absolute model has been proposed in order to compare EEE effectively from an environmental point of view. A case study validation regarding large household appliances is proposed.     

Environmental impact assessment of a ceramic tile supply chain – a case study

The beginning of the twenty-first century saw a surge in the growth of construction industry, particularly the housing sector in India. This led to the growing demand of ceramic tiles. This growth is responsible for large-scale consumption of natural resources and generation of solid waste. The objective of this paper is to assess the environmental impact of vitrified ceramic floor tile supply chain by performing life cycle assessment (LCA) following international standards of ISO 14040 series guidelines. The impact has been determined by conducting a LCA using Umberto NXT software (eco-invent 3.0 database) with ReCiPe endpoint and midpoint methods. It has been found that the manufacturing stage of supply chain is generating highest impact on environment in all the categories. Impact analysis of different input resources/material shows that red oxide used in glaze preparation, electricity in manufacturing, packaging material, distribution by trucks, installation of tiles using concrete and disposal of packaging material are responsible for most of the environmental impact. This study will offer the essential quantitative assessment to recognise the phases and materials which are highly responsible for the degradation of environment so that appropriate interventions by the different stakeholders can be planed.     

Remediation of water pollution caused by pharmaceutical residues based on electrochemical separation and degradation technologies: A review

In the last years, the decontamination and disinfection of waters by means of direct or integrated electrochemical processes are being considered as a very appealing alternative due to the significant improvement of the electrode materials and the coupling with low-cost renewable energy sources. Many electrochemical technologies are currently available for the remediation of waters contaminated by refractory organic pollutants such as pharmaceutical micropollutants, whose presence in the environment has become a matter of major concern. Recent reviews have focused on the removal of pharmaceutical residues upon the application of other important methods like ozonation and advanced oxidation processes. Here, we present an overview on the electrochemical methods devised for the treatment of pharmaceutical residues from both, synthetic solutions and real pharmaceutical wastewaters. Electrochemical separation technologies such as membrane technologies, electrocoagulation and internal micro-electrolysis, which only isolate the pollutants from water, are firstly introduced. The fundamentals and experimental set-ups involved in technologies that allow the degradation of pharmaceuticals, like anodic oxidation, electro-oxidation with active chlorine, electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton and photoelectrocatalysis among others, are further discussed. Progress on the promising solar photoelectro-Fenton process devised and further developed in our laboratory is especially highlighted and documented. The abatement of total organic carbon or reduction of chemical oxygen demand from contaminated waters allows the comparison between the different methods and materials. The routes for the degradation of the some pharmaceuticals are also presented.     

Pharmaceutical management through environmental product labeling in Sweden

There is an increased awareness that medicinal products for human use may cause negative effects in the environment. In Sweden a voluntary environmental classification system for drugs has been established in collaboration between producers, authorities and the public health care, and used for five years. The idea is to enhance the market demand for medicines with less environmental impact, which in turn will stimulate the producers to design future medicines to be more environmentally friendly. The system is open to the public and based on assessment of the active ingredient in the medicinal product into several classes of risk and hazard, respectively. It is closely related to the EMEA guidelines. Risk is expressed as the ratio between the predicted environmental concentration (PEC) of the active ingredient (AI) and its predicted no effect concentration (PNEC). The hazard is expressed in terms of the AI's persistence, potential to bioaccumulation, and eco-toxicity. Drug data for the classification are delivered by the respective producers.Hitherto more than 300 AI, representing more than 50% of the Swedish volume of drug use, have been classified. Data for risk assessment were missing in 47% of AI. Among drugs with data 7% had a PEC/PNEC ratio > 1, and another 7% had a ratio between 0.1 and 1. The AIs with highest ratio (> 10) were two estrogens. Data for hazard assessment were lacking in 16% of the AI. Among drugs with environmental data 92% were not ready biodegradable, 23% had potential to bioaccumulation, and 61% were toxic to aquatic organisms at a concentration below 1 mg/l. These data are utilized by regional pharmaceutical expert groups when selecting substances to be recommended in public health care in Sweden. They may also be used by prescribing doctors who want to identify the environmentally most favourable substance among several with equivalent medical effect.We conclude that environmental data on human medicinal products are often missing, or reveal unfavourable environmental properties. A proper judgement of the environmental impact of an AI requires a joint evaluation of its risk and hazard. We suggest that the pharmaceutical producers should highlight environmental precaution when designing new AIs, and that the environmental data should be transparent to the general public.     

Application of active disassembly to extend profitable remanufacturing in small electrical and electronic products

Alternative production approaches are required because of conventional manufacturing's adverse environmental impacts. Remanufacturing returns used products to at least original performance specification from customers' perspectives and gives the resultant products warranties at least equal to that of new equivalents. Remanufacturing is relatively novel in research terms compared to conventional manufacture and recycling but often is more profitable than both. It would help manufacturers address competitive, environmental and legislative pressures by enabling them to meet pressing waste legislation while producing high-quality, lower cost products with less environmentally damaging end-of-life (EoL) and manufacturing modes. Remanufacturing is highly profitable in large, complex mechanical and electromechanical products but with conventional manufacturing and design modes not so in smaller products; particularly fast moving ones. However, effective waste management is urgently required for such products because waste electrical and electronic equipment constitutes the fastest growing EU waste stream and a large percentage of products being produced by major developing economies such as China are of this type. Active disassembly (AD) enables product non-destructive, self-disassembly at EoL and was invented to facilitate a step-change improvement in recycling. This research investigated the use of AD to extend profitable remanufacturing into small EoL electrical and electronic products.     

A comparison of four sustainable manufacturing strategies

Effective use of materials is one possible component of a sustainable manufacturing strategy. There are many such strategies proposed in the literature and used in practice, with confusion over what they are, what the differences among them may be and how they can be used by practitioners in design and manufacture to improve the sustainability of their product and processes. This paper reviews the literature on sustainable manufacturing strategies that deliver improved material performance. Four primary strategies were found: waste minimisation; material efficiency; resource efficiency; and eco‐efficiency. The literature was analysed to determine the key characteristics of these sustainable manufacturing strategies and 17 characteristics were found. The four strategies were then compared and contrasted against all the characteristics. While current literature often uses these strategy titles in a confusing, occasionally inter‐changeable manner, this study attempts to create clear separation between them. Definition, scope and practicality of measurement are shown to be key characteristics that impact upon the ability of manufacturing companies to make effective use of the proposed strategy. It is observed that the most actionable strategies may not include all of the dimensions of interest to a manufacturer wishing to become more sustainable, creating a dilemma between ease of implementation and breadth of impact.     

Energy conservation and waste utilization in the cement industry serve the green technology and environment

The cement industry is one of the most energy-intensive industries consuming 4 GJ/ton of cement, i.e. 12–15% of the energy use in total industry. Energy cost accounts for 30% of the total cost of cement production. Seventy-five per cent of this energy is due to the thermal energy for clinker production. It is also found that 35% of this supplied thermal energy is lost in flue gas streams. Most modern kilns use pet coke or coal as their primary fuel. Instead, the municipal waste in landfills offer a cheap source of energy and reduce the environmental effects of dumping solid waste. The calcination and drying processes and the kiln need large quantities of thermal energy. About 40% of the total energy input is lost in the hot flue gases and cooling the stack plus the kiln shell. Hence, it is suitable to use an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) to recover the exhaust energy from the kiln. Alternatively, a 15 MW gas turbine engine combined with a steam turbine could be utilized. It was found that ORC produces 5 MW with a capital cost recovery period of 1.26 years. However, the gas turbine combined system produces 21.45 MW with a maximum recovery period of 2.66 years.     

Beyond the medicine cabinet: an analysis of where and why medications accumulate

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from medications can enter the environment as trace contaminants, at individual concentrations generally below a part per billion (microg/L). APIs enter the environment primarily via the discharge of raw and treated sewage. Residues of unmetabolized APIs from parenteral and enteral drugs are excreted in feces and urine, and topically applied medications are washed from skin during bathing. These trace residues may pose risks for aquatic life and cause concern with regard to subsequent human exposure. APIs also enter the environment from the disposal of unwanted medications directly to sewers and trash. The relative significance of this route compared with excretion and bathing is poorly understood and has been subject to much speculation. Two major aspects of uncertainty exist: the percentage of any particular API in the environment originating from disposal is unknown, and disposal undoubtedly occurs from a variety of dispersed sources. Sources of disposal, along with the types and quantities of APIs resulting from each source, are important to understand so that effective pollution prevention approaches can be designed and implemented. Accumulation of leftover, unwanted drugs poses three major concerns: (i) APIs disposed to sewage or trash compose a diverse source of potential chemical stressors in the environment. (ii) Accumulated drugs represent increased potential for drug diversion, with its attendant risks of unintentional poisonings and abuse. (iii) Leftover drugs represent wasted healthcare resources and lost opportunities for medical treatment. This paper has four major purposes: (1) Define the processes, actions, and behaviors that control and drive the consumption, accumulation, and need for disposal of pharmaceuticals. (2) Provide an overview of the diverse locations where drugs are used and accumulate. (3) Present a summary of the first cataloging of APIs disposed by a defined subpopulation. (4) Identify opportunities for pollution prevention and source reduction.     

Harmonising conflicts between science,regulation, perception and environmental impact: The case of soil conditioners from bioenergy

As the global population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, humanity needs to balance an ever increasing demand for food, energy and natural resources, with sustainable management of ecosystems and the vital services that they provide. The intensification of agriculture, including the use of fertilisers from finite sources, has resulted in extensive soil degradation, which has increased food production costs and CO₂ emissions, threatening food security. The Bioenergy sector has significant potential to contribute to the formation of a circular economy. This paper presents the scientific, regulatory and socioeconomic barriers to the use of the nutrient waste streams from biomass thermal conversion (ash) and anaerobic digestion (digestate) as sustainable soil amendments for use in place of traditional fertilisers. It is argued that whilst the ability of combined ash and digestate to remedy many threats to ecosystems and provide a market to incentivise the renewable bio-energy schemes is promising, a step-change is required to alter perceptions of ‘waste’, from an expensive problem, to a product with environmental and economic value. This can only be achieved by well-informed interactions between scientists, regulators and end users, to improve the spread and speed of innovation with this sector.     

Ecological and economical assessment of end‐of‐life waste recycling in the electrical and electronic recovery sector

Technological innovation and shorter product life cycles of electrical and electronic equipment coupled with their rapidly growing applications have resulted in the generation of an enormous amount of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). To address the potential environmental problems that could stem from improper end‐of‐life management of WEEE, many countries have drafted national legislation to improve the reuse, remanufacture and material recycling from WEEE, and to reduce the amount of such waste going to landfills. With the introduction of such legislation comes an increased need for the recovery operators to evaluate the recycling costs and environmental benefits of reclaimed products and materials in order to select the most appropriate end‐of‐life options for individual products in WEEE. This paper presents a systematic methodology for ecological and economical assessment to provide a holistic understanding of the impacts associated with different end‐of‐life options for such waste. This assessment, in addition to providing decision‐support for the selection of the best possible end‐of‐life option for a particular product in WEEE, could also generate vital information to support the design and material selection processes during the initial product development activities. The assertion made is that the detailed considerations of the ecological and economical impacts associated with different end‐of‐life options will significantly improve the recovery and recycling of WEEE.     

Environmental impact assessment of manufacturing processes using a combinatorial mathematics based decision making method

This paper presents a methodology for environmental impact assessment of manufacturing processes using a combinatorial mathematics based decision making method. An ‘environmental impact assessment index’ is proposed that evaluates and ranks the manufacturing processes for producing a given engineering product or component. The index is obtained from an ‘environmental impact assessment factors function’ considering environmental impact assessment factors and their relative importance for the considered application. An example is included to illustrate the approach.     

Improved oxidative stability of biodiesel via alternative processing methods using cottonseed oil

Biodiesel from waste cooking oil (WCO) requires antioxidants to meet oxidation stability specifications set forth in ASTM D6751 or EN 14214. In contrast, unrefined cottonseed oil (CSO), containing tocopherols and gossypol, produces biodiesel of higher oxidation stability. However, only a portion of these CSO endogenous antioxidants are suspected to be retained in biodiesel. Because the economics of biodiesel manufacturing rely upon inexpensive sources of triglycerides, emphasis was placed on developing improved alternative processing methods where WCO was the main source of methyl esters (WCOME) and CSO was used as a supplemental source of triglycerides and antioxidants in a 4:1 ratio. This study compared four processing methods for their ability to produce biodiesel of increased oxidative stability prepared from a 4:1 ratio of WCO:CSO. Two novel processing methods developed for this study utilise solvent properties of fatty acid methyl esters and glycerol to avoid additional chemical inventory for biodiesel processors. This study concludes that the two new processing methods resulted in biodiesel that had statistically significant improved oxidation stability when compared to two common industrial processing methods. Another significant finding is that high-shear homogenisation during transesterification reduced reaction time from the published one hour to 16 minutes.     

Carbon weight analysis for machining operation and allocation for redesign

The objective of this research paper is to explore and develop a new methodology for computing carbon weight (CW) – often referred to as carbon footprint, in manufacturing processes from part level to assembly level. In this initial study, we focused on machining operations, specifically turning and milling, for computing CW. Our initial study demonstrates that CW can be computed using either actual measured data from process level information or from initial material and manufacturing process information. In mechanical design, tolerance analysis principles extend from design to manufacturing and tolerances accumulate for parts and processes. By extending this notion to CW, we apply mechanical tolerancing principles for computing worst case and statistical case CW of a product. We call this the CW tolerance approach (CWTA). Two case studies demonstrate the computation of CW. Based on the tolerance allocation concepts; CW allocation is also demonstrated through specific redesign examples. CWTA helps in identifying carbon intensive parts/processes and can be used to make appropriate design decisions.     

Evaluating efforts to build sustainable WEEE reverse logistics network design: comparison of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches

Many developing countries such as Turkey are still making an effort on building an infrastructure for waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) reverse logistic network design (RLND) processes. It is obvious that policies/laws/regulations related to WEEE management provide a sustainable framework for implementation in the RLND. The question is here: Does the implementation of WEEE directives make sense in terms of reducing the total cost of the network in the long term? This study aims to compare regulatory and non-regulatory situations of WEEE RLND in developing countries by formulating two models named as ‘regulatory’ and ‘non-regulatory’. Model 1 is considered as sustainable with economic, environmental and social goals, and the quotas imposed by the environmental directive are taken into consideration as the data of product return amount. In Model 2, only economic goal is considered, and product return amount is forecasted using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). A case study is conducted in a recycling company in order to evaluate performance of the proposed models. This study contributes to the relevant literature by (1) comparing the regulatory and non-regulatory situations RL models explicitly and (2) proposing ANN model to forecast EEE product return or WEEE quantity for non-regulatory situation.     

The formal electronic recycling industry: Challenges and opportunities in occupational and environmental health research

BackgroundE-waste includes electrical and electronic equipment discarded as waste without intent of reuse. Informal e-waste recycling, typically done in smaller, unorganized businesses, can expose workers and communities to serious chemical health hazards. It is unclear if formalization into larger, better-controlled electronics recycling (e-recycling) facilities solves environmental and occupational health problems.ObjectivesTo systematically review the literature on occupational and environmental health hazards of formal e-recycling facilities and discuss challenges and opportunities to strengthen research in this area.MethodsWe identified 37 publications from 4 electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Environmental Index, NIOSHTIC-2) specific to chemical exposures in formal e-recycling facilities.DiscussionEnvironmental and occupational exposures depend on the degree of formalization of the facilities but further reduction is needed. Reported worker exposures to metals were often higher than recommended occupational guidelines. Levels of brominated flame-retardants in worker's inhaled air and biological samples were higher than those from reference groups. Air, dust, and soil concentrations of metals, brominated flame-retardants, dioxins, furans, polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbons, or polychlorinated biphenyls found inside or near the facilities were generally higher than reference locations, suggesting transport into the environment. Children of a recycler had blood lead levels higher than public health recommended guidelines.ConclusionsWith mounting e-waste, more workers, their family members, and communities could experience unhealthful exposures to metals and other chemicals. We identified research needs to further assess exposures, health, and improve controls. The long-term solution is manufacturing of electronics without harmful substances and easy-to-disassemble components.     

Life cycle assessment part 1: framework, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications

Sustainable development requires methods and tools to measure and compare the environmental impacts of human activities for the provision of goods and services (both of which are summarized under the term "products"). Environmental impacts include those from emissions into the environment and through the consumption of resources, as well as other interventions (e.g., land use) associated with providing products that occur when extracting resources, producing materials, manufacturing the products, during consumption/use, and at the products' end-of-life (collection/sorting, reuse, recycling, waste disposal). These emissions and consumptions contribute to a wide range of impacts, such as climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone (smog) creation, eutrophication, acidification, toxicological stress on human health and ecosystems, the depletion of resources, water use, land use, and noise-among others. A clear need, therefore, exists to be proactive and to provide complimentary insights, apart from current regulatory practices, to help reduce such impacts. Practitioners and researchers from many domains come together in life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate indicators of the aforementioned potential environmental impacts that are linked to products-supporting the identification of opportunities for pollution prevention and reductions in resource consumption while taking the entire product life cycle into consideration. This paper, part 1 in a series of two, introduces the LCA framework and procedure, outlines how to define and model a product's life cycle, and provides an overview of available methods and tools for tabulating and compiling associated emissions and resource consumption data in a life cycle inventory (LCI). It also discusses the application of LCA in industry and policy making. The second paper, by Pennington et al. (Environ. Int. 2003, in press), highlights the key features, summarises available approaches, and outlines the key challenges of assessing the aforementioned inventory data in terms of contributions to environmental impacts (life cycle impact assessment, LCIA).     

Sustainable Development and Strategic Thinking

From an economic point of view, the industrial economy is efficient to overcome situations of a scarcity of goods. From a technological point of view, the resource efficiency of the manufacturing processes of the industrial economy has been permanently improved during the last 200 years. In addition, cleaner processes have been developed. However, from an ecologic point of view, an increasing world population with increasing consumption has produced a ＂global footprint＂ which approaches the carrying capacity of the planet. A circular economy and its high-value spin-offs-a lake economy and a performance or functional service economy-can fulfil customers＇ needs with considerably less resource consumption, less environmental impairment in production and considerably less end-of-life product waste, especially in situations of affluence, when a considerable stock of physical goods and infrastructures exists. Also, in situations of a scarcity of natural resources, both energy and materials, often characterised by rapidly rising resource prices, the economic actors of a circular economy have a high competitive advantage over the actors of the industrial economy, due to much lower procurement costs for materials and energy. From a social point of view, a circular economy increases the number of skilled jobs in regional enterprises. However, the shift from a linear manufacturing economy to a circular or service economy means a change in economic thinking from flow （throughput） management to stock （asset） management： in a manufacturing economy with largely unsaturated markets, total wealth increases through accumulation as resource throughput （flow） is transformed into a higher stock of goods of better quality （but in a manufacturing economy with largely saturated markets, wealth represented by the stock of goods will no longer increase）; in a circular or service economy, total wealth increases through a smart management of existing physical assets （stock） that are adapted to changes in both technology and customer demand. This second approach not only applies to physical capital but equally to social capital, such as health and education and green GDP. To measure the social wealth of a population, it is not the amount of money spent on schools and hospitals that matters, butif this expenditure has led to a better education of the students, and a better health of the people.     

An integrated approach for the benchmarking of production facilities’ environmental performance: data envelopment analysis and life cycle assessment

Environmental impacts have become an important consideration in the manufacturing industry due to increasing public pressure for environment protection and the requirements of recently launched legislations. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely adopted methodological approach for the benchmarking of the relative efficiency of different production units. Changes in production efficiency may affect environmental impacts. DEA can be used for identifying the most efficient production facility and hence, the environmental impacts generated from the different production lines can then be benchmarked. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to quantify the full environmental impacts of a product from ‘cradle to grave’. The integration of LCA with DEA, efficiency and environmental impact of different production processes for a certain family of products can be evaluated and benchmarked. The proposed two-stage approach can help to reduce the aggregate environmental impacts of the manufacturing phase and is used to benchmark the environmental performance of several production lines in a manufacturing company.     

Impact of incorporating customer preference in sustainable remanufacturing of commercial returns

This paper investigates optimum production parameters for a reverse supply chain for manufacturing of primary products and remanufacturing of commercial returns (products returned by customers for refund or exchange). The market for the product consists of two categories, the primary and remanufactured products. The demands for these markets are independent and considered to be random variables following a normal distribution function. The approach presented in this work differs from many previously published works because the acceptability of products varies among customers. The interaction between the designed quality and variable customers’ preferences determines the likelihood of a product being returned. Two major decision variables targeted in this study are the production cycle time and the targeted quality for production of parts used in the product. Through an analytical formulation and numerical examples, a relationship between the total profit of the system and the two decision variables is developed and optimised. The analysis demonstrates that the total profit of the hybrid system could be increased significantly by targeting the optimum targeted (not necessarily the highest) values for quality of parts and the optimum cycle length. And this objective could be accomplished with significant gain with respect to sustainability and waste reduction.