Environmental evaluation of new technology: printed electronics case study

The environmental evaluation of new technology faces many challenges, but at the same time it is an opportunity to take proactive measures to prevent possible negative effects on the environment. Examination of environmental issues using the life cycle approach should form an integrated part of comprehensive technology and product development. The aim of this study was to assess the environmental issues related to a rising technology, printed electronics. Printing is an additive process, having no need for extra material and corrosive chemicals. On the basis of an evaluation made for a prototype product, i.e. a wristband, it was observed that more information on the new materials and further optimization of the process are required before electronics printing can be claimed to be environmentally friendly.     

Supply chain collaboration to achieve toxics use reduction

The use of lead poses significant hazardous occupational exposure to workers in the electronics industry, and also causes environmental challenges at the end of product life. For the past decade, there has been a global effort in the electronics industry to initiate a move towards using lead-free materials for the production of printed circuit boards. However, there are technical and economic challenges, such as long term reliability and rework capability, that remain to hinder the universal implementation of lead-free materials. As a result, many electronics products are still currently manufactured and assembled using materials containing lead.The costs for investigating and evaluating the various lead-free electronics materials and manufacturing processes can be cost prohibitive for an individual company to undertake alone. Consequently, the New England Lead-free Electronics Consortium was formed as a collaborative effort of New England companies spanning the electronics supply chain to help move the industry towards lead-free electronics. The Consortium is a working collaboration of industry, government, and academia. For the past several years, the Consortium has conducted research and testing for using various lead-free materials for the manufacture of printed circuit boards. The Consortium has been successful in identifying lead-free materials and processes to address the challenges of assembly and rework. The Consortium is currently conducting research to address the long-term reliability challenge of lead-free electronics.     

Assessment of toxicity potential of metallic elements in discarded electronics: A case study of mobile phones in China

The electronic waste (e-waste) is increasingly flooding Asia,especially China.E-waste could precipitate a growing volume of toxic input to the local environment if it was not handed properly.This makes the evaluation of environmental impact from electronics an essentially important task for the life cycle assessment (LCA) and the end-of-life management of electronic products.This study presented a quantitative investigation on the environmental performance of typical electronics.Two types of disposed mobile...     

Designing a sustainable reverse logistics channel: the 18 generic structures framework

Remanufacturing end-of-life products requires setting up an economically and environmentally viable reverse logistics channel for supplying reusable used modules to the production chain. This paper introduces a framework to allow generating and assessing different reverse logistics channel structures. The framework is then applied to a product remanufacturing case. We analyze the current reverse logistics channel structure and propose alternative structures with less environmental impact and higher economic benefits.     

Ecodesign methods focused on remanufacturing

Understanding the product's ‘end-of-life’ is important to reduce the environmental impact of the products' final disposal. When the initial stages of product development consider end-of-life aspects, which can be established by ecodesign (a proactive approach of environmental management that aims to reduce the total environmental impact of products), it becomes easier to close the loop of materials. The ‘end-of-life’ ecodesign methods generally include more than one ‘end-of-life’ strategy. Since product complexity varies substantially, some components, systems or sub-systems are easier to be recycled, reused or remanufactured than others. Remanufacture is an effective way to maintain products in a closed-loop, reducing both environmental impacts and costs of the manufacturing processes. This paper presents some ecodesign methods focused on the integration of different ‘end-of-life’ strategies, with special attention to remanufacturing, given its increasing importance in the international scenario to reduce the life cycle impacts of products.     

Disassemblability of end-of-life vehicle: a critical review of evaluation methods

Environmental sustainability has become the main items of contest in the automotive industries. Therefore in the order to reduce the environmental impact of end-of-life vehicles, European Union, Japan, USA, and Australia laws require manufacturers to take back their products at the end of their useful life and recycle them. In order to enhance the recycling rate of the vehicle, disassemblability of the automotive components has been a major concern. In the chain of end-of-life, except for landfill and incineration, components of economic value destined for reuse, remanufacture, or recycling have first to be disassembled from the end-of-life vehicles. There are several efforts within the academic community to rationalise design for disassembly and recycling, and several attempts by industry to study these issues in the context of specific products. Recent publications offer a broad perspective on recyclability and disassemblability. It is therefore necessary to determine the optimal stage of disassembly, when all economically valuable components are retrieved. This paper presents a review of several disassemblability methods, including spread sheet-like chart, end-of-life value and time for disassembly. The review concludes on the need for an effective disassembly method in order to enhance the recovery of products.     

Product service systems in the automobile industry: contribution to system innovation?

This article investigates the actual and potential contribution that product service systems (PSSs) can make in moving beyond incremental technological improvements towards a focus on behavioural changes and system innovation in the automobile industry. It begins by discussing the means by which existing and planned PSS initiatives can be evaluated in terms of their contribution towards innovation at the system level in the automotive industry. Building on and expanding earlier work, it is suggested that they should be assessed against an expanded set of five key evaluative criteria including: evidence of ‘higher-order’ learning amongst stakeholders; changes in infrastructure and institutional practice; changes in vehicle design, manufacture and end-of-life management; changes in vehicle ownership structure; and changes in modes of producer–user interactions. Following this discussion, the article provides a structured overview of some current and planned PSS initiatives at the empirical level in the automotive industry. The identified initiatives are then assessed against the key evaluative criteria in an effort to reveal their actual or potential contribution to meeting the sustainability challenges of the automotive industry. Based on this exercise, it is argued that since most current initiatives do not unify these key elements of a PSS in a single coherent system they do not constitute ‘complete’ versions of PSS, and therefore, fail to deliver the full range of envisaged benefits in contributing towards system innovation. The article concludes by outlining some key areas for future research into potential strategies to address such challenges.     

Integrating carbon footprint into supply chain management: the case of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) in the automobile industry

The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of carbon footprint within the context of automobile supply chain management. The case study approach is employed as a research method. Primary data were collected through site visits and extensive interviews with HMC’s corporate and plant management. First, identification and measurement of direct and indirect carbon footprint is critical for mitigating supply chain risks. Second, setting the system boundary of measurement is another important issue to integrate the issue of carbon footprint into supply chain management. Third, developing a map of product carbon footprint facilitates identification and measurement of carbon emissions across the supply chain. Companies today operate in a carbon-constrained world. In particular, the automobile industry is under pressure to take a close look at its product carbon footprint. Managing the downstream consequences of the use of its products and inputs from upstream suppliers is critical for developing carbon risk-mitigated supply chain management. This paper is of benefit to academics and managers by providing a new way to integrate carbon emissions in supply chain management. Since climate change and carbon footprint present challenges to many industries, increasing our understanding of how to integrate carbon footprint in supply chain management is necessary, but has seen little research in the automobile industry.     

Environmental management accounting in Lithuania: exploratory study of current practices,opportunities and strategic intents

There is a growing consensus among the Lithuanian policy makers, practitioners and industrialists that environmental policy must move from a reactive stance to a more proactive, sustainable development approach. As a result, many companies are increasingly interested in the application of economic incentives at least as supplements or reinforcements of environmental standards.The Institute of Environmental Engineering (EU Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Industrial Development (APINI – SID)) in 1992–2003 has been involved in introduction and implementation of preventive environmental strategy in industry in Lithuania and in other countries. In Lithuania, these efforts resulted in the implementation of more than 200 cleaner production innovations in more than 150 Lithuanian companies. It should be stressed that effective plant maintenance is becoming a higher priority to plant managers. It is important to ensure cost-savings, at all levels, that include maximizing productivity and implementing energy-saving approaches. Effective and efficient maintenance are not just desirable, but fundamental to profitable business operations. Therefore, central to the environmental view of sustainable development is the concept that economic and social systems are sub-systems of the global environment.APINI's experience shows that decision-makers at the company level often fail to recognize the economic values of natural resources as assets as well as the business and financial value of good environmental performance. Therefore, there is a need to upgrade the business decision-making process by including information on material flows and related costs to account for efforts of sustainable development [Staniskis JK, Stasiskiene Z. Promotion of cleaner production investments: international experience. Journal of Cleaner Production 2002;11(6):619–28. ISSN: 0959-6526, Elsevier Science]. Decisions are increasingly affected by environmental costs. Application of environmental management accounting (EMA), which integrates two of the main principles of sustainable development – environment and economics, can help to significantly improve corporate decision-making.EMA is becoming increasingly important not only for environmental management decisions and development of environmental management systems (EMS), but also for all types of routine management activities, such as product and process design, cost allocation and control, capital budgeting, purchasing, product pricing and performance evaluation.Companies, which use EMA as a part of integrated management system, are provided with accurate and comprehensive information for the measurement and reporting of environmental performance.This paper investigates the current state of EMA practices in Lithuanian SMEs that have already been or are being implementing EMS and which have implemented CP innovations. In this case, EMA is analysed as an innovative assessment and evaluation method of EMS and CP innovation's environmental impacts and economic benefits. It should be stressed, that there are obvious differences in case studies from different industries. However, review of the results shows that there are many similarities in what improvements can be suggested for environmentally concerned companies both in terms of environmentally sound operation and for reporting of environmental management accounting information.     

A critical assessment of motives for product recovery: the case of engine remanufacturing

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in product take-back, product recovery and the (re-)distribution of these products. The automotive sector, in particular, has a strong history of product recovery operations, such as remanufacturing. Alongside this development, an academic interest in the management of re-use, recycling or remanufacturing has evolved and developed into the field of closed-loop supply chain management. Closed-loop supply chain management, however, is only characterised by a short research history, the earliest contributions can be found on reverse logistics and were published in the early 1990s. Due to the novelty of the field there are still a large number of unsolved research problems. One of these is the question for the rationale behind product recovery operations. This research is based on in-depth case studies within the remanufacturing facilities of a major European Vehicle Manufacturer. The article examines whether the ‘classic’ motives for product recovery are applicable to automotive remanufacturing. It concludes with a summary of the contributions this research makes to theory, to industry and to future research in the field.     

Integration of environmental aspects in product development: a stepwise procedure based on quantitative life cycle assessment

Significant environmental improvements can often be achieved by integrating environmental properties as an optimisation parameter in product development together with more traditional values such as production costs, functionality, aesthetics etc. This paper presents a professional method intended for managers based on quantitative life cycle assessment to identify environmental ‘hot spots’ in a reference product's life cycle and to select new environmentally optimised solutions for a new product. The paper takes its starting point in traditional procedures for product development (idea, analysis, goal definition, concept development and detail development) and shows step by step how the environmental properties of the new product can be optimised and thus contribute to the overall competitiveness of the new product.     

Protection of Antarctic soil environments: A review of the current issues and future challenges for the Environmental Protocol

2016 marked the 25th anniversary of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Terrestrial ice-free areas constitute approximately 0.18% of Antarctica, but represent the most biologically active, historically rich, and environmentally sensitive sites. Antarctic soils are easily disturbed and environmental legacies of human activities are scattered across the continent; many are remnants of the 1950s-1980s when environmental protection was less comprehensive than today. Adoption of the Environmental Protocol in 1991 represented an important and proactive shift in Antarctic governance, securing environmental protection as a fundamental tenet of the Treaty System. Twenty five years on standards of environmental management have greatly improved, yet environmental pressures are compounding. Shortcomings in the implementation of the Environmental Protocol exist due to disparities in cultural values, operational realities, and inconsistent environmental impact assessments among governments and National Antarctic Programs. Non-native species management remains underdeveloped; and there is inadequate representation of all biogeographic regions within the Protected Area system; therefore jeopardizing conservation of Antarctic biodiversity and the integrity of the soil environment. Fundamental improvements are required to address the current shortcomings and ensure effective environmental protection for the next 25 years, including: (1) increased multinational and multidisciplinary collaboration to answer targeted research questions addressing contemporary management challenges, (2) effective communication of science to policy makers and environmental managers to inform decision- making, and (3) making the mandate of long-term monitoring of the terrestrial environment a high priority for all governments signatory to the Antarctic Treaty.     

中国电动自行车动力铅酸蓄电池生命周期评价

以近年来中国用量增长最快的电动自行车动力铅酸蓄电池为对象,建立了生命周期环境影响评价模型,分析了从原材料生产、电池生产、电池运输、电池使用和废旧铅酸蓄电池及含铅废物回收处理全生命周期的环境影响.研究采用了大量企业调研数据和中国本土LCA数据库,以期反映整个中国铅酸蓄电池产业链的技术工艺和环境管理水平现状.结果表明,原材料生产和电池使用是资源(含能源)消耗的主要阶段,贡献了电池全生命周期绝大部分的环境影响.原材料生产贡献最多的全生命周期环境影响包括非生物资源耗竭(699%)、富营养化(89%)、光化学烟雾(98%)、臭氧层破坏(117%)、人体毒性(159%)和生态毒性(484%).电池使用过程的电耗间接消耗了83%的一次能源,相应地贡献了最多的气候变暖潜值(86%)和酸化潜值(70%).废旧铅酸蓄电池和含铅废物回收再生铅可抵消很大一部分原材料生产造成的环境影响.延长电池寿命,减少电池生产金属用量及提高废旧电池回收处理过程的工艺技术和污染控制水平也是减少铅酸蓄电池生命周期环境影响的关键.     

Development of environmental performance indicators for textile process and product

The increasing demand for environmental performance evaluation of industry requires development of sector-specific environmental performance indicators (EPIs). For the consumer product manufacturing industry, in this case the textile industry, the need to evaluate environmental performance both from process and product life cycle perspectives leads to development of EPIs of process and product dimensions. Such types of EPIs have been developed, with best achievable values being identified, by this study for cotton woven products and wet processing. An in-depth discussion has been presented concerning problems in developing and applying EPIs, while areas for further research are also recommended.     

Integrated design of remanufacturable products based on product profiles

The mass of products at end of life becomes a real problem for the environment. Thus, industrials are turning their attention to strategies for the management of products at the end-of-life. The remanufacturing is an end-of-life strategy that reduces the use of raw materials and saves energy while preserving the value added during the design and manufacturing processes. But, in most of the cases, remanufacturing processes must be adapted to existing products because products have not been designed to be remanufacturable. However, the process adaptations increase costs and this can lead the overall benefits obtained with the remanufacturing process to be reconsidered.The aim of our research was to propose an approach for the designers to integrate remanufacturing constraints throughout the design process; mainly in the earliest phases. The eco-methodology assists designers in two steps. They are first helped in improving the reliability of a remanufacturing end-of-life strategy for that product on the bases of the analysis of the project context. Then they are guided towards a product whose properties are adapted to remanufacturing. Our approach is built upon remanufacturable product profiles (RPP) encapsulating the knowledge on both remanufacturing contexts and remanufactured product properties.For the product profile definition, eight categories of design criteria were identified based on a survey of about 30 products successfully remanufactured. A statistical analysis was made to identify clusters of products. Then, product profiles were extracted while examining the links between internal and external criteria for each group.This methodology is supported by the tool REPRO² (REmanufacturig with PROduct PROfiles) that we have developed, which should lead to a real integrated design of remanufacturable products. Indeed, designers assisted with this tool, made early design by product profiling. It gives specific information to improve the internal technical definition of the product under study from a remanufacturing point of view.     

废旧电脑设备的资源化研究

随着人口的增长,固体废物对于环境的污染越来越大,而科学技术的飞速发展,导致了电脑设备更新换代越来越快.本文分析了废旧电脑设备的环境危害和主要特点,资源化回收利用方法和回收程序,对比分析不同国家对待废旧电脑设备所采取的政策,然后详细介绍了我国废旧电脑设备管理与回收利用对策,其根本解决对策是加强立法、强化管理、健全回收网络和依靠科技进步.     

Effective pollution prevention in healthcare environments

The integration of pollution prevention (P2) into modern municipal wastewater by-laws has forced discharging facilities to rethink how they select, purchase, process and dispose of chemical products and wastes. This paper focuses on some of the key challenges of P2 planning and toxics reduction in healthcare environments. It will also provide insight and lessons learned by way of a P2 planning case study at one of Toronto's largest multi-facility healthcare institutions and their efforts and successes in complying with the City of Toronto's Sewer Use By-Law P2 Planning requirements. This case study demonstrates how P2 practitioners, facility, housekeeping and procurement managers were successful in leveraging the supply chain to identify non-toxic alternatives for product substitution. As a result, substituted products were effectively and efficiently incorporated into maintenance and operation functions, resulting in the reduction of sanitary effluent discharge levels of toxic surfactants by over 90% within a 2-year period. Such P2 success stories illustrate how effective P2 planning can be achieved with minimal capital cost and without complex ‘end of pipe’ treatment solutions, resulting in rapid cost recovery and tangible environmental benefits within a short time frame.     

EcoDesign and The Ten Golden Rules: generic advice for merging environmental aspects into product development

The most important moment in product development is when demands and specifications are decided for the product that is being planned. The specification defines the goal for the product development process. It is a very important steering opportunity for the continuing work and for environmentally driven demands that are to be addressed in the product development phase. The designers are said to have the key to sustainable product development through EcoDesign. Many tools have been developed in order to help them to achieve this objective. However, most tools are seldom used primarily because of a lack of sustainability oriented requirements in specifications for products. If there is no demand for improved environmental performance, then there is no need for EcoDesign tools. The lack of market demand for environmentally improved products is therefore, a crucial factor. In other words: It makes no sense to grab a screwdriver from your toolbox if you have a nail in your hand. On the other hand if you have a hammer in your hand you tend to see everything as nails! The hypothesis of this paper is that there is a strong need for a tool to facilitate the integration of reasonable environmental demands into the product development process. The presented tool, “The Ten Golden Rules,” can be helpful in this effort. A helpful tool must be well adapted to the task and therefore it is important that the individual product developer/designer can develop personal versions from the generic guidelines. The Ten Golden Rules provide such a possibility. They provide a common foundation, for all in the team, which can be used as a base and guidelines for development of situation specific product-design challenges.     

厦门市环境监测管理信息系统开发

以厦门市环境监测管理信息系统为例，介绍了计算机管理信息系统在环境监测业务管理方面的应用，探讨了市级环境监测部门合理的信息管理构架。     

我国水污染物排放标准体系调整的比较探讨

从我国水污染物排放标准现状出发，分析其结构特点，剖析了现行排放标准执行过程中的若干问题，并与美国水污染物排放标准体系进行比较，提出适应我国21世纪环境管理需要的水污染物排放标准体系调整的基本设想。主要包括：水污染物排放标准建立在经济可行的技术基础上，脱离与功能区对应的关系，采用吨产品排放限值，缩小综合排放标准扩大行业排放标准，逐步按工艺、产品种类制定排放标准。