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Keywords:Waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) Energy using products (EuP) Ecodesign Recyclability a b s t r a c t This paper analyses the relationships between product design and end-of-life treatment, but also between product and waste policies, based on a relevant case study. Commercial refrigerating appliance is a suitable case study due to its recent inclusions in the scope of two important European pieces of legislation, the Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment Directive and the Ecodesign Directive. Commercial refrigerating appliances are business to business products with several peculiarities such as: customized design, high range of dimensions, content of complex electronic components and parts difficult to treat and recycle. The method used for the analysis: formalization, through literature review and survey of recycling plants, of treatments applied to the studied waste product; investigation of problems and difficulties in the recycling plants; identification of possible product-related improvement strategies; definition of workable product design options. For the analysis of actual recycling practices, data has been gathered through interviews with four European recyclers, and by consulting manufacturers and other experts of these products. Several potential design options to improve the recyclability of these products are identified and discussed, such as the design for dismantling of some key components, the restriction of some blowing agents and the labeling of insulation foams. The article finally shows how the enforcement of these design features, in particular through mandatory product policies such as the Ecodesign Directive, could facilitate their end-of-life treatment and hence ease the compliance with the waste legislation.

Thanks to food technology, the production of cold tomato soups such as salmorejo, a traditional Spanish dish, has become industrialised. Thermal treatments play an important role in ready-to-eat meals, prolonging their shelf-life. Radiofrequency (RF) heating is less energy-intensive than conventional heat exchangers and has been successfully used to pasteurise food; novel applications, however, provide results at laboratory or pilot scale, so conclusions might not be translatable to industry. In this study, a prospective Life-Cycle Assessment of salmorejo pasteurised using RF was performed to highlight the relevance of upscaling and to compare its environmental impacts with those of conventional pasteurisation. “Gate-to-gate” results show that the pilot has greater environmental impacts due to its greater energy consumption, as thermal energy is not recovered. The packing and landfill of organic waste exhibit the highest impacts at industrial scale. RF technology does not imply significant environmental improvements versus conventional pasteurisation. Potential changes in the energy background of future scenarios have relevant consequences in the environmental impacts. “Farm-to-factory-gate” analysis highlights ingredients and tomato valorisation as the most impacting stages. The prospective LCA of scaled up scenarios constitutes a tool for environmental screening in food ecodesign, contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 12.

Different policies with the goal of reducing energy consumption and other environmental impacts in the building sector coexist in Europe. Sustainable product polices, such as the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Directives, have recently broadened the scope of their target product groups from a strict product approach to extended product and system approaches. Indeed, there is a potential for greater savings when the focus is at a system level rather than on regulating individual products. Product policies for space and water heating systems have recently introduced and implemented the package label, which is a modular approach, standing between the extended product and the system approaches. This paper presents a systematic analysis of the different system approaches of various policies from an engineering perspective. It analyses in detail the package concept and its features through a practical application using a real case study. It focuses on how the package concept can support decisions made in the building design phase and, in particular, how can support the choice of appropriate components based on estimating system performances. This brings building engineers and regulators closer regarding the use of more consistent data on energy performance. Finally, this paper highlights the need to improve the alignment of the building-related product policies with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.