Evaluating obsolete electronic products for disassembly, material recovery and environmental impact through a decision support system

Abstract

As personal computers and electronic products get obsolete and loose value for the original owner they are being channeled into recycling stream for reuse, remanufacturing and asset recovery. Product take-back programs set up reverse logistics processes for such owners to return equipment they no longer want. In the electronics industry, generally these programs are run by specific manufacturers, but any brand of equipment can be returned. Due to this spurt in end-of-life product recycling programs a new problem has been encountered on the business side. An increasing number of electronic product, characterized by different model, year, brand, type, material etc., are entering recycler's warehouses. To attain sustainable and environmentally sound product recycling these products have to be first disassembled and recycled for material recovery. Recyclers are also required to ensure that hazardous waste is treated separately while recycling. Lack of information on disassembly methods and material information on these products could lead to incoherent decisions. This could affect profit margins as well as lead to inappropriate end-of-life treatment. An information system is therefore needed to aid decision making for adopting best possible end-of-life strategy for electronic products. Proposed system provides easy access to recyclers on different electronic models about optimal disassembly sequence, cost and time, gives information on hazardous and precious element contents, and composition of different components. This paper presents the results of such a system developed at Texas Tech University and tested at a recycling facility. This system further allows environmental impact assessment of the electronic products based on their material inventory using Eco-Indicator 99 scores. These scores can be of significance in determining products or components which have the highest environment impact and should be given special attention while recycling. A personal computer, laptop, printer, server and a flat panel monitor were analyzed for this study. System architecture, product information and system results are presented in this paper.

State of the art review of quality, reliability and maintenance issues in closed-loop supply chains with remanufacturing

“…Shrivastava et al (2005) proposed a system to access information on quality levels, disassembly sequences, space cost, hazardous and precious element contents, etc. In addition, this paper proposed a decision-making system which uses material contents and quality levels to reach a rating score to recommend the end of life strategy.…”

“…Proper design helps disassembly of failed or returned products which leads to better reuse (Lambert 2003). Shrivastava et al (2005) proposed a decision-making system to optimise the disassembly strategy. Their system helps the re-manufacturers to assess the time duration of the recycling process.…”

“…The results indicated that the people near the returning facility accepted to return their products for a lower incentive while people far away needed a higher incentive. (4) Computer hardware: Shrivastava et al (2005) proposed a decision-making software to assess and ensure the best possible EOL strategy for obsolete electronic products used in remanufacturing. A case study is conducted at a recycling facility to analyse personal computers, laptops, printers, servers and flat-panel monitors.…”

“…A valid information system is needed to improve product take-back levels and to attain long-term sustainability. Shrivastava et al (2005) proposed decision-making software at the Advanced Manufacturing lab at Texas Tech University to assess and ensure the maximum possible EOL strategy for the obsolete electronic products used for remanufacturing. A case study is conducted and tested at a recycling facility.…”

A review of the state of the art in tools and techniques used to evaluate remanufacturing feasibility

“…Quantitative metrics have been used within several of the tools to calculate environmental impacts. The Eco-indicator 99 metric developed by PRé Consultants (2000), which considers damage to human health, ecosystems and resources, has been used by Shrivastava et al (2005) and Zhang et al (2004), other methods express environmental costs as pure economic values (Ghazalli and Murata, 2011). Social factors have been partially assessed by Shrivastava et al (2005) and Zhang et al (2004) within the eco-indicator 99 metric, which includes human health scores (PRé Consultants, 2000).…”