Recycling
of Scrapped Electronics Studied
ESD
Researchers Develop New Metrics for
Electronics-Recycling Processes
By
Nancy
Stauffer - October 16, 2004
CAMBRIDGE,
Mass.--MIT researchers have developed
new metrics for assessing the performance
of firms that recycle scrapped electronic
equipment, a major source of toxic
pollutants.
The metrics focus not just on how
much of a firm's incoming waste is
processed but also on the quality
and reusability of the materials produced
from it, a consideration critical
to overall resource efficiency.
To assess the performance of electronics
recycling firms, people have focused
mainly on the most easily measured
indicator: the fraction of a firm's
incoming waste stream that ends up
as landfill. But minimizing landfill
is not enough, according to the MIT
researchers.
"Recycling companies will tell
their customers, 'Virtually none of
your material is going to landfill.'
While we recognize that that's important,
we also know that not all end uses
are equal," said Randolph
E. Kirchain Jr., an assistant
professor in the Department of Materials
Science and Engineering and the Engineering
Systems Division. "For example,
it's preferable to take a pound of
recovered plastic and use it to make
new components than to use it as roadbed
filler."
The quality of the recovered material
determines its potential uses. If
the quality is sufficiently high,
the material can be reused by manufacturers,
reducing the need to extract and consume
new materials.
Almost a billion obsolete computers
and other electronic devices are scrapped
each year, and four out of five of
them end up in basements or on sidewalks
rather than in recycling facilities.
But the electronics recycling business
is expected to grow quickly. Regulations
on handling large-scale electronics
waste streams are becoming more stringent,
and public concern is growing about
the shipping of electronics to countries
not equipped to handle toxic and hazardous
materials.
Kirchain worked with Frank
Field III, a senior research associate
in the Center for Technology, Policy
and Industrial Development, and Jennifer
R. Atlee, a graduate student in the
Engineering Systems Division, and
colleagues in the Materials Systems
Laboratory to develop measures of
assessing electronics recycling firms.
The team drew on its 10 years' experience
studying another recycling industry--automobiles.
To identify recycling firms and processes
that achieve good materials recovery,
the researchers use price as an indicator
of quality. "We hypothesize that
the price that's received for those
[recovered] materials is an indicator
of the quality of the materials. A
buyer will pay more for materials
they can use in manufacturing components
than for materials going into a roadbed,"
said Kirchain.
They also used two value-based metrics-value
retention and value-added. Value retention
measures how well the value of materials
is maintained all the way from their
first use to their recovery. Value
added compares the price of the recovered
material to the price the recycler
paid or was paid to take it away.
In case studies of three U.S. firms,
the researchers found that the value-based
metrics worked well and were easy
to use. The researchers stress that
their materials-only analysis is just
a baseline and does not incorporate
the effect of device or component
reuse. They also note that other criteria
could be used to assess the performance
of recyclers. Examples include toxicity,
emissions, energy use, and operating
costs. In the long run, a variety
of independent metrics could lead
to significant improvements in recycling
efficiency.
"We're interested in measures
of performance that will lead to the
best electronics-recycling practices.
But if we really understand the recycling
process, we may also be able to help
manufacturers of original equipment
make design and materials choices
that will make recovering, recycling,
and reusing materials less expensive,"
said Kirchain.
This research marks the beginning
of a long-term MIT effort to develop
analytical methods and tools that
the electronics industry can use to
identify and select materials, product
designs and process technologies that
will improve the sustainability of
materials use. It was supported by
the Alliance for Global Sustainability.
|
