Ecological Technology: Blueprint Principles☆

Susan Bolton , in Encyclopedia of Ecology (Second Edition), 2019

Textile recycling

Nutrient and textile (re)cycling is another major ecological principle. Material is conserved by the continual reuse of materials and the transfer of those materials betwixt organic and inorganic states through biogeochemical cycles. Organic and inorganic materials cycle through the organization appearing in different locations and forms through time. Waste disposal is seldom an issue in a functioning ecosystem equally the output from i system is used as input to another. Natural biogeochemical cycles mobilize, transport, and shop material in the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Producers, consumers, and decomposers transfer organic matter and nutrients amongst themselves and the storage compartments. Many traditional homo engineering designs lead to the aggregating of waste materials that cannot exist reused past the original process and can contaminate other processes. Ecological engineering designs seek to minimize waste production and to utilise wastes (textile not related to the primary part of the design) as inputs for other processes. One example of this is using ecological processes to clean up waste products such every bit using wetlands to treat wastewater or phytoremediation to clean upward soil contagion.

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Reuse of tire constituents in concrete

Kyriacos Neocleous , ... Kypros Pilakoutas , in Tire Waste material and Recycling, 2021

Abstruse

This affiliate introduces the use of end-of-life tire-extracted materials into concrete mixtures and provides guidelines on the successful reuse of materials such as tire steel fibers and cords, tire safety particles, and tire fabric polymer fibers in innovative concrete mixtures. Incorporation of end-of-life tire materials in concrete tin take meaning effects on the material properties and this chapter discusses the near important studied properties based on end-of-life tire fabric incorporated into the physical mixture along with recommended dosages for optimal functioning. The chapter focuses on the evolution of steel cobweb-reinforced concrete, rubberized concrete, and steel-fiber-reinforced rubberized concrete as well as cloth fiber-reinforced concrete, including backdrop of the end-of-life tire materials used, mix blueprint process guidelines, and a word on the fresh and hardened concrete properties every bit modified by the incorporation of end-of-life tire materials into concrete.

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Life bicycle costing as a manner to include economical sustainability in the circular economy. New perspectives from resource-intensive industries

M. Sonia Medina-Salgado , ... Fernando E. García-Muiña , in Round Economic system and Sustainability, 2022

1 Introduction

In contempo years, the theme of the circular economy (CE) has been the subject of numerous studies. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation defines CE equally an economic organisation aimed at the reuse of materials in subsequent production cycles, minimizing waste ( MacArthur, 2013). In contrast, a linear economy model focuses on a linear process of extraction, production, consumption, and waste. The linear economy prototype emphasizes economical objectives at the expense of the ecological and social dimensions. On the contrary, the CE paradigm consists of a airtight-loop regenerative economical model aimed at reducing the impact of production processes (Sauvé et al., 2016). This model assumes primary importance in the current context of scarcity of resources and of increasing attention to environmental issues.

The concept of CE is strongly continued to the concept of sustainability. Some authors identify CE every bit the optimal solution or, in other cases, a necessary condition for a path of sustainability. Other bookish papers, instead, consider CE every bit one amidst several approaches to achieve sustainable development goals (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). In lodge to connect the two concepts and to define a practice of circularity as sustainable, it is not plenty to limit the analysis to a mere environmental cess, it is essential to consider the 3 pillars of sustainability: ecology, economical, and social. Indeed, in a business organisation context, some circular practices may have a positive environmental impact but might non be economically sustainable, reducing the competitive advantage of the company and its ability to create value. The environmental sustainability cess should therefore ever be supported past an equally comprehensive economic sustainability assessment.

In order to accost this issue, the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is one of the nearly widely used methodologies in sustainability evaluation (Guinée, 2016). The LCSA is an integration framework of unlike models that measures the performance of a production or process with respect to the triple bottom line. The LCSA combines three tools that run across the three pillars of sustainable evolution: the life cycle cess (LCA) for the environmental impact, the life cycle costing (LCC) for the economic impact, and the social life bike assessment (Southward-LCA) for the social impact (Kloepffer, 2008). LCC allows evaluation of the economical consequences of a decision on the life cycle of a product, in terms of costs, revenues, and cash flows (Bierer et al., 2015). Despite the potential of this tool, its application in manufacturing contexts is still express due to the complication of the analysis and the lack of consensus.

The purpose of this research is to verify, through an operational case, the effectiveness of the LCC in assessing circularity from an economic perspective. To achieve this objective, an aggregate LCC calculation model will be practical to a major tile manufacturer in the Sassuolo ceramic district in Italy. The model will focus on vi ceramic body scenarios and information technology volition evaluate a specific practice of circularity: the reintroduction of fired scrap in the production process. Through this practice, the relationship between circularity and economical sustainability will be investigated and the effectiveness of the LCC as an bear upon assessment tool will exist analyzed.

The chapter is organized equally follows. Section 2 presents a concise literature review on the themes of CE and LCC as a tool for assessing economic sustainability. Section 3 illustrates the research objectives of the affiliate and the methodological framework used to address them. Department four introduces the case study of an important ceramic tile manufacturing company in which LCC tools have been operationally applied. Department five illustrates the results obtained from the application of the LCC to the manufacturing context proposed in the previous section. Finally, Department half-dozen offers some terminal remarks and highlights the main limitations of the research.

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Exploring resource-service systems—Beyond product-service systems and toward configurations of round strategies, business organization models, and actors

Fenna Blomsma , ... Geraldine Brennan , in Circular Economic system and Sustainability, 2022

iii.1 Analytical framework (1) Resource States

Resources "menstruum" through our economies and take on different forms along the way. Equally a result, it is not always clear when we say "reuse" whether we mean the reuse of materials, or whether we hateful the reuse of products. Likewise, "recycling," in the colloquial sense, can cover both a new life for materials besides as for products (compare, for example, the employ of recycling and reuse in ( Krystofik et al., 2018 and Lazarevic and Valve, 2017), but also (Corporate Citizenship, 2014). When we describe circular strategies, therefore, information technology is helpful to have a clear understanding of exactly what it is that cycles.

For this, in line with Blomsma and Tennant (2020), we use "material entropy" (Boulding, 1966) to describe the degree to which materials are distributed and diffuse or are concentrated and organized. This results in distinguishing between 3 resources states. The commencement resource country is that of "particles," or elements, substances, molecules, or materials. Through the human activity of organizing, using technological or logistical means, (majority) materials are created. Side by side, "parts" are created, roofing the level of components, modules, and (sub)assemblies. This is where materials are given an intermediate level of organization: components are more organized than materials but are not yet sufficiently organized to be useful on their own. Finally, components are assembled and go "products," from which end-users can derive value.

Post-obit the rest of the industrial life cycle in line with lifecycle thinking, we see that at the end-of-utilise the old organization processes are partly reversed: products lose their grade through a temporary (partial) disassembly to allow for repair, upgrading, or remaking processes. These processes negate a production's limiting state. Finally, when the product reaches its end-of-life it loses its loftier organization level permanently. At this betoken, if possible, components are "cannibalized," and the residue is either landfilled or recycled. In improver to this, round systems tin can have outputs to other systems where resources keep to exist used. Remember of using wastes equally inputs, or cascading components and products for alternate apply. As such, many unlike circular strategies can be office of a single system.

The journey of resources through the economic system tin can be visualized every bit the Resource States framework, depicted in Fig. ane. This framework captures both the dissimilar levels of organization of resource, and the dynamism of their transitions as they move through the economic system.

Fig. 1

Fig. 1. Resource states framework: depicting the industrial life bike, the flow of resources through the economy, and the different levels of organization these resources have on during this journeying.

 Image: Authors.

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Drove Approaches

Marc J. Rogoff PhD , in Solid Waste matter Recycling and Processing (Second Edition), 2014

Waste matter Reduction and Reuse

The following department provides a brief discussion on source reduction and reuse, including examples of how communities are encouraging residents to rethink what waste material is and to aim toward the concept of "zero waste." Source reduction and reuse involves reeducating municipal staff and residents with the goal of optimizing, to the fullest extent possible, the reduction of "waste" materials at the source or the productive reuse of those materials we now consider as waste.

Waste Reduction

Activities and practices that reduce the amount of wastes that are created are usually classified by solid waste professionals as "waste reduction." Waste matter reduction differs from the other two waste diversion techniques (recycling and composting) considering the other methods deal with wastes later on the wastes have been generated.

Waste reduction is the highest priority for solid waste management co-ordinate to the solid waste hierarchy in the Us and is preferred over recycling and composting considering the social, environmental, and economic costs are typically lower for waste reduction [1]. All three methods avert the cost of disposing the diverted materials as garbage, but recycling and composting oft require significant boosted expenses for collecting and processing the materials. Chiefly, efforts to reduce and reuse waste matter translate directly into cost savings equally the disposal tonnage and associated costs are reduced. Drove costs can also potentially exist reduced.

Source reduction is dependent on several factors including:

•

Changing the usage and purchasing habits of residents and the customs.

•

Changes that businesses undertake voluntarily to reduce the amount of potential waste cloth associated with products.

•

Increasing internal reuse of materials, donations, or exchange of onetime for new items.

These ideas are discussed further in the following sections.

Extended Producer Responsibility

Briefly, extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a general policy approach which aims to shift the cost of managing consumer packaging from local solid waste agencies to those manufacturers who are producing these products. Those promoting EPR assert four major advantages for EPR as a preferred policy approach for cease-of-life direction for packaging and printed paper [two]:

•

EPR causes producers to change packaging blueprint and selection, leading to increased recyclability and/or less packaging use.

•

EPR provides additional funds for recycling programs, resulting in higher recycling rates.

•

EPR improves recycling program efficiency, leading to less cost, which provides a do good to social club.

•

EPR results in a fairer system of waste management in which individual consumers pay the cost of their ain consumption, rather than general taxpayers.

In the United States, more than seventy producer responsibility laws accept been pro-mulgated in 32 states including ten categories of consumer products such as motorcar batteries, mobile phones, paint, pesticide containers, rug, electronics, thermostats, and fluorescent lamps [3]. In recent years, there has been a rising tide of states which have passed e-waste EPRs as a consequence of the rapid replacement of these products. Several states accept enacted landfill bans which take had an increasing positive impact of product recycling. However, as of this appointment, no state has enacted an EPR law of programs extending to packaging or printed paper.

Equally a result of failed voluntary packaging have-back programs in the Europe, public policies were instituted to require manufacturers to be responsible for these materials. In 1994, the European union enacted the Packaging Waste material Directive (94/62/EC) requiring its fellow member states to develop regulations on the prevention, reuse, and recycling of packaging waste product. These regulations vary from country to country, only near countries mandate that manufacturers pay some or all of the costs of packaging collection and recycling in the form of producer financing, shared costs, tradable credits, or packaging taxes [2]. Many countries in Northern Europe (Austria and German) take decided to develop collection programs for packaging completely separate from solid waste matter. Shared systems, which split up or share municipal authority with manufacturers, are typical of programs existing in Southern Europe [4].

Effigy 3.1 shows packaging recycling rates in European countries every bit of 2009. The information bear witness that 17 countries target of the Packaging Waste Directive (2004/12/EC) is to recycle at to the lowest degree 55% of packaging waste generated, and two countries missed the 2001 target to recycle at least 25%. The highest performing programs in contempo years include Kingdom of denmark (84%), Belgium (79%), The netherlands (72%), Germany (71%), and Austria (lxx%) [4].

Figure iii.1. Packaging recycling and target rates in EU countries

 [4].

EPR legislation is in existence in all of Canada'south 10 provinces, with iv (Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and British Columbia) having programs in identify. Over again, these programs resulted from similar failures of voluntary have-dorsum programs. Ontario and Quebec require manufacturers to pay 50% of the program costs, Manitoba 80%, and British Columbia 100%. In addition, all provinces have enacted deposit systems for beer containers, with eight provinces having similar deposit laws for soft potable containers.

Product Stewardship

Product stewardship is a voluntary initiative aimed at restructuring the way manufacturers pattern and market products and so that they optimize recycling of materials, minimize packaging, and actually design their products in a way that will enable complete recycling of the used product in lieu of disposing the used product. Information technology is substantially a "cradle to cradle" strategy instead of a "cradle to grave" approach.

The Production Stewardship Establish (PSI) is a U.s.a., nonprofit membership-based arrangement, located in Boston. PSI works with land and local government agencies to partner with manufacturers, retailers, environmental groups, federal agencies, and other key stakeholders to reduce the health and environmental impacts of consumer products. PSI takes a unique product stewardship approach to solve waste direction issues by encouraging product design changes and mediating stakeholder dialogues. Several states accept or are considering initiatives and laws that would encourage or crave manufacturers to better their product designs in this way.

Economical prosperity has increased per capita spending over the past several years and increased the demand for local governments to provide expanded recycling and disposal programs. Production stewardship is a concept designed to alleviate the burden on local governments of end-of-life product management. Product stewardship is a product-centered approach that emphasizes a shared responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of products. This approach calls on the various waste material generators to help minimize their wastes [iii]:

•

Manufacturers: To reduce employ of toxic substances, to design for durability, reuse, and recyclability, and to take increasing responsibleness for the cease-of-life management of products they produce.

•

Retailers: To use product providers who offer greater environmental operation, to brainwash consumers on environmentally preferable products, and to enable consumers to render products for recycling.

•

Consumers: To make responsible buying choices that consider ecology impacts, to buy and apply products efficiently, and to recycle the products they no longer need.

•

Government: To launch cooperative efforts with manufacture, to utilize market place leverage through purchasing programs for evolution of products with stronger environmental attributes, and to develop product stewardship legislation for selected products.

The principles of product stewardship recommend that the role of regime is to provide leadership in promoting the practices of product stewardship through procurement and market evolution. Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) is a practise that can be used to fulfill this role. EPP involves purchasing products or services that have reduced negative effects on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. They include products that have recycled content, reduce waste product, use less energy, are less toxic, and are more than durable.

Table 3.1 provides details on a few examples of programs undertaken past Northward American producers of consumer packaged goods.

Table 3.one. Illustrative Voluntary Product Stewardship Programs

Company or Organization Programme
Coca-Cola Visitor Municipal grants for beverage collection bins. Recycling education
Pepsi Cola Visitor Dream Car Initiative to collect beverage containers at away from home locations (bins and kiosks)
Reduce weight of Aquafina brand plastic canteen
Target Stores Store recycling bins for cans, glass containers, plastic bottles, and plastic bags
British Columbia Dairy Council Deposit return locations for dairy containers
Publix Grocery Store recycling bins for cans, glass containers, plastic bottles and plastic bags
Best Buy and Staples Shop recycling bins for toner cartridges, e-waste, and prison cell phones
Walmart Pressed suppliers similar Proctor & Run a risk to reduce packaging
Proctor and Take a chance Increased concentration of Tide laundry detergent to sell in smaller packages
Zephyhills Water Redesigned h2o bottles for reduced size of cap and plastic in bottle

Local, state, and federal government agencies tin can and do use their tremendous purchasing power to influence the products that manufacturers bring to the market place. In the last decade or and then, most efforts accept focused on encouraging procurement of products made from recycled content. The goal of these procurement programs is to create viable, long-term markets for recovered materials. The EPA has developed a list of designated products and associated recycled content recommendations for federal agencies to utilize when making purchases. These are known equally Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines [5].

To appointment, EPA has developed more than 60 guidelines that fall into the general categories of structure products, landscaping products, nonpaper office products, paper and paper products, park and recreation products, transportation products, vehicular products, and miscellaneous products [5]. For example, federal agencies are instructed to buy printing or writing paper that contains at least 30% postconsumer recycled content.

Cipher Waste Initiatives

Many municipalities have investigated and taken on the concept of "Zero Waste material." This is currently the most comprehensive accommodating way of looking at the concept of source reduction or waste product reduction, and in that location are many sources of information and examples of how a solid waste product agency could consider adopting a goal of this type, for advancing waste reduction. It is important to annotation that "Zero Waste" does non mean that all waste materials volition disappear, but that, to the maximum extent possible, source reduction, recycling, and waste product diversion volition accept removed all materials that tin be utilized in some fashion. Instead of seeing used materials as garbage in need of disposal, discards are seen as potentially valuable resources. Nil Waste material is a "whole system" arroyo to resources management that maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption, and ensures that products are reused.

Reuse Programs

Bandy shops and/or thrift stores provide a good venue for promoting the reuse of household items. Many communities take breezy reuse centers located at their waste drove/driblet-off centers, some of which are operated by volunteers. Promoting the reuse of building materials is too prevalent in communities looking for ways to divert materials from disposal. Some other reuse avenue becoming more popular is the use of web site exchanges, such as the FreeCycle Network and Craigslist.

Community Cooperatives and Exchanges

Many communities are initiating cooperatives or exchanges for specific products or interests—such as bicycles or books—in order to facilitate knowledge about a product or subject, assist in repairs, and generally promoting a sense of sustainability. An example of community cooperatives and exchanges is the Bandy Shop operated by the Center for Corruption and Rape Emergencies (C.A.R.E.) in Charlotte Canton, Florida (Figure three.ii). Project ReUse is a community try to ameliorate the quality of life in Charlotte County, Florida. C.A.R.Due east. Projection ReUse is a collaborative project with the Charlotte Canton Environmental and Extension Services to go along usable items out of the local landfill, and at the same time, augment funding to assist victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other trigger-happy crimes. In that location are two ReUse stores in the county both colocated with the County's transfer stations used for collecting recyclables. Participants can drop off usable items, such as clothes, furniture, or kitchen supplies free of charge at the C.A.R.E. stores.

Effigy iii.2. Charlotte Canton'due south C.A.R.E. store.

 (Roger Lescrynski)

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Armed forces Solid and Hazardous Wastes—Assessment of Bug at Military Facilities and Base Camps

Victor F. Medina , Scott A. Waisner , in Waste, 2011

two.4 Remediation

Soil and groundwater remediation projects accept a large bear on on the amount of chancy waste matter generated by a facility. Increasingly, facilities are investigating methods to minimize wastes from remediation projects. In 2010, Wrobel and Gross [xv] listed several approaches, including comprehensive sampling, to allow for more refined separation and nomenclature of excavated soil and other material as chancy or nonhazardous, surgical excavation to allow for less hazardous waste generation, the use of removed trees as fuel instead of landfilling, segregation of metal materials for recycling, and beneficial reuse of materials on mail whenever possible, such every bit reusing excavated soil for on-site grading and backfill. The application of these approaches to a large soil remediation project at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds resulted in a reduction of 1700 ydthree (1300 m3) of total waste generated, a 700 yd3 (536 thou3) reduction of chancy waste material produced, a saving of 75 copse from removal, heating energy equivalent to eight homes for i year produced from the apply of forest from excavated trees for fuel, 15,000 lbs (six.8 t where t refers to metric tonne) of aluminum recycled, and the recycling of 14 × teniii tons (12 × 10three t) of excavated soil every bit clean make full.

The following instance studies of Joint Base of operations Lewis-McCord and the Pictanny Arsenal illustrate the solid and hazardous waste product generation at two different types of military facilities.

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Achieving environmental sustainability with ecodesign practices and tools for new product development

Daniel Jugend , ... Paulo Augusto Cauchick-Miguel , in Innovation Strategies in Ecology Science, 2020

2 Ecodesign and new product development

Most companies that aim to take a robust NPD commonly prefer an organizational construction for the business organization process, which is typically divided into stages combined with decision points, called gates (technical and managerial). Actual production development occurs in stages whereas gates appraise the progress of projects with regard to various operation measures for their continuity (Cooper, 2014). The process may vary in terms of the number of stages and level of details, depending on the type of production, degree of innovation, and product complexity, among other issues (Clark and Fujimoto, 1991).

Structuring and managing product evolution to achieve effective results is not a simple task, because product evolution is unremarkably interdisciplinary and multifunctional and should be conducted in an integrated way. Moreover, information technology is relevant to consider environmental issues in this process. NPD processes accept evolved to consider and reduce the environmental impacts of the product during its life bike, every bit discussed in this section.

In the past two decades, NPD processes have addressed other NPD-related concerns including environmental problems, such every bit the introduction of ecodesign strategies and other best practices such as product service systems (PSS) and the circular economy, to integrate environmental concerns into the NPD. Therefore, more recent NPD processes accept been interested in the ecology impact of products in the final stages of the process (the cease of the piping, e.k., the destination of products and packaging at the stop of their life, less consumption of materials, reuse of materials through remanufacturing, and recycling and reuse strategies). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) also developed a standard to guide companies in integrating environmental aspects into NPD: ISO/TR 14062 (2002). Some publications ( Almeida et al., 2010; Dangelico and Pujari, 2010) accept highlighted the importance of identifying means in which companies may use environmental sustainability practices in new production evolution projects. In this sense, the piece of work of González-Benito and González-Benito (2005) identified the following set of principles that should be observed to develop environmentally sustainable products:

(i)

replacement of polluting and hazardous materials;

(ii)

development of projects that focus not simply on reducing resource consumption just as well on diminishing waste product generation during the production and distribution stages of products to consumers;

(iii)

production blueprint aimed at reducing the consumption of resources and generation of waste matter during the use of products by consumers; and

(iv)

product development focusing on dismantling, reuse, and recycling.

Notwithstanding, the conclusion to develop environmentally sustainable products is non easy. Although many consumers wish the products to be environmentally sustainable, few are prepared to pay for environmentally sustainable products (Luttropp and Lagerstedt, 2006). Luchs et al., (2012) too highlighted the merchandise-offs that many companies confront in the development of environmentally sustainable products, product costs, terminal prices, and functions the production can perform in add-on to its ecology impact.

Ecodesign aims to back up companies and designers in developing eco-efficient products by integrating environmental requirements into the initial phases of the NPD process while refraining from negatively affecting the traditional, commercial characteristics of the products, such as design, sales price, and reliability, amid others. Ecodesign is as well about designing and creating products in a greener way, adopting cleaner technologies, and preventing the generation of waste.

Ecodesign has emerged with an environmental sustainability dimension because its main purpose is to reduce ecology impacts in activities within the telescopic of NPD and the product life cycle. In the context of NPD and environmental direction, inquiry into ecodesign intensified in the late 1990s with the emergence of concepts such as production life-wheel management and life-cycle assessment (LCA) (Joshi, 1999). The term originated in the U.s. in the electronics sector when the industry started to pay more than attention to the touch of its products along the NPD process. The sector sought to improve the use of resources, aiming to reduce waste and produce products that were less aggressive to the environment. Another reason was related to customer involvement: in particular, the search for light-green products. From that time, increasing market place need and legislation take pushed companies from various industrial sectors all over the world toward green and eco-innovation practices (Bocken et al., 2014; Dalhammar, 2016). Whereas eco-innovation is concerned with environmental innovations for the development of new ideas, beliefs, products, and processes in the technological, organizational, social, and institutional dimensions (Rennings, 2000), ecodesign focuses on the NPD process.

In general, ecodesign can exist defined equally the consideration and application of ecology aspects in the NPD process (Karlsson and Luttropp, 2006). The main purpose of ecodesign is to design products considering the minimization of their environmental touch during the life wheel and also to reduce the consumption of natural resources (Karlsson and Luttropp, 2006). Thus, it is a relevant concept for an system'south direction of environmental factors because it focuses on integrating environmental aspects throughout the product'due south life cycle.

In a product project based on ecodesign, quality and customer satisfaction demands must be considered in an integrated manner with the ecology requirements. This is to select solutions according to their environmental impact during the product life cycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing, packaging, use, recycling, reuse, and end-of-life. This should occur considering a residual between the product'south functionalities and ecology requirements (Luttropp and Lagerstedt, 2006). Fig. vi.1 illustrates the stages of product life bicycle in companies that design products based on ecodesign practices. Such firms are concerned with environmental issues from the concept of products until the end-of-life (Luiz et al., 2016).

Figure half dozen.1. Product life cycle end ecodesign.

As can be seen in Fig. 6.ane, reuse aims for new uses for previously discarded products and components. This is to increment the life of these products and components. Because these products accept already been discarded and volition be reused, it is important for the product to be projected to facilitate disassembly (design for disassembly). Reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling depend on the production beingness easily dismantled. Therefore, a modular arroyo toward product design is also of paramount importance when considering disassembly, for instance.

Furthermore, the project of interchangeable parts and components and the project for new uses also include selecting materials. Remanufacturing is an industrial process applied to the manufacture of other products, by employing materials previously used in other products. Like reuse, information technology is relevant that logistics planning of the production exists and its transport to places for the remanufacture is facilitated. To optimize remanufacturing, in addition to planning the logistics issue throughout the use and disposal of the product, designers should also focus on product designs that facilitate the removal, replacement, and interchangeability of product parts and components. The designer of new products must also consider the energy consumption of remanufacturing. Whereas recycling promotes material recovery without retaining whatever design features or specifications, remanufacturing retains the identity of the production and aims to refurbish the product back to a new condition through disassembly and replacement operations. This is in line with the life cycle extension requirements suggested by the tendency of the circular economy.

Recycling separates the product into its basic components by melting, fusing, and/or reprocessing them into new forms before reuse. According to Manzini and Vezzoli (2016), although it is important to pattern for recycling, designers should consider the entire product life bicycle. After all, the recycling process does not always generate an environmental proceeds considering the combustion of plastics, coal, and paper produces fume and waste. The utilize of materials such as copper, nickel, aluminum, and steel, for instance, facilitate recycling (Manzini and Vezzoli, 2016). The ideal in terms of resource consumption would entail a reduction in the manufacture of new products. Withal, this commonly does not reflect the realities of the current economic system of many companies and consumers. Therefore, it is recommended to use recycled materials instead of virgin raw materials also as blueprint durable and lightweight products and utilize less harmful substances, (Ghisellini et al., 2016).

Reduction is aimed at product design that reduces the consumption of materials and energy, whether in the extraction of raw materials from nature or throughout the life wheel of the production, in activities such as utilise and transportation in distribution and disposal. Other relevant alternatives for this purpose can be the blueprint of products for collective utilise, the choice of production processes with lower energy and water consumption, and the choice of materials with a low environmental impact. 1 strategy to mitigate the increase in cloth consumption and its consequent environmental impacts involves offering production service systems through servitization. Past offering an integrated package of products and services, mainly digital ones instead of traditional products, dematerialization can take identify. The focus and so is no longer on the physical or material ownership of the product but rather its shared utilise. Information technologies and mobile apps can be useful in operationalizing this trend.

When choosing materials that volition brand up the product, companies should also avoid those that are considered toxic, such equally asbestos, heavy metals, and lead. In this sense, the recommendation is to pattern products using renewable and biodegradable materials. The maintenance project aims to program the facilitation of production repair to increment its life cycle and avoid ecology (and likewise economic) impacts resulting from the repair. Facilitating the replacement of components and providing good operating instructions may exist desirable practices for designing for maintenance.

Luiz et al. (2016), who systematized publications on ecodesign through bibliometric analysis, observed that the research on the subject is mainly full-bodied in Europe. Exterior this continent, inquiry is distributed mainly in Brazil, China, Japan, and the U.s.a.. Those authors further noted that in addition to the focus on NPD and production pattern, ecodesign research tends to focus on issues such equally sustainable development, environmental regulation, and industry regulations, as well as structure and architecture. Finally, the work showed relevant relations between ecodesign and the LCA, in improver to subjects on environmental legislation and industry regulation.

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Circular system of resource recovery and reverse logistics approach: key to nada waste and aught landfill

Abhishek Gaur , ... Sangeeta Chaudhary , in Advanced Organic Waste Management, 2022

22.6 Reverse logistics approach

The zero-waste concept has reverse logistics approach in its core. Organized, cost effective material menstruum and supporting infrastructure is the cardinal to reduce municipal waste material, which is the function of opposite logistics. It is a mechanism to implement a sustainable waste direction through reusing, recycling and finally reducing load on natural resource as well as on landfills. A more holistic view of contrary logistics includes reduction of materials in the forward system in such a style that fewer materials menstruation back, reuse of materials is possible, and recycling is facilitated. Horvath et al. (2005) stated that reverse logistics is not optional but mandatory. Daher et al. (2006) reported that many companied have not taken any initiative in such processes either because of difficulties or disinterest. A grouping of researchers worldwide listing out factors that lead organizations to engage in reverse logistics, and compiled a database known as RevLog which includes (a) environmental laws; (b) eco-nomic benefits obtained; and (c) growing environmental awareness of consumers. Kokkinaki et al. (2001) stated that reverse logistic approach volition popular over the years owing to a constantly growing awareness about economics of environs. Increased environmental awareness with waste opposing ideas and raw materials scarcity are among the factors for reverse logistics systems development.

Reverse logistics is an organizational practice of paramount importance to reduce load on the resources which contribute to preservation of the environment. A well-managed reverse logistics processes gives significantly positive results, generating profit for the organizations, contributing to the environmental awareness, and reducing the environmental affect generated by the disposal of materials in landfills.

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Rural and Developing State Solutions

Salah M. El Haggar , in Ecology Solutions, 2005

Waste material Management

The selection of a combination of techniques, technologies, and management programs to accomplish waste matter management objectives is chosen integrated solid waste direction (ISWM). The hierarchy of actions to implement ISWM is reduction, reuse, recycle, treatment, and terminal disposal (Tchobanoglous et al. 1993).

Finding new sources of raw material are condign costly and difficult. Concurrently, the toll of safe disposal of waste matter is escalating exponentially and fifty-fifty locating waste matter disposal sites are becoming more difficult. Every bit a result, a new hierarchy for waste management to approach total utilization of waste is a must, which starts from reduction at the source, reuse, recycle and partial treatment for possible material recovery using cleaner production technologies (El Haggar 2002).

Reuse of materials involves extended use of a production (retrading machine tires) or use of a product for other purposes (can cans for holding nails, soft drink bottles for belongings h2o in refrigerators, etc.). Reusing the product does not return the textile to the industry for manufacturing. While, recycling of material involves manufacturing of other products with less quality. Quality can be adjusted by additives. Recovery differs from recycling in that waste is collected as mixed refuse, so various processing steps remove the materials. Separating oil from waste product h2o effluent of oil and soap industry by gravity oil separator (GOS) is material recovery from waste. This material is then sold back to less quality lather industry or returned back to the industrial process. The difference betwixt recycling and recovery, the two primary methods of returning waste material materials to manufacture for manufacturing and subsequent use, is that the latter crave a process to remove the cloth from the waste material while the former does not require any processes for separation, sorting can be done manually.

In April 1988, the U.South. EPA published the waste product minimization techniques, separating waste minimization into two categories: source reduction and recycling, both within the plant (onsite) and exterior the establish (offsite). Source reduction can be accomplished past product modification or sources control. The latter tin can exist washed by changing the raw material, irresolute the technologies or through practiced operating practices. Information technology is obvious that waste product minimization techniques are good business for industrial sectors.

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Water-Quality Engineering

P. Cornel , ... Due south. Bieker , in Treatise on Water Scientific discipline, 2011

4.12.7.3 System Scale

The size of a organisation plays a decisive role regarding costs of sanitation systems. Thereby, sewer and pressurized distribution grids cause a significant share in the price of the overall system (Günthert and Reicherter, 2001). Unaccounted losses of treated high-quality h2o during distribution in pressure pipes, which tin can corporeality to 40–50%, also present a significant toll gene and should therefore be taken into account when assessing the system'southward scale. Against the background of the reuse of material flows (afterwards prior treatment) and therefore the demand of dual piping and sewer systems, investment and operation costs of the filigree may exist one of the limiting factors for the arrangement size. Existing concepts such as DeSaR or ecosan follow this approach and focus on decentralized systems.

However, in (fast-growing) urban areas with high population densities, the existing small-scale, on-site solutions practise not seem to be feasible. Professional operation, stringent and reliable hygiene standards and its professional monitoring, every bit well equally minor footprints are indispensable, because of the expected condolement and because of epidemics prevention.

When referring to handling costs, economies of scale for handling and performance have to exist considered. Specific costs of large handling plants can be reduced considerably past introducing larger-scale systems (Günthert and Reicherter, 2001; Reicherter, 2003).

Regarding intra-urban areas with loftier population density, from the economic point of view ane has to balance large-scale plants generating economies of calibration (in the plant sector) and pocket-size-sized, meaty systems with short pipage and sewer lengths. This is in accordance with the ecological indicate of view: optimum resource conservation requires a minimum size of technical plants, yet, at the aforementioned time, a meaty piping and sewer system in gild to minimize the energy input. From the sociocultural point of view, the focus is on hygienic harmlessness and comfort, the latter being, feasible with larger structures at lower costs.

Thus, the optimum scale for reclaimed water awarding infrastructure is beyond the conventional centralized systems with supply and disposal for unabridged megacities, only rather lies in an effective materials menstruum management that is able to incorporate regional/local boundary conditions. Regarding economies of scale on the one hand and soft skills of infrastructure systems, such as flexibility, planning rubber, and degree of capacity utilization, which all favor rather smaller systems on the other hand, latest research shows that the recommendable size of integrated semicentralized systems for new evolution areas ranges between fifty   000 and 100   000 inhabitants (Bieker et al. (2010); BMBF, 2006). Anyhow, one has to bear in mind that size optima depend on local boundary conditions, treatment techniques, and on the advances in control engineering.

Taking the above into consideration, it becomes clear that a holistic approach must be chosen to fulfill the requirements of resource savings (ecological aspects), fiscal interests (economic aspects), and hygiene and condom needs (sociocultural aspects) in terms of sustainable water management. At the same time, the requirements convey that in that location cannot exist a universal solution for everywhere, but the individual regional and locals circumstances and interests (including the financial bearing capacity of the region, the educational status of the people, climatic weather condition, traditions, even religious concerns, etc.) need to exist considered in order to find an adapted and locally-fitted solution (Wilderer, 2005b).

In the next section, a instance study for a development area of 20   000 inhabitants in the city of Qingdao, P.R. China, is exemplified.

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