Design for the Environment ppt

Keywords: design, environment, reduction, reuse, remanufacture, recycling, disposal.. End of life considerations Reduction, Reuse, Remanufacturing, Recycling, and Disposal In order to il

Design for the Environment

Version 1.0 (2005-07-10)

Filippo A Salustri, Ryerson University, salustri@ryerson.ca

Emilijan Mirceski, Ryerson University, i@emilijan.com

Christopher Bouma, Ryerson Unversity, cbouma@ryerson.ca

Preface

This module presents main issues surrounding Design for the Environment Every product must

be dealt in some way at the end of its life Main approaches (reduction, reuse, remanufacture, recycling, and disposal) will be discussed Each method will be explained cost wise and environment wise Examples and case studies are included Sustainable design as a method is also discussed

Keywords: design, environment, reduction, reuse, remanufacture, recycling, disposal

The target audience for this module includes 1st and 2nd year undergraduate engineering students The objective of this module is to introduce the students the following topics:

1 The extent of environmental impact

2 Methods of end of life treatment

3 Design issues for DFE

The context of the module is intended to be easily understandable to 1st year undergraduate engineering students Internet references are used extensively

Table of Contents

Preface 1

Table of Contents 2

1 Background 3

2 Design for the environment 3

2.1 The extent of environmental impact 3

2.2 Methods of end of life treatment 5

2.2.1 Brief description 5

2.2.2 Design for the Environment and Business 5

2.3 Sustainable design 6

2.4 Reduction 7

2.5 Replacement 10

2.6 Reuse 12

2.7 Remanufacturing 12

2.8 Recycling 13

2.9 Disposal 16

2.10 The Environment and You 17

3 Environmental assessment practices 18

3.1 Conclusions 18

3.2 Discussion questions 18

References 20

Appendix A: Stages and Gates 22

Appendix B: Environmental Assessment Checklists 23

Environmental assessment sample: paper versus plastic 27

Manufacturability 27

Equipment 29

In Summary 35

Discussion 35

Background Information 37

References for the Case Study 40

Paper versus Plastic Datasheets 41

1 Background

All things are part of systems The systems can be large as the universe or as small as the parts

of an atom, or they can be somewhere in-between (e.g a car engine) Things in a system tend to balance always There can be numerous exchanges between matter and energy with whatever is beyond a system, but only one net change value: zero

Consider our planet Earth for example; it is perfectly balanced system As a system, it had quite long time to balance and rebalance itself because of the natural laws of physics, chemistry, thermodynamics, etc Any change will cause the Earth to react and seek a new point of balance, even if this means irreparable damage to some part of the Earth system The ecosphere (that region of the Earth where life exists) is a part of the Earth system, which may either benefit or suffer from a change to the Earth We humans, who are also parts of the Earth system, can cause changes to which the Earth system will naturally respond in ways that will or will not benefit us, but in either case, the response is inevitable – we cannot prevent the Earth from responding to changes we cause We are now at a point where humanity has the capacity to cause such significant changes, that the response of the Earth system will make it uninhabitable for humans Consider the ozone layer [1] for example More Chlorofluorocarbons1 (CFC) in the air means less ozone.2 This is both good and bad It's good because it decreases the amount of ozone inhaled It is bad because depleted ozone increases UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface The CFC balance itself is, profit (through the use of CFC-based products) vs DNA mutations (through ozone depletion) One may argue that limiting technology (in this case, CFC-based technology) is good, to prevent increased levels of, say, skin cancer On the other hand, one may also argue that development of new technologies will find a way to avert the problems

The goal of this chapter is to show that there is always a way to engineer products such that the resulting environmental balance will not negatively impact our living environment First, let us examine what our technology can in fact do

2 Design for the environment

2.1 The extent of environmental impact

In recent centuries, humanity’s ability to create and destroy has increased very much Leaving aside destructive uses of the technology, one can say that even projects undertaken with the best intentions sometimes turn out to be highly destructive Sometimes this happens because of bad design; other times, the designer simply cannot foresee what level of impact the project will have (perhaps due to insufficient data) In all of these circumstances, where projects contribute to the destructive pool of activities, there is a unwritten rule that it is much easier to just let things happen, then to try to repair the damage later Unfortunately, it is rarely possible to bring things back to their initial conditions This means that errors accumulate, and balance slowly moves toward unknown points, until a “disaster” happens

“A disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human,

material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope on its own resources.” [2]

The following table shows some of the effects that can accumulate in disastrous ways

1 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are nontoxic, nonflammable chemicals containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine They are used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solvents, and as refrigerants CMDL, http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/noah/publictn/elkins/cfcs.html

http://www.worldwise.com/recreffreeza.html

Summary material from GEO-3 1972-2002, “Past and Present” [3]

Land

• There are 2 220 million more mouths to feed in 2002 than there were in 1972

• Over 10 per cent, between 25 and 30 million hectares, of the world's irrigated lands are

classed as severely degraded because of salinization – a build up of salts Around 2

billion hectares of soil, equal to 15 per cent of the Earth's land cover or an area bigger

than the United States and Mexico combined is now classed as degraded as a result of human activities

Freshwater

• Around half of the world's rivers are seriously depleted and polluted About 60 per cent

of the world's largest 227 rivers have been fragmented strongly or moderately by dams and other engineering works

• Two billion people, around one-third of the world's population, depend on groundwater supplies In some countries, such as parts of India, China, West Asia, including the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union, and the western United States, groundwater levels are falling because of various human activities3

• Around 1.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and 2.4 billion to improved sanitation, mainly in Africa and Asia

• Water-related disease costs break down like this: Two billion people are at risk from malaria alone, with 100 million affected at any one time and up to 2 million deaths annually There are about 4 billion cases of diarrhoea and 2.2 million deaths a year, equivalent to 20 jumbo jets crashing everyday

Forests and Biodiversity

• Forests cover about one third of the Earth's land surface or 3.866 billion hectares The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the Earth’s forested area has shrunk by 2.4 per cent since 1990 The biggest losses have been in Africa where 52.6 million hectares or 0.7 per cent of its forest cover has vanished in the past decade

• By the end of 2000, about 2 per cent of forests had been certified for sustainable forest management under schemes such as those operated by the Forest Stewardship Council Most of these are in Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United States More are scheduled to be certified

• By 1994, an estimated 37 per cent of the global human population was living within 60 kilometres of the coast This is more than the number of people alive on the planet in

1950.4

• Other threats to the oceans include climate change, oil spills, discharges of heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and litter Sedimentation, because of coastal developments, agriculture and deforestation, has become a major global threat to coral reefs particularly in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and South and Southeast Asia

• Just under a third of the world's fish stocks are now ranked as depleted, overexploited, or

3 Groundwater depletion can result from high water usage in combination with high rates of population growth Environment Canada, http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/solec/pdf/societal_indicators.pdf

4 Question: How does this relates to the global warming and rises in ocean level?

recovering as a result of over-fishing fuelled by subsidies estimated as high as US$20 billion annually

Atmosphere

• Depletion of the ozone layer, which protects life from damaging ultra violet light, has now reached record levels In September 2000, the ozone hole over Antarctica covered more than 28 million square kilometres.5

• Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main gas linked with global warming, currently stand at 370 parts per million or 30 per cent higher than in 1750 Concentrations of other greenhouse gases, such as methane and halocarbons, have also risen

• Asia and the Pacific emitted 2,167 million tons of carbon dioxide in 1998, followed by Europe at 1,677 million tons; North America, 1,614 million tons; Latin America and the Caribbean, 365 million tons; Africa, 223 million tons; and West Asia, 187 million tons

2.2 Methods of end of life treatment

2.2.1 Brief description

As can be seen from the excerpt above, industry had a global impact; there is almost no place on earth that is not affected by industry There are various approaches to minimize the impact on the environment caused by various technological products and processes These approaches can be divided into two main groups:

1 Sustainable design considerations

2 End of life considerations (Reduction, Reuse, Remanufacturing, Recycling, and Disposal)

In order to illustrate these approaches, let us consider a “perfect” automobile as an example If

the automobile were sustainable, it should power itself with solar power (cheap and always

available), there would be no waste, the car itself would be easy to build, affordable, with minimal resources taken from the environment and little if any operational impact on the environment

Since it would run on solar energy, the more efficient the solar cells are, the less need for them,

so there can be reduction is solar panel surface (Or rather, reductions in raw materials that

must be taken from the environment for solar panel construction) When synthetic wrappings for

seats become damaged, they can be reused as car floor rugs When the engines get old and not fully efficient, they can be remanufactured by replacing certain old parts (but not the whole

engine itself) therefore cheaply extending engines life When the synthetic floor rugs become

unusable, the material itself can be recycled, and used again for seat wrappings Finally, after 20 years of driving the car, it will become old model, and thus one can dispose it by spraying it with

special chemical, thus the car will dissolve into environment friendly materials

(Reference [18] gives a directory listing of all the companies that are concerning themselves with environmental issues.)

2.2.2 Design for the Environment and Business

DFE methods create jobs and are good for economy [4] Recently, many countries have demonstrated that, when the economy orients itself toward environmental approaches to stated

problems, job opportunities through recycling tend to increase as much as 20 times more that

through conventional (e.g land-filling) methods This emerges from various needs, ranging from handling the recycling process itself to handling newly produced materials and reengineering

5 As a comparison, Antarctica’s total area is about 14.2 million square kilometers in summer Gander Academy,

http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/antgeneral.htm

them A recent report from Japan [4] predicts that a 10% increase in GDP can be achieved

through recycling instead of waste management, and would result in $600 billion in savings

2.3 Sustainable design

What is Sustainable Design?

Figure 1: Sustainable design connectivity

Sustainable design closes the loop between product development and the societal and cultural

directives that drive the needs for new products While the closed-loop nature of the response of product introduction to society has been implied thought the history of engineering, sustainable

design is the first real effort to codify it as rules that can be directly used to improve design

engineering with respect to those societal needs

Sustainability is about engineering products that balance two opposing forces In engineering and in business, there forces are slightly different, but interrelated

In engineering, one must balance the benefits of a product to users against the impact of the

product on the environment, during all stages of its life cycle, from manufacturing through to

disposal In business, the balance is between the sellable value of a product versus the cost of producing it and selling it and the costs arising from environmental regulation and the negative impact on corporate image and prestige in the public awareness

The focus of this module is on the engineering aspects of sustainable design; however, one cannot completely ignore the business aspects, because engineering happens in a business context

Definition of sustainable design

"Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet

their own needs" - Bruntland commission [5]

Goals of sustainable design (from Hannover Principles [6] and Environmental Protection

Agency [7]):

1 Insist on the rights of humanity and nature to co-exist

2 Recognize interdependence of nature and humanity

3 Respect relationships between spirit and matter

4 Accept responsibility for the consequences of design

5 Create safe objects of long-term value

6 Eliminate the concept of waste

7 Rely on natural energy flows

8 Understand the limitations of design

9 Seek constant improvement by sharing knowledge

10 Pollution Prevention: Consider a product or service's environmental impact early in the purchasing decision process

11 Multiple Attributes: Targeting a single environmental attribute can obscure other environmental impacts that might cause equal or greater damage

12 Life-Cycle Perspective: Consider potential environmental impacts at all stages of the product or service's life cycle, starting with raw materials acquisition, through manufacturing, packaging, delivery, distribution, use, maintenance, and disposal

13 Magnitude of Impact: Consider the scale (global vs local), the permanence of a product

or service's environmental impact, and the degree to which an impact is reversible

14 Local Conditions: Factor in where and how a product or service is used when evaluating environmental impact

15 Competition: Incorporate environmental attributes of products and services in competition among vendors

16 Product Attribute Claims: Examine product attribute claims carefully and rely on more than one information source to evaluate environmental attributes

Sustainable development also involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity [8] Companies aiming for sustainability need to perform not against a single, financial bottom line, but against this “triple bottom line.”

As one can see, sustainable design can have many meanings; but in all of them, there is some similarity It is: "The design should try to minimize the resources taken from the environment, minimize affected areas of activity, minimize waste, and try to totally exclude long-term environmental impact"

Sustainable design is used in designing solar powered houses; these houses depend on the conventional power grids only few percents a year Sustainable design is also used in designing small electrical generators that can generate electricity from wind and water, for distant households

2.4 Reduction

Waste reduction, also called source reduction, is the prevention of waste at the source [9]

Also called pollution prevention, this is more than pollution control: it seeks to eliminate the

causes of pollution, rather than to treat the pollution once it has been created It involves continual improvement through design, and through technological, operational, and behavioural changes [18]

There are many approaches to waste reduction, the most common of which are:

Increase product durability Durability is determined by manufacturing but influenced by

consumers (i.e by refusing to purchase poorly made or non-repairable items) This is typically the case for products with long lifetimes For products with shorter lifetimes, increases in durability generate waste as unsold products (because existent ones are not wearing out)

Reduce the amount of material per product This relates to all materials, including (and

especially) packaging materials In the case of the packaging, for example, it was recently

concluded that the packaging accounted for 64 million tons, or 33% of all garbage in the state of Pennsylvania [16]

Decrease consumption Avoiding disposable products in favour of reparable or reusable ones Manufacture smartly Decrease manufacturing risk by improving manufacturing practices, and

cost by taking advantage of advancements in materials science and manufacturing technology (This means there is always call for new employees with training and experience in the latest

materials and manufacturing technologies It might not be as glamorous as working on the “top floor”, but there is excellent job security.) Also, increase manufacturing speed by improving product design for fast manufacture and optimizing the production line, and enhance the safety

of the product’s use via “design for safety” and paying particular attention to documentation and manuals

The real utility in reduction is in its scalability: small “personal” reductions can lead to dramatic national improvements For example, if each person in Canada (population: 31.5 million [10])

could reduce their energy usage by $5/month, Canada would save close to $2 billion Such an

energy usage reduction may be achieved in many ways, ranging from products that are designed

to conserve electricity in offices (ever wonder why those office towers are lit up so brightly at night when no one’s there?), to reduction in size of various machines (e.g smaller cars)

CASE 1: NEOMAX [11]

NEOMAX is very strong iron-boron magnet (an artificial material), which has a higher magnetic efficiency than most other magnets, therefore contributing to resource and energy reduction The need for stronger magnets is constantly increasing as the technology progresses Consider the following applications

• At least 3% improvement in efficiency in automotive engine generators

• Up to 20% improvement in the electrical efficiency of air conditioners

• Eliminates the need for liquid helium cooling systems in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines, greatly reducing system size and therefore price

The savings become evident when one considers the huge “installed base” of the products noted above, and the potential for saving human life (with the MRI)

Many approaches to waste reduction focus on educating the “buying public” because if people preferred to buy products that minimised waste production, then companies would make such products to respond to market need For example, in [16], it is recommended that waste

reduction start at the shopping centre When one goes shopping, one should follow these guidelines:

Buy durable products instead of those that are disposable or cheaply made Example: prefer

“real” photographic cameras to “disposable” ones

Try to repair/restore used items before replacing them

Buy items you can re-use Re-using margarine tubs to freeze foods or pack lunches, for

instance, reduces the need for foil or plastic wrap Reusing textbooks saves on paper

Buy items you can recycle locally through curb side collection or recycling centres

Avoid excess packaging when choosing product brands Buy products in bulk, but also buy just

what you need; larger sizes reduce the amount of packaging, but smaller sizes reduce leftover waste

Standardization in processes also ensures that the most effective, reliable, and

environment-friendly ones will be chosen An excellent example of this is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) [19] This group develops standards for a variety of industry processes; different standards address different processes The following examples are based mainly on ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems, specification with guidance for use) [21]

CASE 2: Improvements in hospitals after embracing ISO 14001 [20]

St Mary’s Hospital (Kitchener, Ontario)

• Proper waste segregation has significantly reduced air emissions, particularly those from biomedical materials The hospital incinerator has been shut down

non-• A reduction in biomedical waste of 35% since 1998, despite an 8% increase in day surgeries, has saved $9,000/yr in disposal costs

• A new recycling program has increased the amount of recycled waste by 33% and decreased the amount of waste sent for disposal

Cambridge Memorial Hospital (Cambridge, Ontario)

• This hospital became the first hospital in North America to receive ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system

• Achieved a 28% reduction in the total volume of waste generated over a seven-year period (1993-1999)

Norfolk General Hospital (Simcoe, Ontario)

• Energy conservation initiatives include: lighting alternatives, occupancy sensors, use of timers

on hot water pumps, replacement of three boilers and a chiller and cooling tower, have reduced energy demand and consumption

• Using 1991 as a baseline, the hospital has sustained energy savings of at least $132,000 per year, every year, since 1995

CASE 3: Energy Star [22] Conditioning the mass market for environment friendly goals

Energy Star is a partnership of over 7,000 government agencies, businesses, and consumers, to standardise energy efficient practices for products that consume electricity

Over the last decade the U.S public has purchased more than 1 billion Energy Star products and thousands of buildings have been improved More than 40% of the U.S public recognizes the Energy Star brand

Last year, thanks to Energy Star, Americans saved the energy required to power 15 million homes and reduced air pollution by an amount equal to taking 14 million cars off the road

• 87% strongly agree or agree with the statement “I’m very concerned about the environment.” [22a]

• 93% strongly agree or agree with the statement “Saving energy helps the environment.” [22a]

• 67% believe an Energy Star qualified product uses energy more efficiently than a conventional product [22a]

• 23% of households knowingly purchased at least one Energy Star qualified product in the last twelve months [22b]

• 95% of recent purchasers of an Energy Star qualified product say they are somewhat or very likely to purchase an item with the Energy Star mark in the future [22a]

2.5 Replacement

Replacement improves product performance by improving the performance of individual

components in that product Naturally, to get the biggest improvement, one would target those

product components that most adversely affect performance This requites being able to measure the performance of the components With respect to sustainability, replacement targets

components that have the most negative impact on sustainability issues Remanufacturing is

similar to replacement except that replacement does not include reusing the replaced part

CASE 4: Replacement examples

• Continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) save fuel, since it enables the engine to operate at an optimum rate via stepless transmission The energy exchange is more efficient and less energy is required to move a car [11]

• Surface chromate treatment of metal products is being replaced with aluminium surface coating Chromate has been identified as a health hazard for the human begins [28]

• Lead-free soldering is being used in variety of products, from computer chips and floppy drives to cell phones and even candles and children’s jewellery, because lead has been associated with harmful effects on the intellectual and behavioural development of infants and young children [29]

The business of replacement has been increasing lately Businesses are recognising there are significant opportunities arising from refitting buildings that contain materials that have been found to be harmful (e.g asbestos insulation)

The drawbacks to replacement as an environmental method are that replaced parts must be either recycled or disposed of, and new replacement parts must be produced However, while details will vary from product to product, it is usually possible to design products so that replacement is

a reasonably cost-effective and environmentally friendly process

Some other examples of successful application of replacement include the following

• Replacing lead with bismuth for fishing weights Lead can have very negative effects on fish and on animals and humans who eat the fish

• Replacing plastic with glass whenever possible (e.g in food containers) With the exception of certain plastics that are degradable under UV light (if left in open under the sun they will degrade), most common plastics will not degrade

• Replacing plastic with paper (shopping bags), whenever possible, because paper is more easily recycled than plastic Shopping bags are in most case one-use-only so therefore they can be replaced with the paper bags for the same purpose, or even with bags that are designed for more than one use therefore eliminating unnecessary waste in the environment (prevention at source)

2.6 Reuse

Reuse as an environmental strategy is the repeated use of an object (design, product…), in such a

way that it can fit the new requirements with minimal or no modifications at all In other words, once a product cannot be used for one thing any more, it may be usable for something else that may be quite different from its original use

Consider an obvious example: old textbooks Students reuse textbooks because they cost less than new ones, but function almost as well as new ones This lowers the demand for new books that are environmentally costly to produce More precisely, if the life span of the product is longer than the target need (length of the course), and if there is no new revised edition (obligatory new product), then the product can be used again The old owner will regain some resources (money) by selling it to someone who needs it The new owner will be happy to save money to meet his or her need

• Companies with old equipment often donate that equipment to universities for use by students in labs

• Old eyeglasses and clothes can be collected and distributed in underdeveloped parts of the world, where they are effectively reused at a fraction of their original cost

• Object-oriented programming, component-based software development, and data mining are all ways of developing computer systems that are based on software elements that can

be used repeatedly

2.7 Remanufacturing

Remanufacturing is an industrial process whereby products are restored to like-new condition

[14] Sometimes, this just means cleaning parts and doing other maintenance tasks Other times,

it may include literally remachining the parts Remanufacturing can be a vital part of an asset/product recovery management plan Its effective use can benefit a company’s financial standing, the consumer (lower cost paid), and the environment (mitigated waste production) Remanufacturing is also smart design solution Remanufacturing of some products according to [26] can sometimes cost as little as 10% of the price of the new product

Design guidelines for remanufacturing include the following

• Identify the types and amounts of materials needed in a product Target those parts made

of the easiest and most abundant materials for remanufacturing

• Identify sources of waste in manufacturing processes Target parts created by the most wasteful processes for remanufacturing

• Choose packaging materials that are easily remanufactured into other useful products

• Design components to be reused with minimal, cost-effective remanufacturing methods

• Include both the environmental and financial costs of remanufacturing to calculate the total product costs during design

• Balance the cost of product (re)manufacturing and use against the length of its useful life

Question 1 [26]: CRT vs LCD – What would you do?

Consider the two main options for computer monitors: cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) CRTs use two to 10 times more energy than comparably sized LCDs CRTs also contain substantial amounts of lead, and they emit radiation, a potential long-term health concern.6 Because LCDs do not have these issues, they must be better environmentally than CRTs, right?

A careful life-cycle assessment points to a different answer LCDs contain mercury, which is more toxic than lead and can enter the ecosystem more easily than lead if not handled carefully Armed with this knowledge, electrical engineers can attack the issue from one of two fronts They can try to dramatically lower the energy consumption of CRTs, or they can try to eliminate mercury from LCDs

What would you do?

Among other requirements for creating an environmentally friendly product is to make the

product easy to disassemble for remanufacturing or recycling This can be done by reducing the

total number of parts in the product – such as by consolidating two or more small plastic parts into one large part) or lowering the number of fasteners

Also to facilitate future recycling, different types of materials used in the product should be limited, and parts should be marked with codes indicating what type of material they are made

of For example, when using plastics it is generally best to use only one type of plastic [26]

Question 2 [26]: Toxicity vs Energy requirements?

Another technology for which life-cycle assessment might provide unexpected results is free solder in electronic products There is an effort to eliminate lead from electronic products because of its toxicity However, if it takes three times the energy to produce a tin-silver-bismuth solder alloy, what has been gained? Why would we choose lead-free solders?

lead-2.8 Recycling

Recycling involves breaking a product down into its constituent parts and using those parts as if

they were a supply of raw materials for manufacturing new parts Of all the methods discussed, recycling is the most expensive, because significantly more manufacturing must be done because

of recycling than because of other methods However, recycling does not require the acquisition

of new raw materials to be harvested from the Earth Recycling can have a very positive environmental impact as a result

Recycling achieves two goals: (a) preservation of the environment, (b) decrease in use of resources [12] It usually applies to the very end of the product life, to salvage raw materials that can be reused There are many techniques developed in this area and many more are still being developed Most of the examples below are from [13] except where explicitly stated

6 Studies have shown that with CRT screens the biggest problem is low frequency magnetic field which no filter on the market can remove it It generates low current in the teeth filings and the it realizes mercury in the blood stream, which is known as mercury poisoning

CASE 5 [27]: Xerox Corporation

Site recycling programs, including the conversion of solid waste to useable energy through incineration, saved Xerox over $12 million in 1995

Xerox implemented a plastic recycling program High-grade plastic panels from returned Xerox products are collected, sorted, disassembled, and ground for reprocessing The plastic is then used to manufacture Xerox products or is sold to other manufacturers who use plastic The program has already diverted 250 tons of plastic from landfill in Monroe County and 1996 estimates project 500 tons diverted with $100,000 in savings to Xerox It also provides a valuable service to users who do not know what else to do with spent toner cartridges

Recycling techniques are classified by the kind of material being recycled: food, fuel, or raw materials

Agro-industrial waste can be converted to food Coconut presscake7, peanut presscake, and some soybean wastes are used to prepare nutritious food in Indonesia In Taiwan, growing common mushrooms on composted rice straws has become a multimillion-dollar business Mushrooms can also be grown on sawdust, cotton waste, bagasse, shredded paper, and banana leaves

Wastes can also be used for animal feed Different kinds of algae, straws, or crop residues can

be turned into feed with simple chemical treatments

CASE 6 [27]: The 3M Corporation

In 1990, 3M began a major waste reduction effort By 3M’s definition, waste is what remains after raw materials are converted to products and by-products In 1993, resource recovery activities in the U.S recovered and sold almost 199 million pounds of paper, plastics, solvents, metals, and other by-products

Since 1989, 3M realized more than $156 million by reclaiming and finding buyers for manufacturing waste For example, employees at a 3M plant in Brazil developed a waste reduction program, sold $150,000 in waste materials, and reduced waste disposal costs by

$90,000

Waste materials can be used as fuel in various ways depending on composition, density, heating value, and other properties of the waste Fuel can be extracted in liquid, gaseous, and solid form For example, a ton of wheat straw, heated to 500-600 C can yield about 300kg of char, 38 liters

of tarry liquid and 280 m3 of gas (15, 000 kj/m3)

Raw materials' recycling is widely pursued Some examples are:

• Old tires can be recycled into a useful component for road asphalt

• Aluminum waste from manufacturing processes can be recycled into beverage cans Glass from bottles can be recycled into new containers and glass pellets to be embedded

in other composite materials Newspapers and magazines can be turned back into pulp to make new paper

7 The first form of pigment created in the manufacturing process, moist and clumpy in consistency

http://labs.google.com/glossary?q=presscake

• Some companies have even found ways to make carpets and clothing out of old plastic (Polyester is the most commonly recycled fabric [30])

Some recycling businesses have built a fortune in the recent years using these techniques, while also contributing to a safer, cleaner environment

Recycling can even be carried out for products that might seem indestructible For example, batteries of all kinds can be recycled by companies like RBRC [17] who have locations through Canada and the U.S They collected nearly 1.6 million kilograms of rechargeable batteries in Canada and the U.S in 2002, an increase of almost 12 percent from 2001

CASE 7 [30]: Recycling plastics

Overall, about 22 percent of the type of plastic bottle that can be converted into polyester is recycled; Manufacturers have the capacity to process about 35 percent more than they do now, if people would properly recycle their bottles Because polyester is petroleum-based, making clothing from recycled polyester cuts down on the consumption of important and non-renewable raw materials Estimates are that plastics recycling can save about 500,000 barrels of oil a year Some examples of recycled clothing:

• Shoes Used surgical gloves can be mixed with cardboard and hemp to make the upper part of soles, while old tires can be recycled into soles

• Fleece jackets About 25 two-liter plastic pop bottles can be used to make one fleece pullover About 15 will produce a fleece vest

• T-shirts Pop bottles can be recycled into smoother polyester for use in T-shirts and other clothes

How can synthetic fleece be made from pop bottles?

Fleece is made of polyester, a petroleum-based synthetic that can be spun into fibres or moulded into plastic The bottles are separated by colour, sterilized and then crushed, chopped, and melted The melted plastic is extruded through a showerhead type device, producing fibrous polyester strands The strands are stretched to thin out and strengthen them The strands are woven into fleece or other materials, such as T- shirts and sweatshirts

CASE 8 [27]: The IBM Corporation

IBM’s 1995 energy conservation activities saved $15.1 million, reducing electricity use by 226 million kilowatt hours These savings were achieved through such efforts as energy conservation

in manufacturing processes, installation of a condenser tube cleaning system for refrigeration machines, and upgrading heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, lighting, and chilled water system controls along with systematic testing and repairs of an extensive steam trap system The IBM site in Austin, Texas, produced financial and social benefits by implementing a project that reuses high-quality rinse water in existing cooling systems 1995 savings for the city were

$103,000 with a rebate of $30,000 to IBM 1996 savings to the city are estimated at $179,000 Recycling for sites in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, produced social benefits by recycling 1,669 tons of commodities in 1995 This equates to the conservation of 28,373 trees, 4,172 barrels of oil, 6.8 million kilowatts of electricity, 11.6 million gallons of water, or 6,676 cubic yards of landfill space Another social benefit in 1995 was the avoidance of 17,000 tons of hazardous waste from production processes

A new process for manufacturing ceramic substrates replaced methanol with deionised water The estimated impact is a savings of $739,000 for every 100,000 pounds of glass frit, a raw

material used in production, a reduction in methanol emissions of 6,000 pounds, and improved cycle time of 30%

2.9 Disposal

If nothing at all can be done with a spent, failed, or obsolete product, it can only be disposed of Consider the question: “If the materials and products we are using are originated from the same materials we are composted of, how some of them can be harmful, other harmless? Why are some of them considered waste, and others not?” The answer is simple: distribution of concentration Elements on this planet had billions of years to balance out, to disperse Evolution started on this base We evolved to thrive in an environment with elements distributed

in certain ways However, manufacturing changes the distribution of elements on the Earth, throwing off the balance that we are used to In the past 200 years, humanity has significantly changed the balance that nature has taken millions of years to establish

For example, there has always been enough radioactive material in the Earth to destroy all life on

it It has until recently been so finely distributed that it has been completely harmless However, since the atomic age, humanity has gathered radioactive elements into objects of such high density, that otherwise harmless elements can be extremely hazardous now

In order to manage some of the waste of human activities, careful management of its disposal is

essential Disposal is needed when there is nothing left to do with the waste Many waste chemicals in the past 100 years have been dumped into the rivers simply because the common belief was that they would dissolve and return to their natural state, but many of them did not Others did degrade, but destroyed many living things in the process Why is bottled water sold

in supermarkets, even in highly developed countries? This is a small but telling example of the impact of continued pollution of the water supply

It becomes vitally important, then, to find ways to dispose of waste that cannot otherwise be treated in ways that returns it to as naturally occurring a state as possible

Some examples include the following

• Organic waste is often disposed of in composts, where it degrades to primary building substances

• Some kinds of plastics are produced to be degradable in ultraviolet light, so when they are left somewhere (hopefully in the sun) they will degrade into harmless by-products However, some predators that feed with a sea jellyfish are dying out because they cannot distinguish their prey from common plastic bags floating in water

• Golf balls are being manufactured that simply fall apart after about 40 days, degrading to soil components rather than remaining intact in “roughs” and possibly choking animals who eat them

• Once, incineration was considered a very harmful way of disposing of waste, but with novel materials designed to break down harmlessly at high temperatures, and new incineration and air filtering systems, incineration is becoming a highly effective way of disposing of waste

Unfortunately, “landfilling” – the dumping of unprocessed waste into landfills – remains a very popular way of disposing of waste Little thought is given to the rehabilitation of these landfill sites once they are full, largely because of the perceived cost with other forms of waste disposal However, such perceptions are usually shortsighted because they fail to take into account the

possible revenues arising from other methods and the long-term environmental damage that can result

2.10 The Environment and You

According to the [16], there are many things that can be done by the individual to help the environment One thing designers can do is work to design products that support the individual’s ability to act responsibly These activities can be thought of user requirements in product development

1 Put paper towels out of easy reach so they will be used only when needed Set up a countertop or wall holder for sponges, rags, and cloth towels

2 Buy beverages in returnable or recyclable containers Most beverages are packaged in recyclable materials, which include glass, plastic milk and water jugs, plastic soda bottles, and aluminium

3 Buy concentrated products to reduce packaging Examples are concentrated fruit juice, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and window cleaner

4 Avoid buying packaged foods with disposable, non-reheatable microwave-able dishes If you must buy them, the dishes can be re-used as picnic plates, plant saucers or pet dishes

5 Carry a canvas or net tote bag when you shop It is not only a safe, convenient way to carry purchases, but it eliminates the need for disposable paper or plastic bags

6 Cancel subscriptions to magazines or newspapers you don't actually read, especially if you could read them at the local library Give old issues to friends, co-workers, nursing homes, laundromats or libraries Many newspapers and magazines have online versions, usually available free; read those instead hardcopy versions

7 Buy products that are durable, well made, and repairable Check warranties, repair services, and availability of parts and accessories Read consumer magazines (your library probably carries copies) to learn which products are more durable and have longer warranties

8 Use carpools or public transit to extend the wear of cars and tires and reduce car maintenance wastes such as used oil

9 Reduce toxic waste by purchasing paints, pesticides, and other hazardous materials only

in the quantities needed, or by sharing leftovers

10 Use plug-in appliances instead of those that operate on batteries Disposable batteries are discarded after one use Rechargeable batteries are the largest source of cadmium (which

is very toxic) in the municipal waste stream

11 Americans throw away about 2.5 billion disposable razors every year Use an electric shaver or a quality razor with replaceable blades

12 Bar soap generates less packaging waste and is less expensive than liquid soap in plastic bottles with pump dispensers

13 Take proper care of shoes and clothing and repair them to extend use

14 Do not discard usable clothing or household items Hold a yard sale or donate the items

to charitable organizations Worn clothing and other textiles can be used as rags or for craft projects

15 List all the things you can recycle through your city's curb side program or your local recycling centre Then list the things in your trash that are non-recyclable Next time you go shopping, look for recyclable substitutes

3 Environmental assessment practices

An environmental assessment of a product and how it will be manufactured should be conducted

at every stage, during design reviews Such assessments must cover energy consumption and savings, material consumption rates, recycling potential for waste, and reuse and remanufacturing potential Such assessments compare the product to targets set at the outset of the product development process, and that must meet all pertinent regulations, as well as presenting new business opportunities for the product developers [31]

With respect to the generic product development process in Figure 2 of the PDP Overview module, environmental assessments are most important at the first and last of the four product

development gates (This figure is included in Appendix A of this module for reference

purposes.) However, some assessment should be done at every gate, to ensure that all environmental aspects of a product’s development are still on target

Environmental planning done early in the product development process should identify and propose solutions for any problems connected to the product’s lifecycle This planning should also consider broader areas of product influence such as direct/indirect effects, short/long term effects, etc

Every product assessment will be different, depending on the pertinent regulations, corporate intentions of environmental stewardship, technical expertise of the development team, and the particulars of the product being developed In such cases, checklists are often useful to help engineers quickly identify major influences on the environmental performance of a product while ensuring that the team is not likely to overlook any factors A detailed sample checklist, and rules for its application, can be found in Appendix B

3.1 Conclusions

Design for the environment is a broad concept that requires a planned approach It varies for different products The main concern is on the product’s impact on the environment and human beings There are various techniques and approaches of demonstrated feasibility and are still in use today (recycling, reusing… etc), and better techniques are being created to fit the emerging technologies The main point of this module is that products should be always as much environment friendly as it can, simply because the humanity does not have a spare planet

3.2 Discussion questions

1 The standard electricity supply in Canada is 110V, but it Europe it is 220V Assuming the electricity demand (in W) does not change, which voltage would be “safer”? (Hint: Consider the current requirements.)

2 Typical public swimming pools are about 25m x 16m x 2m The water in these pools is largely cleaned/recycled by on-site treatment equipment instead of just replacing the water with fresh water for a supply grid Why is cleaning/recycling preferred in this case?

3 Make a list of as many waste products as you can think of arising from your own high school classes For each waste item, think of as many possible uses as you can, keeping in mind the three strategies of DfE (reuse, remanufacture, recycle)

4 Using the checklist in Appendix B, develop environmental assessments for the following products: a car, a home computer, an electric blender, a public drinking fountain, a can of tuna

5 Why is the ozone layer disappearing? What effects does UV radiation have on life? How many different strategies can you think of to restore the ozone layer?

6 What percentage of the waters in the world is polluted?

7 If the Earth is a closed system, then why do people talk about diminishing supply of

resources? Where are the resources going?

8 Plastic shopping bags can be replaced with paper shopping bags to lessen environmental impact What can be paper shopping bags be replaced with?

9 Can cars be designed modularly as computers, if one part does not work replace it; make all the cars compatible with each other How would modularity impact a car’s life span, cost, safety, and testing?

10 Give 3 examples where size reduction reduces negative environmental impact

11 Give 3 examples where size reduction increases negative environmental impact

12 Explain which product is more environmentally friendly: a conventional computer mouse or

an optical cordless computer mouse?

References

[2] United Nations Environment Programme, www.unep.org

[3] GEO series from the UN Environment Programme, http://www.unep.org/geo/press.htm

[4] The Jobs Letter, http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/pdf/jbl135.pdf

[5] Ontario Association of Architects - Committee on the Environment

http://www.tacboc.on.ca/minutes/LMCBO/Attachment.pdf

[6] William McDonough http://repo-nt.tcc.virginia.edu/classes/tcc315/Resources/ALM/

[7] Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/opperspd/epp/7gp.html

[8] World Business Council for Sustainable Development.http://194.209.71.99/aboutdfn.htm#ps

[9] Spokane Solid Waste, http://www.solidwaste.org/wrdefine.htm

[10] Statistics Canada, http://www.statcan.ca/english/

[11] Sumitomo Special Metals Co., LTD., http://www.ssmc.co.jp/english/kankyo2001e.pdf

[12] L Pawlowski, A.J Verdier, W.J Lacy 1983 Chemistry for protection of the environment

[13] National Research Council USA 1981 Food, Fuel, and Fertilizer from Organic Wastes

[14] APICS Remanufacturing (REMAN) SIG.http://www.apics.org/SIGs/faqs/REMAN_SIG.asp

[15] Food and agriculture organization of the UN http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/T0515E/ T0515E05.htm

[16] DEP http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/FACTS/reduce.htm

[17] Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation http://www.rbrc.org

[18] Ontario Waste Material Exchange www.owe.org

[19] International Organization for Standardization http://www.iso.org

[20] Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention http://www.c2p2online.com

[21] ISO http://ww.iso.org

[22] Energy Star http://www.energystar.gov

[22a] Energy Conservation and Efficiency study 9589, Final Report May 2002 Schulman, Ronca and Bucavalas, Inc and Research into Action (May 2002)

[22b] National Analysis of CEE 2001 Energy Star Household Surveys, The Cadmus Group and Xenergy Consulting, Inc , August 1, 2002

[23] Microsoft http://microsoft.com/net/

[24] Microsoft us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemconvertclasstobase64stringtopic.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-[25] - http://www.jrepp.com/src.shtml

[26] Assembly magazine http://www.assemblymag.com