Greener Electronics Council report: Designers need to remember end-of-life concerns

The Green Electronics Council, keeper of the widely referenced Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, has published a report that explores the link between product design and how efficiently a particular piece of technology or gadget can be taken out of service responsibly at the end of its useful life.

The report, called "Closing the Loop: Product Design to Enhance Reuse/Recycling," was researched in tandem with the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) and E-Scrap News and was funded in part the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Among the recommendations made based on the data:

• The industry needs to embrace better communications resources such as standardized product ID codes, bar coding or RFID technologies that will allow IT managers handling end-of-life tasks can process technology according to a more consistent process.
• The IT industry should design with a closer eye to durability, thus lengthening lifecycles. (What are the chances of THAT happening, do you think?)
• More attention to removal and elimination of hazardous materials upfront
• Designers should focus on making it easier to disassemble and separate diffential materials that go into making a piece of technology

Here's the link for the full report.