Tech
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.
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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