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Natürliche Ressourcen werden zunehmend knapper, unter anderem da weltweit derzeit deutlich mehr natürliche Rohstoffe abgebaut und verarbeitet werden, als die Erde in diesem Zeitraum zur Verfügung stellen kann. Als Nettoimporteur von Rohstoffen ist die deutsche Wirtschaft insbesondere bei Materialien für zukünftige Technologien auf den internationalen Handel angewiesen. Auch aus diesem Grund wird das Denken in Kreisläufen für die Verbesserung der Ressourceneffizienz und -schonung von zentraler Bedeutung sein. Der gesamte Lebenszyklus einer Ressource - von der Bereitstellung über ihre Nutzung bis hin zur wiedergewinnenden Nachsorge - muss entsprechend mitgedacht und optimiert werden. In diesem Zusammenhang kann Urban Mining als Bestandteil einer Kreislaufwirtschaft betrachtet werden. Durch die Nutzung Urbaner Minen kann zwar nicht das gesamte Konzept einer Kreislaufwirtschaft abgedeckt werden, jedoch kann Urban Mining als zusätzliche Rohstoffquelle eine wesentliche Rolle spielen. Insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der angespannten Rohstoffsituation muss diese Möglichkeit gesamtwirtschaftlich genutzt werden, um zum einen Ressourcen zu schonen und wiederzuverwenden und um zum anderen die Abhängigkeit auf internationalen Rohstoffmärkten zu reduzieren. Das Materiallager, welches Deutschland aufgebaut hat, bietet ein wichtiges Potenzial, Rohstoffe, die bereits abgebaut wurden, wiederzuverwerten und im Kreislauf zu halten. In diesem Bericht wird das Potenzial von Urban Mining für einen effizienteren Umgang mit natürlichen Ressourcen und somit für eine Kreislaufwirtschaft aufgezeigt. Am Beispiel der sogenannten "Schubladenhandys" wird verdeutlicht, welche Möglichkeiten Deutschland hat, Materialien, die bereits im Kreislauf sind und nicht mehr genutzt werden, wiederzuverwenden. Rechnerisch zeigt sich, dass der Gesamtmetallwert der ungenutzten Handys in Deutschland bei rund 240 Millionen Euro liegt. Gleichzeitig entspricht der Materialwert der im Jahr 2021 verkauften Smartphones in Deutschland 23,5 Millionen Euro. In einer theoretischen Rechnung kann die Urbane Mine der Schubladenhandys den Materialbedarf für neue Smartphones für über 10 Jahre decken. Allerdings sieht die Realität anders aus, da nicht alle Schubladenhandys dem Recycling zugeführt werden und außerdem komplett recycelbar sind. Dieses Verhältnis zeigt das gesamtwirtschaftlich enorme Potenzial des verfügbaren Materiallagers, welches für eine effiziente Kreislaufwirtschaft genutzt werden muss. Aus Konsumentenperspektive werden konkrete Handlungsmöglichkeiten erläutert, eine Kreislaufwirtschaft in den vier Strategien (Kreisläufe ermöglichen, schließen, schaffen und verlängern) zu unterstützen. Wichtig bleibt jedoch, dass das Recycling weiterhin optimiert werden muss, um ökonomisch sinnvoll zu sein und dass es nur eine unter vielen zirkulären Strategien darstellt. Gemäß der Abfallhierarchie sind diejenigen Strategien, die Abfälle vermeiden, also beim Produktdesign ansetzen, oder diejenigen, die Güter oder Komponenten wiederverwenden, denen des Recyclings vorzuziehen. Dies gilt ebenso für das urbane Materiallager. Natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce, one reason being that significantly more natural raw materials are currently being mined and processed worldwide than Earth can provide over the same period. As a net importer of raw materials, the German economy is dependent on international trade, especially when it comes to materials for future technologies. For this reason, thinking in cycles will be key for improving resource efficiency. The entire life cycle of a resource - from its provision and use to its recovery at the end of life - must be considered and optimized accordingly. In this context, urban mining can be considered as a component of a circular economy. Although the use of urban mines cannot cover the entire concept of a circular economy, urban mining can play an essential role as an additional source of raw materials. Particularly against the background of the tense raw material situation, this potential must be utilized in the overall economy to save and reuse resources on the one hand and to reduce dependence on international raw material markets on the other. The stock of materials that Germany has built up offers important potential for reusing raw materials that have already been mined and for keeping them circulating. This report highlights the potential of urban mining for a more efficient use of natural resources and thus for a circular economy. Using the example of discarded cell phones in German households, it is demonstrated which possibilities there are in Germany to reuse materials that are already circulating and are no longer used. Calculations show that the total material value of discarded cell phones in Germany is around 240 million euros. At the same time, the material value of new smartphones sold in Germany in 2021 is equivalent to 23.5 million euros. This ratio shows the enormous potential of the available material stock, which must be exploited for an efficient circular economy. This report analyzes specific options for action to support a circular economy in four circular strategies (enable, close, create and extend cycles) from a consumer perspective. However, it remains important to note that recycling must continue to be optimized to be economically viable. It is only one among many circular strategies. According to the waste hierarchy, strategies that avoid waste, i.e., by addressing the product design, or that reuse goods or components are preferable to those that recycle materials. This is equally true for urban mines.

Eines der Hauptziele der EU-Roadmap für ein ressourcenschonendes Europa besteht darin, bis zum Jahr 2020 aus Abfällen wieder Rohstoffe zu machen. Von den in der Europäischen Union im Jahr 2012 angefallenen etwa 2,5 Mrd. Tonnen Abfall waren rund 10% Siedlungsabfälle. Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen Recyclingquoten von Siedlungsabfällen in einigen EU-Mitgliedsländern.

Die deutsche Entsorgungswirtschaft entwickelt sich immer mehr in Richtung einer Kreislaufwirtschaft weiter, denn die Verwertung von Abfällen und die Bereitstellung von Sekundärrohstoffen rückt immer mehr in den Mittelpunkt. Zwar hat diese Bewegung im Rezessionsjahr 2009 einen Rückschlag erlitten, doch ist für die kommenden Jahre zu erwarten, dass die Rückgewinnung innerhalb der Entsorgungswirtschaft weiter an Bedeutung gewinnt. In dem Beitrag wird die aktuelle Entwicklung in den verschiedenen Sparten dieser Branche dargestellt.

Stetig wachsende Mengen an Siedlungsabfällen und die damit verbundenen Umweltprobleme sind ein zentrales Thema in der von Politikern und Abfallexperten geführten internationalen Diskussion. Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die aktuellen ökonomischen Instrumente zum Abfallmanagement, die in Europa eingeführt wurden, um sowohl umweltbezogene als auch finanzielle Ziele zu erreichen.

Remanufacturing is the process of rebuilding used products that ensures that the quality of remanufactured products is equivalent to that of new ones. Although the theme is gaining ground, it is still little explored due to lack of knowledge, the difficulty of visualizing it systemically, and implementing it effectively. Few models treat remanufacturing as a system. Most of the studies still treated remanufacturing as an isolated process, preventing it from being seen in an integrated manner. Therefore, the aim of this work is to organize the knowledge about remanufacturing, offering a vision of remanufacturing system and contributing to an integrated view about the theme. The methodology employed was a literature review, adopting the General Theory of Systems to characterize the remanufacturing system. This work consolidates and organizes the elements of this system, enabling a better understanding of remanufacturing and assisting companies in adopting the concept.

Repaired compressors are compared with remanufactured and new compressors in terms of economic and environmental benefits. A detailed life cycle assessment has been carried out for compressors under three manufacturing strategies: repaired, remanufactured and new equipment. The life cycle assessment of the global warming potential of repaired compressors varies from 4.38 to 119 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e), depending on the type of components replaced. While greenhouse gas emissions from the remanufactured compressors (110 to 168 kg CO2-e) are relatively higher than those from the repaired ones (4.4 to 119 kg CO2-e), a new compressor has been found to produce a larger amount of greenhouse gas emissions (1,590 kg CO2-e) compared to both repaired and remanufactured compressors. Repairing failed compressors has been found to offer end users both dollar and carbon savings in contrast to remanufactured and new compressors. The research also found that extended lifetime is more important than the manufacturing processes in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Since a remanufactured compressor offers a longer life than a repaired compressor, the replacement of the latter with the former can avoid 33% to 66% of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with a new compressor production with a lifetime of 15 to 25 years.

Achieving sustainability is a great challenge for most of the Indonesian manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Remanufacturing has been considered to be a key strategy to attain sustainable manufacturing by maximising the use of old components and minimising landfill size and energy usage. However, SMEs, which are undoubtedly the engine of the Indonesian manufacturing industry, do not have adequate experience, skill, resource, technology and financial support in the remanufacturing area. This paper proposes a new concept for sustainable manufacturing assessment framework through remanufacturing strategies in Indonesian SMEs. In this sustainable manufacturing assessment framework, the existing remanufactured products are assessed using sustainable manufacturing criterion (e.g. reliability, life cycle cost, employment opportunity and greenhouse gases). This framework identifies improvement opportunities, including eco-efficiency, cleaner production and green technology to make existing remanufactured products technically, economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. The sustainability of remanufactured alternators produced by Indonesian SMEs has been assessed to validate the aforementioned sustainable manufacturing assessment framework.

Background: The remanufacturing plan of perfect cost makes reference to the remanufacturing plan of an optimal solution of the economic lot-sizing problem with remanufacturing (ELSR). In this paper, we address the problem of determining the quantities of the remanufacturing plan of perfect cost in an independent way. Results: Assuming that the periods where remanufacturing is carried out are known in advance and certain other assumptions on the costs, we can show that the total remanufacturing quantity of a remanufacturing plan of perfect cost can be determined separately and in a time-effective way. Conclusions: We consider that the theoretical results obtained in this paper contribute to a deeper knowledge of the characteristics of the ELSR optimal solutions. Thus, the results obtained can be used to develop an effective algorithm for solving the ELSR.

Manufacturing contributes heavily to environmental life cycle measures such as energy, material use, and water consumption through depletion and pollution. To lessen the environmental impacts, a number of initiatives have been developed. One of such initiatives is the used product take back, a process through which manufacturers collect used products and remanufacture them to like-new condition. However, remanufacturing of the used products at a modest cost is becoming a daunting task for many manufacturers due to the increasing complexity in many products. To mitigate this remanufacturing challenge, this paper develops a metric to quantify the remanufacturability incorporated into the new product at the design stage. The metric is based on entropy, a phenomenon well known in engineering.

This paper proposes a method for supporting the design of product lifecycles. The main approach involves supporting designers in determining a lifecycle strategy by describing lifecycle scenarios at an early stage of lifecycle design. The authors define a representational scheme for the lifecycle scenario and outline a support system based on the idea of the Cognitive Design Process model allowing the designers to examine various possibilities of lifecycle strategy. A number of alternative scenarios are managed by the Truth Maintenance System implemented in this approach. Finally, in order to embody the strategy in the later stages, the system derives requirements for product and process design. This paper outlines the lifecycle scenario of a cellular phone as a case study, which indicates the system's suitability for computer-aided description of scenarios and its facilitation of lifecycle strategy development.

Journal of remanufacturing 2(1), 5 (2012). doi:10.1186/2210-4690-2-5, Published by Springer, Heidelberg

Purpose The question of resource scarcity and emerging pressure of environmental legislations has brought a new challenge for the manufacturing industry. On the one hand, there is a huge population that demands a large quantity of commodities; on the other hand, these demands have to be met by minimum resources and pollution. Resource conservative manufacturing (ResCoM) is a proposed holistic concept to manage these challenges. The successful implementation of this concept requires cross functional collaboration among relevant fields, and among them, closed loop supply chain is an essential domain. The paper aims to highlight some misconceptions concerning the closed loop supply chain, to discuss different challenges, and in addition, to show how the proposed concept deals with those challenges through analysis of key performance indicators (KPI). Methods The work presented in this paper is mainly based on the literature review. The analysis of performance of the closed loop supply chain is done using system dynamics, and the Stella software has been used to do the simulation. Findings The results of the simulation depict that in ResCoM; the performance of the closed loop supply chain is much enhanced in terms of supply, demand, and other uncertainties involved. The results may particularly be interesting for industries involved in remanufacturing, researchers in the field of closed loop supply chain, and other relevant areas. Purpose: The question of resource scarcity and emerging pressure of environmental legislations has brought a new challenge for the manufacturing industry. On the one hand, there is a huge population that demands a large quantity of commodities; on the other hand, these demands have to be met by minimum resources and pollution. Resource conservative manufacturing (ResCoM) is a proposed holistic concept to manage these challenges. The successful implementation of this concept requires cross functional collaboration among relevant fields, and among them, closed loop supply chain is an essential domain. The paper aims to highlight some misconceptions concerning the closed loop supply chain, to discuss different challenges, and in addition, to show how the proposed concept deals with those challenges through analysis of key performance indicators (KPI). Methods: The work presented in this paper is mainly based on the literature review. The analysis of performance of the closed loop supply chain is done using system dynamics, and the Stella software has been used to do the simulation. Findings: The results of the simulation depict that in ResCoM; the performance of the closed loop supply chain is much enhanced in terms of supply, demand, and other uncertainties involved. The results may particularly be interesting for industries involved in remanufacturing, researchers in the field of closed loop supply chain, and other relevant areas. Originality: The paper presented a novel research concept called ResCoM which is supported by system dynamics models of the closed loop supply chain to demonstrate the behavior of KPI in the closed loop supply chain.

Nowadays, as mechatronic and electronic systems have found their way into vehicles, the technological knowledgebase of traditional remanufacturing companies erodes rapidly and even the industrial principle of remanufacturing is at risk. Due to the fact that modern cars incorporate up to 80 of these mechatronic and electronic systems that are communicating with each other e.g. via the vehicle controller area network (CAN), remanufacturing of these automotive systems requires innovative reverse engineering knowhow, methodological innovations and new technologies, especially focusing on the tasks testing and diagnostics of systems and their subassemblies. The European research project "CAN REMAN", conducted by Bayreuth University in cooperation with two other universities and eight industrial partners, focuses on these needs in order to enable companies to remanufacture modern automotive mechatronics and electronics with innovative reverse engineering skills as well as to develop appropriate and affordable testing and diagnostics technologies. In order to operate and test the mechatronic device with CAN interface outside the vehicle environment, an appropriate simulation of the vehicle network and all connected sensors of the device under test (DUT) is essential. This implies an electrical analysis of the connectors of the DUT, a content-related analysis of the CAN-bus, a sensor hardware simulation and a CAN-bus simulation. All electrical measurements and results were taken using conventional multimeters or oscilloscopes. The CAN-bus analysis and simulations were conducted using the Vector Informatics software tool "CANoe" (Version 7.1) and a suitable CAN-bus hardware, e.g. the CANcardXL and the IOcab8444opto. All hardware simulations were executed with a conventional wave form generator or a microcontroller evaluation board (Olimex AVR-CAN) and an appropriate electric setup. In order to initially readout the failure memory and to investigate the diagnostic communication of the DUT, garage testers such as "Bosch KTS 650" or "Rosstech VAG-COM" were used. The results of the project are application-orientated methods, test benches and skills for remanufacturing companies to find out the working principles of the CAN-bus communication between automotive mechatronic and electronic systems within vehicles. The knowhow presented in this article enables remanufacturing companies to remanufacture modern automotive mechatronic and electronic systems which are communicating via the CAN-bus and similar communication types. Nowadays, as mechatronic and electronic systems have found their way into vehicles, the technological knowledgebase of traditional remanufacturing companies erodes rapidly and even the industrial principle of remanufacturing is at risk. Due to the fact that modern cars incorporate up to 80 of these mechatronic and electronic systems that are communicating with each other e.g. via the vehicle controller area network (CAN), remanufacturing of these automotive systems requires innovative reverse engineering knowhow, methodological innovations and new technologies, especially focusing on the tasks testing and diagnostics of systems and their subassemblies. The European research project "CAN REMAN", conducted by Bayreuth University in cooperation with two other universities and eight industrial partners, focuses on these needs in order to enable companies to remanufacture modern automotive mechatronics and electronics with innovative reverse engineering skills as well as to develop appropriate and affordable testing and diagnostics technologies. In order to operate and test the mechatronic device with CAN interface outside the vehicle environment, an appropriate simulation of the vehicle network and all connected sensors of the device under test (DUT) is essential. This implies an electrical analysis of the connectors of the DUT, a content-related analysis of the CAN-bus, a sensor hardware simulation and a CAN-bus simulation. All electrical measurements and results were taken using conventional multimeters or oscilloscopes. The CAN-bus analysis and simulations were conducted using the Vector Informatics software tool "CANoe" (Version 7.1) and a suitable CAN-bus hardware, e.g. the CANcardXL and the IOcab8444opto. All hardware simulations were executed with a conventional wave form generator or a microcontroller evaluation board (Olimex AVR-CAN) and an appropriate electric setup. In order to initially readout the failure memory and to investigate the diagnostic communication of the DUT, garage testers such as "Bosch KTS 650" or "Rosstech VAG-COM" were used. The results of the project are application-orientated methods, test benches and skills for remanufacturing companies to find out the working principles of the CAN-bus communication between automotive mechatronic and electronic systems within vehicles. The knowhow presented in this article enables remanufacturing companies to remanufacture modern automotive mechatronic and electronic systems which are communicating via the CAN-bus and similar communication types.

Purpose: This study presents case studies of selected remanufacturing operations in Japan. It investigates Japanese companies' motives and incentives for remanufacturing, clarifies the requirements and obstacles facing remanufacturers, itemizes what measures companies take to address them, and discusses the influence of Japanese laws related to remanufacturing. Methods: This study involves case studies of four product areas: photocopiers, single-use cameras, auto parts, and ink and toner cartridges for printers. Results and conclusions are based on the authors' discussions and interviews with 11 remanufacturers--four original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and seven independent remanufacturers (IRs). In the discussions and the interviews, we asked the companies their motives for remanufacturing and asked the measures they take to overcome the obstacles of remanufacturing. This study highlighted three requirements for remanufacturing: (1) collection of used products, (2) efficient remanufacturing processes, and (3) demand for remanufactured products. Results: Where OEMs are the main remanufacturers of products covered by this study, their motives are long-term economic and environmental incentives. Where IRs are the main remanufacturers, it is often because OEMs shun remanufacturing, fearing to cannibalize new product sales. Companies' efforts to meet the above mentioned three requirements were observed and documented: (1) establishing a new collection channel; (2) developing reverse logistics to collect used products; (3) designing products for remanufacturing (DfReman); (4) accumulating know-how to establish remanufacturing processes; and (5) controlling product quality to stimulate demand for remanufactured products. This study also notes that (6) OEMs who engage in remanufacturing build consumer demand by incorporating remanufactured components into new products. This point has not been particularly noted in previous studies, but it has an important implication for OEMs' remanufacturing. The authors found that Japan's Home Appliances Recycling Law and End-of-Life Vehicle Law have promoted material recycling but have been insufficient to stimulate remanufacturing within the country. Conclusions: This study clarified the differences between OEMs' and IRs' remanufacturing. Both IRs and OEMs are important for remanufacturing. Institutional measures to encourage appropriate competition between OEMs and IRs and to enhance consumers' acceptance of remanufactured products is important to promote remanufacturing.

© 2011, Ilgin et al; licensee Springer.This paper proposes and investigates the use of embedding sensors in products when designing and manufacturing them to improve the efficiency during their end-of-life (EOL) processing. First, separate design of experiments studies based on orthogonal arrays are carried out for conventional products (CPs) and sensor embedded products (SEPs). In order to calculate the response values for each experiment, detailed discrete event simulation models of both cases are developed considering the precedence relationships among the components together with the routing of different appliance types through the disassembly line. Then, pair-wise t-tests are conducted to compare the two cases based on different performance measures. The results showed that sensor embedded products improve revenue and profit while achieving significant reductions in backorder, disassembly, disposal, holding, testing and transportation costs. While the paper addresses the EOL processing of dish washers and dryers, the approach provided could be extended to any other industrial product.

In the area of reverse logistics, remanufacturing has been proven to be a valu- able option for product recovery. In many industries, each step of the products' recovery is carried out in lot sizes which leads to the assumption that for each of the different recovery steps some kind of fixed costs prevail. Furthermore, holding costs can be observed for all recovery states of the returned product. Although several authors study how the different lot sizes in a remanufacturing system shall be determined, they do not consider the specificity of the remanufacturing process itself. Thus, the disassembly operations which are always neglected in former analyses are included in this contribution as a specific recovery step. In addition, the assumption of deterministic yields (number of reworkable compo- nents obtained by disassembly) is extended in this work to study the system behavior in a stochastic environment. Three different heuristic approaches are presented for this environment that differ in their degree of sophistication. The least sophisticated method ignores yield randomness and uses the expected yield fraction as certainty equivalent. As a numerical experiment shows, this method already yields fairly good results in most of the investigated problem instances in comparison to the other heuristics which incorporate yield uncertainties. How- ever, there exist instances for which the performance loss between the least and the most sophisticated heuristic amounts to more than 6%., Working papers series, ISSN 2628-1724, 2008, Heft 34

Taking back the end-of-life products from customers can be made profitable by optimizing the combination of advertising, financial benefits for the customer, and ease of delivery (product transport). In this paper we present a detailed modeling framework developed for the cost benefit analysis of the take back process. This model includes many aspects that have not been modeled before, including financial incentives in the form of discounts, as well as transportation and advertisement costs. In this model customers are motivated to return their used products with financial incentives in the forms of cash and discounts for the purchase of new products. Cost and revenue allocation between take back and new product sale is discussed and modeled. The frequency, method and cost of advertisement are also addressed. The convenience of transportation method and the transportation costs are included in the model as well. The effects of the type and amount of financial incentives, frequency and method of advertisement, and method of transportation on the product return rate and the net profit of take back were formulated and studied. The application of the model for determining the optimum strategies (operational levels) and predicting the maximum net profit of the take back process was demonstrated through a practical, but hypothetical, example.

Angesichts der steigenden Rohstoffpreise werden alternative Bezugsquellen zunehmend interessant. Dazu gehört auch der verstärkte Einsatz von Sekundärrohstoffen, die aus Industrie- und Haushaltsabfällen gewonnen werden. Altglas und Altpapier sind klassische Beispiele für die umfangreiche Einspeisung von Sekundärrohstoffen in den Produktionsprozess. Für die Rohstoff verarbeitende Industrie ergeben sich bei steigenden Rohstoffpreisen aus der Nutzung von Sekundärrohstoffen Einsparpotenziale. Für die Entsorgungswirtschaft entstehen Chancen auf eine Erweiterung ihres Geschäftsfelds. Gesamtwirtschaftlich entspricht der verstärkte Einsatz von Sekundärrohstoffen einer Substitution von Importen an Primärrohstoffen durch eine zusätzliche Wertschöpfung im Inland. Auf Basis einer Schätzung des Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln entstand im Jahr 2005 durch den Einsatz von Sekundärrohstoffen eine Wertschöpfung in Höhe von 3,7 Milliarden Euro.

In this paper we study the problem of exhaustible resources and renewable resources in a theoretical endogenous growth framework, under various assumptions. In particular, we consider the hypotheses that those two inputs are or are not technologically perfect substitutes of each other. Moreover, we develop the starting model accounting for the negative externality of waste accumulation. Finally, a comparative analysis is made between Pigouvian tax and waste recycling as an environmental policy to internalize the negative externality represented by refuse accumulation.

In this paper we consider an endogenous growth model in which, among other inputs, we consider a renewable resource and secondary materials. Using this analytical framework we explain the effects of waste recycling on the growth rate of the economy, that we take into account. The effects of secondary materials production on the utility and dynamics of renewable resources are also studied. Furthermore, we consider how the tax and subsidy, levied on natural resource and secondary materials respectively, influence the dynamics of economy during the transitional phase and the stationary growth path. Finally, the validity of Hotelling's rule and the effects of waste recycling on labor productivity are the conclusive topics of our research.

This paper describes how market and technological change can be conceived to affect corporatist politics in the area of waste management. The paper adopts a political economy approach to in-stitutional change which seeks to trace the impact of market and techological change on estab-lished political and regulatory institutions. The paper demonstrates that the main impact of mar-ketization of waste services and the introduction of ISO 14001 environmental management sys-tems was to expand the range of choices for companies and regulators to engage in regulatory interaction concerning environmental waste management practices. The main purpose of the paper is to demonstrate exactly how the emergence of regulatory choices for both companies and regulators is likely to open up new avenues for regulation in the environmental field that, once pursued, systematically reduce incentives for corporate and regulatory actors to engage in associational politics.

The purpose of this paper is to point out the necessity to use new instruments for an integrated waste management system. Waste Stock Exchange is an innovative and efficient instrument, if introduced in a solid legal and economic context, as is typical of a free and competitive market. The Waste Stock Exchange Project is going to create a Web-based secondary raw materials market that solves logistical and qualitative problems for all public and private entities that could potentially use some kind of waste in their production cycles, or that implement recycling and recovery programs.

This paper examines a Waste Management Organisation's (WMO) pricing options to implement the Pareto-efficient allocation in an economy where materials are first extracted, then used for producing a consumption good and finally recycled or landfilled. The WMO is established by the producers who are responsible for the proper disposal of consumption waste which consists of a mix of materials. That mix forms an aspect of the Producers' (green) product design and effects the productivity of secondary material generation. The most favorable pricing strategies are shown to comprise (positive or negative) fees on producers based on residuals and material inputs.

The remanufacturing industry as a whole and the automotive sector in particular have, over the years, proven to be beneficial to the environment and economically lucrative to the companies involved as well as to their customers. However, remanufacturing is associated with complicating characteristics, not least to mention the process of core acquisition. The automotive industry is one of the earliest adapters of remanufacturing. Parts like engines, brake calipers and servo pumps are common targets for remanufacturing. Modern cars also have several embedded computers, often referred to as electronic control units that communicate, share information and verify each other over a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. Due to their high value and an increasing trend in the amount of CAN bus mechatronic devices, interest in their remanufacture is growing. Previous research has shown that it is preferable that the remanufacturer is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), or has a close relation to the OEM, in order to achieve a well-performing remanufacturing business. In the automotive industry, there are many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that perform remanufacturing; for these enterprises, the challenges to have a profitable business are even harder. This is because the OEMs will not release any information on the communication parameters and therefore will not support the independent remanufacturing business. As a consequence, the independent remanufacturers, often SMEs, have to perform substantial reverse engineering. This paper presents a qualitative research study, based on interviews at SMEs regarding challenges linked to the reverse logistics of SMEs remanufacturing and trading used automotive mechatronic devices, to identify specific challenges concerning the collection phase of automotive mechatronic remanufacturing. Challenges previously identified by researchers are confirmed, additional challenges within the collection phase are recognized, and challenges expected to arise when remanufacturing and trading automotive electronic CAN bus mechatronic devices are identified. The major concern for the involved companies when commencing future challenges is the handling, transportation and storing of cores. Even though the cores today mainly consist of mechanical devices, these challenges are still present; they are expected, however, to become even more crucial when cores contain a higher degree of mechatronic devices.

As global demand for consumer goods continues to rise, the problem of waste electrical and electronic equipment (or e-waste) increases. E-waste is of particular concern to the world’s governments and environmentalists alike, not just because of the sheer quantity that is being produced annually, but also because e-waste often contains both hazardous materials and scarce or valuable materials. Much research is now focused upon how this waste can be treated safely, economically, and in an environmentally sound manner. This paper presents the findings from a literature review and case study research conducted as a small part of the Globally Recoverable and Eco-friendly E-equipment Network with Distributed Information Service Management (GREENet) project. The GREENet project aims to share knowledge and expertise in e-waste treatment across Europe (in this case, the UK) and China. The focus of this particular study was upon ‘design for remanufacture’ and e-waste in China: as a remanufacturing industry begins to emerge, are Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) prepared to design more remanufacturable products and could electrical and electronic products become a part of this industry? Findings presented in this paper suggest that design for remanufacture could become more relevant to Chinese OEMs in the near future, as environmental legislation becomes increasingly stringent and a government remanufacturing pilot scheme expands. However, findings from case studies of Chinese e-waste recyclers would suggest that electrical and electronic products are not presently highly suited to the remanufacturing process.