Example of application

The example compares two recycling alternatives for a simplified electronic product. The assumed electronic waste has a material composition as shown in Table 1 composed of epoxy resin (EP), glass fibres (GF), copper (Cu), gold (Au) and polycarbonate (PC).

Table: material composition of exemplary waste product

Two EoL options will be exemplarily evaluated:

Figure: two alternative EoL options for eco2 evaluation

The Figure "Two alternative EoL options for eco2 evaluation" shows the considered process steps and system boundaries.

The basis of the evaluation is the creation of reference systems, which serve to define the eco2 assessment scales. The idea is to have a scale from a theoretical maximum to a theoretical minimum by economic and ecological reference indicators. The reference systems refer to the material composition of the waste to be considered.

• The economic maximum results from the sum of the market values of the respective materials considered as primary materials. This is regarded without any burden and, therefore, equals the theoretical – technically not achievable – value of 7.99 EURO at the y-axis.

• The supporting point of the economic zero value results from an equal burden and gain situation (see zero point at the y-axis).

• The ecological zero point is the theoretical – technically not achievable – zero point of the x-axis. This equals the case of gaining the contained materials in marketable best quality without bearing any environmental impact.

• The ecological supporting point of the primary material production equals the case of gaining materials from primary processing routes. The respective market value is regarded in the denominator, see reference point of primary material production of the x-axis.

The eco2 Recycling Graph in the Figure "The eco2 recycling graph showing the evaluation results" clearly shows that the disassembly and recycling of PC (option 2) is the better option environmentally (x-axis). Economically, the recovery of secondary polycarbonates has a small advantage (y-axis). This is due to the additionally necessary disassembly, which is not much profitable regarding the gains from the secondary polycarbonate. The efforts and gains of the copper and gold show a very high level in relation to the polycarbonate. Nevertheless, the option with PC recycling is at least economically positive compared to the option without PC recycling which lies at zero.

Figure: the eco2 recycling graph showing the evaluation results