Design for recycling in the automobile industry: new approaches and new tools

This paper presents novel design for recycling (DfR) strategies that were incorporated in a new software tool, combining the use of emerging technologies dedicated to automobile shredder residue recycling, together with design for dismantling strategies. Extended producer responsibility enforces manufacturers to maintain product responsibility along its life cycle. As a consequence, manufacturers are under pressure to dispose of products in an environmentally responsible manner. The auto industry has been particularly involved in these processes and, in particular, European Union directives stipulate minimum reuse and recovery rates for end-of-life vehicles. This framework provides a motivation for the increasing use of dedicated design for recycling tools and practices. The current end-of-life vehicle processing is embodied by two industries: dismantling and shredding. If until recently dismantling was a key strategy in DfR, the auto industry has been investing in the development of automated technologies to promote the recycling of automobile shredder residue, as an alternative of more labour-intensive dismantling activities. However, existing DfR tools emphasize design for dismantling as a major DfR strategy, based on the belief that a product is to be disassembled at the end of its life. This paper introduces a new approach that includes, as an end-of-life processing strategy, postshredding sorting of materials and subsequent recycling, and describes a new DfR tool that provides the identification of economically optimum recycling strategies aimed at achieving given recycling and reuse rates, by adequately combining dismantling, shredding, and postshredding activities.