Recycling strategy and a recyclability assessment model based on an artificial neural network

Designing products for recyclability is driven by environmental and economic goals. To obtain good recyclability, two measures can be adopted. One is better recycling strategy and technology; whilst the other is design for recycling (DFR). Recyclability assessment is one of the most important contents in DFR. First, this paper discusses the content of DFR, and strategies and types related to product recycling, and points out that whether recyclability is easy or difficult depends on the product design. Then the methods and the procedure of recyclability assessment based on artificial neural network are explored in detail. Finally, a case study shows that this method is simple and operable. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.