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Industrial Technology
Recycling
This unit of work addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcomes:
H7.1 evaluates the impact of the focus area industry on the social and physical environment.
Extract from Stage 6 Industrial Technology Syllabus. © Board of Studies, NSW, 1999.
Introduction
The Earth has a limited supply of natural resources, such as water, metal ores, oil, natural gases and so on. Yet we continue to manufacture new products and consume these resources as if they will never run out.
Recycling as much and as many of these resources as possible has become a necessity.
Recycling involves reprocessing materials into new products, for example, car tyres into paving blocks and also reusing products in their existing state, for example, plastic bags used to carry things over and over.
Governments have encouraged the recycling of materials. Using initiatives such as at the local level of garbage collection for household paper, glass and metal as well as legislation at the industry level to ensure that most waste material is utilised in some way. Industry has also realised that there are financial benefits to their company from recycling and using recycled materials.
Manufacturers are also considering the long-term impact of their products on the environment. A life cycle analysis of products has led to new approaches such as design for re-manufacture and design for disassembly that allow for the recovery of recyclable materials at the end of the service life of the product.
Activity 1
EcoRecycle Victoria provides education and information for businesses to help them meet their waste management responsibilities.
Find additional information for businesses
and organisations provided at the Ecorecycle 
web site to answer the following questions:
- What strategies should be utilised when designing products to minimise their environmental impact?
- What strategies should be utilised when designing and managing production processes?
Activity 2
The Eco Design Centre at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) encourages responsibility in product design by developing guidelines that can be applied at the planning stages.
Download the documents from the following links and use them to help answer these questions.
http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/programs/sustainable_products_and_packaging/introduction_to_ecoredesign
http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/programs/sustainable_products_and_packaging/ecodesign_guidelines_dia
- When designing a product for re-manufacture what five principles should be considered?
- Outline two benefits of designing for re-manufacture.
- Outline three design changes that can improve metal recovery for recyclability.
- Explain the term “design for disassembly”.
Activity 3
Many high profile companies have adopted the eco-design philosophy, including Email, Kambrook and BMW.
Refer to the BMW Group Recycling article.
Outline the five fundamental requirements that components designed for recycling must fulfil.
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