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Industrial Technology

Recycling - Suggested answers

Activity 1

Find additional information for businesses and organisations provided at the Ecorecycle web site to answer the following questions:

1. What strategies should be utilised when designing products to minimise their environmental impact?
2. What strategies should be utilised when designing and managing production processes?

Answer

1. Aim to design products which are:
   1. designed for extended life
   2. made with minimum amounts of material and maximum recycled content
   3. made so components can be recovered and reused recyclable
   4. waste conscious in their packaging.
      
      
2. When designing and managing production processes aim to:
   1. minimise wastage of materials (e.g. offcuts, spoilage, rejected goods due to production faults)
   2. maximise life of plant/equipment (e.g. selected to be long lasting, well maintained, and repaired where possible).

Source: EcoRecycle Victoria web site

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Activity 2

Answer the following questions:

1. When designing a product for re-manufacture what five principles should be considered?
2. Outline two benefits of designing for re-manufacture.
3. Outline three design changes that can improve metal recovery for recyclability.
4. Explain the term “design for disassembly”.

Answer

1. The product:
   • should be mature
   • should have standardised and interchangeable parts
   • must be able to be disassembled
   • parts must be repairable
   • must have a “core” of sufficient value to warrant re- manufacture.
     
     
2. Designing for re-manufacture takes advantage of the original manufacturing and investment in materials and energy and there is reduced need to purchase new components which saves money.
   
   
3. To improve metal recovery:
   • use metals rather than other non-recyclable materials
   • avoid the use of self contaminating combinations of materials
   • avoid toxic substances that cannot be recycled.
     
     
4. Design for disassembly enables the recycling of almost all materials in a product through its disassembly into basic components enabling the recycling of a broader range of materials, including plastic.

Source: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Eco Design Centre web site

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Activity 3

Outline the five fundamental requirements that components designed for recycling must fulfil.

1. Use of pure, recyclable plastics.
2. Reduction of the diversity of materials in the use of plastics.
3. Use of composite materials which may subsequently be recycled together as one component.
4. Application of appropriate joining methods, such as plug-in connections instead of bolts.
5. Use of high-quality secondary materials, that is, recycled materials.

Source: BMW Group Recycling article at the BMW Group web site

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