Recycling cycle

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A recycling cycle is the path that an (old) substance or product takes from use through recycling to reuse. Completely closed recycling loops are the prerequisite for the long-term circular economy in which industrial production largely dispenses with the use of natural resources.

Types of recycling loops

Production waste recycling, product and material recycling

There are three different types of recycling cycles, namely:

  • Recycling in production (production waste recycling),
  • Recycling while retaining the product (product recycling) and
  • Recycling according to product use (material recycling).

All three circular processes serve to secure a circular economy to be aimed for . They are currently helping to save resources and relieve the landfill by feeding as high a proportion of the product as possible to a treatment process. The task of engineering is to provide processes and methods that allow recycling as far as possible. In doing so, however, the question must always be asked up to which point recycling makes sense at all. It always takes a certain amount of effort x to recycle an old substance. The amount of x results from the energy that is necessary to transport, shred, clean and process this waste material. The entropy (the degree of “disorder”) of the “old material” system is significantly reduced through the various processing methods; At the same time, however, so much effort is required that the entropy of the overall system “environment” increases many times over. With every recycling, the proportionality of the expenditure must be kept in mind. It is of no use to the environment if old materials are recycled in order to save resources, but at the same time a multiple of resources are used for the recycling of old materials. Here the designer can make a decisive contribution to keeping the recycling effort x as low as possible through the recycling-friendly product design.

Recycling in production (production waste recycling)

The first of the three cycles mentioned above is the recycling of scrap and material waste that is generated during production. The first aim should be to select manufacturing processes that produce as little waste as possible. Since the generation of production waste can hardly be completely avoided with today's manufacturing processes and products, the waste produced must at least be recyclable and as few different materials as possible should be used. This makes it much easier to recycle this waste, which is certainly valuable. Production waste recycling is widespread, especially with high-quality materials. There are economic reasons for this, but it is also explained by the fact that implementation is comparatively easy for various reasons. Since the production waste occurs in the immediate vicinity of the production facilities and is usually little or not at all contaminated, there are hardly any logistical or technological problems. In addition, the exact composition and condition of the waste are known. For these reasons, this first of the three possible recycling circles has reached a comparatively high level of development.

Recycling while retaining the product (product recycling)

Product recycling is the reuse of the product (product recycling at system level) or parts of the product (product recycling at element level). This takes place in a further use process while maintaining the product function (reuse) or changing the previous product function (further use). The product design is retained in both cases or is only changed insignificantly. An example of this type of recycling is a replacement engine which, after dismantling, cleaning, checking and replacing damaged or technologically obsolete components, can be reused or reused without (significantly) changing its product shape.

The developer, designer and / or engineer, who is guided by the guiding rules of recycling-friendly construction , facilitates product recycling to a decisive extent. Provided with new or reconditioned parts, the technical product can be brought back into the production cycle, while the various components that had to be replaced can at least be recycled through material recycling.

Recycling according to product use (material recycling)

Material recycling is the return of material from industrial and consumer waste to a new manufacturing process. A wide variety of reasons can lead to products no longer being used. It is conceivable, for example, that the product is no longer needed in this form, that it is exchanged for an improved version (so-called "moral wear and tear") or that the product as a whole is irreparably damaged. The dismantling of a product into its material components should be taken into account during product development in order to ensure (1) minimum dismantling effort, (2) maximum proportion of recyclable materials in material quality and (3) minimum disposal costs for the pollutants it contains.

Trivia

An interesting example of product recycling was in Goslar in the mid-1990s. The German Telekom had established a central processing site were processed manually in the disused telephone equipment, in order to subsequently sell one more time. Every year several million devices of various types, which no longer found buyers on the German market due to their outdated design, were sold to Eastern Europe or Turkey. After reconditioning within the scope of product recycling, the end devices were able to fulfill their purpose for many years and at the same time contributed to defusing the waste problem.

In the telecommunications industry, there was a special feature regarding the selection of materials that was a great relief from the point of view of recycling. As early as the 1970s, Deutsche Telekom asked its equipment suppliers to use ABS as the only housing material. Due to the strong position of Telekom as a monopoly, this restriction in the variety of materials was also able to prevail and has largely been preserved as a kind of industry standard to this day.

swell

  1. ^ J. Lienig, H. Brümmer: Production, use and disposal of devices in the circular economy . In:  Electronic device technology . Springer Vieweg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-642-40961-5 , pp. 197-199.
  2. ^ Boris Wilke: Minimizing production waste in medium-sized companies, MM Maschinenmarkt, Vogel-Verlag, Würzburg
  3. ^ Walter Jorden: Constructing recycling-friendly technical products with the VDI guideline 2243, Paderborn
  4. ↑ J. Lienig, H. Brümmer: Stoffrecycling in the device disposal . In:  Electronic device technology . Springer Vieweg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-642-40961-5 , pp. 204-217.
  5. ↑ R. Sinnigsohn: Implementation of the electronic scrap regulation at Telekom. Telekom - Research and Technology Center Darmstadt
  6. ↑ Klaus Heier Hoff: Recycling of plastic waste. telekom praxis 11/1992

literature

See also