Product Recoverability: A Review of Assessment Methods

Abstract

Today, companies need to assess the recoverability of their products from the design phase, not only for legislative reasons but also to appraise how they will be able to recover all or part of their value when they reach end of life. The main reference calculation methods are both the norm ISO 22628, which addresses the automotive industry, and the IEC/TR 62635 report, which addresses the electrical and electronic equipment industry. Both reference methods only focus on mass preservation indicators (as legislation requires) but ignore important aspects such as material quality loss, environmental impacts, and economic value preservation. Indeed, multi-criteria assessment is needed as it can be a key factor for both improving product design and to help designers integrate recycled materials into their products. In that regard, several other studies exploring multi-criteria analysis (i.e. technical, economic and/or environmental-based) do exist. The aim of this paper is to (i) present a critical review of current recoverability assessment methods and (ii) find the existing gaps by comparing whether the used indicators meet the designer needs or not.