Experiences with the take-back of white and brown goods in the Netherlands

Author

Stevels, Ab

Author_Institution

Fac. of OCP, Delft Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

489

Lastpage

493

Abstract

A take-back and recycling system of white and brown goods is in operation in the Netherlands as of 01/01/99. It is a collective system financed by a visible fee. The collection rates of the system are according to expectations, the recycling rates achieved are higher than anticipated and the costs are much lower than budgeted. The good performance is chiefly due to its professional management, its economy of scale and the leverage towards recyclers. The results compare favourably with the take-back and recycling system for IT goods which is based on individual responsibility. The system can be developed further by applying quotes for environmentally weighted recyclability, ecoefficiency concepts and introducing rewards for good ecodesign while keeping the economy of scale

Keywords

domestic appliances; recycling; IT goods; brown goods; ecodesign; ecoefficiency; economy of scale; environmentally weighted recyclability; recycling system; take-back system; the Netherlands; white goods; Consumer electronics; Control systems; Costs; Economies of scale; Europe; Pollution; Production facilities; Recycling; Waste management;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, 2001. Proceedings EcoDesign 2001: Second International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Tokyo

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1266-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/.2001.992405

Filename

992405