Some issues in the development of recycling-oriented manufacturing systems

The success of product stewardship initiatives will depend on their being cost-effective for the participants. If they are to be imposed by means of legislation, the costs have to be minimized and the profitability maximized if they are not to be seen as a burden on society rather than as part of a general move towards sustainable growth. As manufacturers orient themselves in the direction of product recovery and recycling, certain aspects of the development of recycling-oriented manufacturing systems emerge as paramount to their satisfactory establishment. There must be full collaboration between the various players in the system. This applies particularly to the end users who have traditionally been outside the system. Information must be exchanged between the product recovery operation and the product design activity if the end-of-life performance of products is to be optimized. Who maintains control of the system is a key issue. If control is allowed to pass from the manufacturer to the recovery operator, for instance, there is likely to be a bias in favour of recovering only the most profitable items. For a product recovery scheme to be most cost-effective, the question of value must be properly addressed. The value of most products lies not in their materials or components, although these have some residual value, but in their function