The application of computer simulation to economically justify the design of a life-cycle approach

Legislation increasingly places responsibility for product end of life (EOL) on the manufacturer who produced the products originally, companies will have direct incentives to design products that are recyclable in order to reduce the costs of landfill disposal. Design is likely to play a key role in reducing the costs of recycling. Interestingly some innovative companies are already taking back EOL products to their financial advantage. In the USA, for example, DEC recycles tens of thousands of computer monitors each year at a unit cost of between $3 and $6.50 because this approach is cheaper than the costs of landfill