Remanufacturing approaches contributing to sustainable engineering

Abstract

Increasing use of resources by an increasing population with unequally distributed wealth make sustainability an urgent topic to pay attention to. A reference model for sustainability in engineering is presented referring to education and research, management, technology, processes and products as the relevant issues for a global change to sustainability. The European environmental laws for sustainable development are an attempt to cope with this challenge by legislative means. The provocative reality of practical implementation in dealing with electric and electronic products after their usage phases in Europe is illustrated. Laboratory developments in disassembly and testing demonstrate the feasibility of remanufacturing. In addition, approaches to increase the efficiency of remanufacturing by improving the product design are introduced.