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- André, Hampus, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Resource and environmental impacts of using second-hand laptop computers: A case study of commercial reuse
- 2019
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Ingår i: Waste Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-053X .- 1879-2456. ; 88, s. 268-279
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The circular economy is proposed to reduce environmental impact, but as yet, there is limited empirical evidence of this sort from studying real, commercial circular economy business cases. This study investigates the environmental impacts of using second-hand laptops, mediated by a commercial reuse operation, instead of new ones. The method used is life cycle assessment (LCA) and special attention is given to laptops’ metal resource use by using several complementary life cycle impact assessment methods. The results show that all activities required to enable reuse of laptops are negligible, despite the reuse company’s large geographical scope. Two principal features of reuse reduce environmental impacts. Firstly, use extension reduces all impacts considerably since there are large embedded impacts in components. Secondly, the reuse company steers non-reusable laptops into state-of-the-art recycling. This provides additional impact reductions, especially with regards to toxicity and metal resource use. The results for metal resource use however diverge between LCIA methods in terms of highlighted metals which, in turn, affects the degree of impact reduction. LCIA methods that characterise functionally recycled metals as important, result in larger impact reduction, since these emphasise the merits of steering flows into state-of-the-art recycling. The study thus demonstrates how using second-hand laptops, mediated by a commercial reuse operation, compared to new ones, in practice, reduces different types of environmental impact through synergistic relationships between reuse and recycling. Moreover, it illustrates how the choice of LCIA method can influence interpretations of metal resource use impacts when applying circular economy measures to information and communication technologies (ICT).
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| 2. |
- Ljunggren Söderman, Maria, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of circular measures on scarce metals in complex products – Case studies of electrical and electronic equipment
- 2019
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Ingår i: Resources, Conservation and Recycling. - : Elsevier BV. - 0921-3449 .- 1879-0658. ; 151
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Circular measures such as long-life designs, reuse, repair and recycling have been suggested for prolonging scarce metal life cycles and reducing the dependence on primary resources. This paper explores to what extent circular measures could mitigate metals scarcity when adopted to complex products. Based on three real cases, the effect of extending the use of laptops, smartphones and LED systems before recycling are assessed for between 7 and 15 scarce metals using material flow analysis. As expected, benefits can be gained from such extensions, but, importantly, differ substantially between metals since they occur in various components with various service lifetimes and functional recycling rates vary. Notably, risks of flipping the ranking in favor of short use before recycling are identified: if service lifetimes are short, designs are metal-intensive or if metal contents differ between products. Furthermore, regardless of measure, sizable and varying losses of each metal from functional use occur since all products are not collected for recycling and all metals are not functionally recycled. Thus, neither use extension measures nor recycling can alone nor in combination radically mitigate metals scarcity and criticality currently. Overall, it is a challenge to target the multitude of scarce and critical metals applied in complex products through circular measures. Careful analysis beyond simplified guidelines such as öR frameworks” are recommended. As the importance of scarce metals availability and the attention to the circular economy are expected to continue, these insights may be used for avoiding efforts with unclear or minor benefits or even drawbacks.
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