ABSTRACT
With increasing product complexity, sophistication of manufacturing processes, range of environmental concerns, and other pressures on industry over time, environmental evaluation becomes increasingly difficult and a key issue in industrial ecology. Based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s municipal solid waste (MSW) characterization and the durable goods fraction of MSW, the scrap electronics wastestream may be as high as 5 to 10 million tons per year. Consumer electronics, computers, and household appliances contribute significantly to the environmental burden placed on the municipalities across the nation. If discarded products and wastestreams such as those mentioned could be recovered and reengineered into valuable feedstreams, then we can break this trend and achieve sustainability. Over the last decade, efforts to reduce process wastes and design green products were made in America’s manufacturing industry. Companies are pressured to increase the pace to develop more green products.
