Design for bulk recycling: Analysis of materials separation

Increased interest in the life cycle design of products has resulted in emphasis on the disassembly and recovery of materials at product end-of-life. For many products the cost of disassembly will outweigh the value of any materials recovered and such products will be processed by bulk recycling involving shredding and mechanical material separation. The efficiency of bulk recycling is influenced by a number of factors including the selection of materials during product design. This paper deals with the analysis of materials separation, which determines the least cost or maximum profit level of materials separation. This can be used for the evaluation of product designs for efficient bulk recycling and the combination of disassembly and bulk recycling.