A life cycle simulation based evaluation of end-of-Iife management ofmechelectronic product in China

摘要

Given the growing stock of household electrical appliances, China is faced with an urgent challenge of management of household appliances massive disposal. Unfortunately, the majority of waste household appliances arc now processed in small workshops mainly by manual disassembly and open incineration which are extremely polluting and health-harming in China. In response to the increasing environmental concerns over household appliance end-of-Iife treatment, The Regulations on the Administration of the Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products (WEEE Regulations), was promulgated in 2009. To discuss the potential benefits from the implementation of the Regulations, a holistic understanding of the waste appliance recycling business and after-end-of -life markets is indispensable. This paper presents a life cycle simulation model to evaluate the potential environmental benefits from the improved end-of-Iife management. The proposed model provides a mathematical description of close-loop lifecycles and yields quantitative results of energy and rawmaterial consumption and waste generation. Then, as a case study, the environmental benefits of household refrigerator recycling and reuse system compliant to the Regulations is analyzed based on comparison of simulation results of two scenarios respectively representing implementing and not implementing of the Regulations. The proposed model is expected to facilitate policy- and decision-making on product recycling and reuse.