Improved recycling with life cycle information tagged to the product

Rising demand for product means that the recycling of materials is now more important than ever, saving a lot of energy embedded in materials, thus reducing CO2 emissions. Providing relevant information can raise the recycling efficiency, which is too low at present.A Recycling Information Matrix (RIM) concentrating on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is suggested in order to facilitate and improve materials recycling. Each RIM focuses on a recycling target, and for each type of product a WEEE vector is constructed. The WEEE vector contains nine hexadecimal numbers where core-recycling info is stored.The WEEE vector can provide direct recycling information escorting the product. Another possibility is to individually identify every single product via RFID technology, giving the potential to look for relevant recycling information in databases. This offers the opportunity to add waste-handling information after the product has entered the market. This would be useful, for example, in tracking substances regarded as non-toxic at time of production which might later be proven to be the opposite.This paper is based on study visits at recycling facilities in Sweden and on many student EcoDesign projects including disassembly of consumer products. Research is done on a focused disassembly of dishwashers and on a polymer recycling experiment at a recycling plant for freezers and refrigerators. Possible escort memories are also studied, especially Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID).