Design for recycling in the transport sector: future scenarios and challenges

The objectives of the project are to: make a survey of the recycling system and market in Europe; present scenarios of future recycling systems and markets; suggest design guidelines in order to simplify recycling of products, contribute towards cost efficient recycling processes, increase the value of recycled materials, and increase the recycling rate. The report includes a description of end-of-life treatment of vehicles (focus on automobiles) in Europe today and options for the future. Four different scenarios for future recycling systems are presented for the years 2015 and 2030. The scenarios are no predictions of the future recycling system but descriptions of potential recycling systems based on certain assumptions, such as technology development of recycling processes. Relevant design guidelines for recycling are suggested based on these scenarios. Some characteristics for the design guidelines are that: materials and components including hazardous substances should primarily be avoided or otherwise be labelled and designed for disassembly, for example, to increase the quality of material fractions for recycling and energy recovery; PVC and copper should either be dismantled or be avoided in components that are not dismantled, for example in electrical cables, to increase the quality of material fractions for recycling and energy recovery; additional design for disassembly is usually unnecessary except for some few materials and components in a dismantling optimistic scenario, i.e. large parts of monomaterials or more valuable materials; the choice of plastics, including their additives and coatings, should be made to increase the quality and demand of recycled plastics; few or none guidelines for recycling are needed when assuming best available technology.