How do you calculate the recoverability of your products

How to calculate the recoverability of your products

Understanding the recoverability of your products is crucial in today's quest for a circular economy. Recoverability refers to the ability to recover useful materials or energy from end-of-life (EoL) products. This process significantly reduces the environmental impact by minimizing waste and reducing the need for new raw materials. The DIN EN 45555 standard provides comprehensive guidelines for assessing the recoverability of energy-related products (ErP). Here's how to calculate the recoverability of your products based on this standard.

Definitions

First, let's define some key terms used in the evaluation of recoverability:

• End-of-Life (EoL): This is the stage in a product's life cycle when it is no longer used and is considered waste.
• recovery: This includes operations that allow waste to serve a useful purpose by replacing other materials or being prepared to perform a specific function in the economy.
• Material recovery: recovery operations that do not involve energy generation, with a focus on preparation for reuse, recycling and backfilling.
• Energy recovery: The process of generating useful energy from waste through direct and controlled incineration or other processing methods.

Scope of assessment

The DIN EN 45555 standard outlines the principles for evaluating the recoverability of energy-related products and focuses on:

• accessibility and removability certain components, materials or substances from products to facilitate their extraction at the EoL.
• Material-specific recovery, including critical raw materials (CRMs).

General considerations

The recoverability assessment should assume that the entire product will undergo a reference EoL treatment scenario that includes a detailed description of the processes and steps for treating the product at the EoL. Preparing the product for reuse should not be included. Important factors that affect recoverability are the design of the product, material composition, size, mass, and material recovery techniques used.

Creation of the reference EoL treatment scenario

A reference EoL treatment scenario is critical for evaluating recoverability. This scenario should consider the following:

• Applicable regulations: ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Industry practices: incorporating standardized practices that enable efficient material recovery.
• Health, safety and environmental aspects: consideration of potential hazards associated with the recovery process.
• Product features: taking into account the specific structure and material composition of the product.

Criteria influencing recoverability

Design characteristics play an important role in determining the recoverability of a product. Important criteria include:

• Identification and removal of regulated substances: The ability to identify parts that contain substances or mixtures that require selective treatment.
• Product design and structure: The ease with which parts are accessible and removable for selective treatment. This includes the evaluation of the joining techniques used that can influence the separation and sorting of materials for recovery.
• Non-separable material combinations: Assessing the compatibility of materials with existing recovery processes, especially in cases where materials cannot be easily separated.

Assessment documentation

The assessment should be fully documented and cover the following points:

• General aspects: Details about the initiator of the assessment, date and location.
• scope of assessment: description of the product being evaluated and the assumptions applied.
• Input data and approach: information used for the assessment, calculations and methods or tools used.
• review results: Qualitative and quantitative results of the assessment, including references to standards, laws, and other requirements.

For more detailed information, please visit the DIN website.

How can ComplyMarket help you calculate the recoverability index of your products?

We have developed state-of-the-art technology that uses artificial intelligence to simulate complex mathematical equations, which allows us to calculate the recoverability index in just a few minutes and in accordance with the requirements of EN 45555. Simply enter as much information as you can, and our tool will calculate the recoverability value of your product.

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