Systems evaluation of integrated treatment and recycling system for post-use electric home appliances

A new recycling plant for post-use electric home appliances was constructed and is currently under demonstration. The environmental performance of the new recycling scenario was assessed by means of LCA in comparison with those of conventional recycling/disposal scenarios. The conventional scenarios selected were a shredding system with iron recovery and landfilling without recovery of valuable materials. It is concluded that the proposed scenario using the new recycling plant significantly reduces environmental burdens compared with the conventional options. Also a framework of the systems evaluation including materials balance simulation and treatment cost estimation is explained.