Consolidation of knowledge, information and experiences in application of Design for Environment principles is done at various levels, ranging from easy to understand slogans to design guidelines, and even to tailor-made solutions. This brings about that dissemination of this knowledge should be done taking the intended audience and relevant contexts into account—especially when dissemination is done in the form of ‘principles’, which are usually presented without context at all. In this paper it is discussed how interpretations of consolidating principles can lead to misinterpretations and even counterproductive actions. At least three principles can be identified that should be taken into account when disseminating DFE knowledge, discussing (1) different perspectives of what is environmentally friendly, (2) the life-cycle perspective, and (3) the integration of environmental and economical considerations.

A key question in setting up take-back systems for discarded consumer electronics is how much environmental improvement can be realized per amount of money invested. With the eco-efficiency concept developed, the environmental and economic performance of single products within various end-of-life scenarios can be quantified as well as the contribution of individual materials and material fractions to this performance. Also analysis the effectiveness and efficiency of optimization and changes in the take-back system like, glass recycling and plastic recycling, and Design for End-of-Life activities is determined. Moreover, the environmental effectiveness and cost-efficiency effects of the European Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is reviewed. Based on the eco-efficiency analyses, an implementation roadmap for this legislation is proposed in order to further improve environmental performance on one hand and to minimize costs on the other hand.

In August this year, the EU WEEE Directive (waste electric and electronic equipment) should he implemented by EU member states by having take-back systems in place for electronic waste. However, many of the EU member states will not accomplish this on time and still many interpretation and transposition issues remain. Extensive discussions are related to the interpretation of Annex II, the monitoring of recycling and recovery rates, on treatment standards and system organization issues like responsibilities of retailers, municipalities and other collection points. Furthermore in the member states without much infrastructure present, authorities, producers and producer organizations and recyclers are still arguing on financing issues (collective or individual, visible fee for consumers or not, accruals, historic waste, etc.). It is expected that due to these developments probably large differences per member state will appear and the opposite of a level playing field for recyclers and producers will be the end result. In this respect it should be avoided that the original idea behind the WEEE Directive, saving electronic products from the waste bin.

Proper environmental comparison of possible packaging solutions calls for an assessment including all phases of the life cycle. With protective packaging of CE products this would require incorporating the effectiveness of the packaging i.e. the percentage of products that reach the point of sale in an undamaged condition.

A comprehensive and quantitative eco-efficiency concept for end-of-life consumer electronics is developed at the TU Delft. It addresses the key question in setting up take-back systems for discarded consumer electronics: how much environmental improvement can be realized per amount of money invested? This paper highlights the latest results of applying the concept in practice on the implementation of electronic waste policies like in the European WEEE and RoHS directives. The outcomes show in general how short, medium and long term developments in applying electronic waste policies should look like.

Based on an in depth user research, two upgrading scenario's for TVs which are currently discarded by first owners have been identified. Due to the fact that energy consumption is dominant in the environmental load over the total life cycle, the environmental and economical gains are limited for the current models, that is 22% and 5% respectively when lifetime through the upgrading service is extended by 50%. Future models should allow easier replacement of printed wiring boards so that an upgrade service offers more value for producers, customers and society.

In the form of fourteen propositions, current and future issues for electronics to be really green are discussed. These propositions include four items about Eco Design (energy, materials, design, performance measurement, integration in product creation procedures), four about management of environment in industrial organizations (supply chain, green marketing and sales, management of internal value chains, measurement of performance), four about stakeholders management (eco-efficiency as a guiding principle, external value chains, legal compliance, the demand side) and two about the role of the environmental manager and the real significance of environmental considerations respectively.

The existing paradigm for ecodesign research remains to focus on technical and physical issues. Design and technology receive most of the attention, especially in the community that attends electronics oriented conferences like the IEEE/ISEE, Ecodesign, CARE Innovation, and Electronics Goes Green. At these conferences, a more managerial focus towards integrating ecodesign considerations in the electronics industry is generally limited to discussions about environmental management systems, ISO standards, and of course EU legislation like EuP, WEEE and RoHS, leaving on a side the wider stakeholder benefits issue and value chain problems. This paper highlights the observation that ecodesign activities at large electronic manufacturing organizations have little to do with environmental considerations. The rationale behind ecodesign is of a self-protective nature.

As long as basic technology development in the field of electronics is still nearly independent of environmental or sustainability-oriented consideration, promoting eco-design and an understanding of the sustainability concept is still very important. The paper Beyond Eco-Design presents a theoretical approach to sustainable development in the fast changing electronics sector. Within the approach eco-design and good environmental practice in manufacturing is the first step. However, sustainability is asking for a simultaneous consideration of environmental, economical, and socio-cultural effects during the design or development process. This objective can only be achieved by precompetitive collaboration along the value chain and across regions. It is essential to communicate eco-design know how and build cross-regional eco-design teams. In our fast changing world we have to develop an understanding for the real needs of our societies on the one hand and have to develop frameworks that help to adopt optimal solutions for each region.

Applied Ecodesign is, like Ecodesign in general, a young and interdisciplinary research area, resulting in a (for the time being) lack of journals specifically devoted to this subject. This situation supposedly negatively affects opportunities for getting scientific articles published in high rating journals, a situation which (in scientific output-linked financing schemes) is a substantial drawback. The literature reference count presented in the paper supports the above claims.

The QWERTY concept (Quotes for environmentally WEighted RecyclabiliTY) focuses on the determination of environmentally weighted recycling scores rather than weight-based recycling scores. The approach describes precisely what is happening in end-of-life scenarios from the environmental perspective. It is a very powerful concept in re-thinking the meaning of recyclability and the effectiveness of end-of-life scenarios in general. New in the concept is the modelling of the decomposition behavior of electronic products into fractions for three regular end-of-life scenarios. Results show that the QWERTY concept can quantify to what extent the primary environmental goals of take-back of disposed consumer electronic products can be achieved: reduction of material depletion, controlling potential toxicity and reducing emissions. Applying QWERTY also allows one to measure whether the proposed European Directive on Waste of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) is effective in fostering these goals.

In this paper the implementation of the European WEEE and RoHS directives will be considered from the perspective of an eco-efficient implementation. The basis for the environmental considerations of take back and recycling is the Quotes for Environmentally Weighted Recyclability (QWERTY) method as developed at Delft University of Technology. Combined with economic (cost) calculations a comprehensive approach on the eco-efficiency of electronic goods will be presented. In this way, it can be assessed how the intent of the WEEE can be best served. Moreover, meaningful avenues can be indicated for further improvement of take back and recycling systems both through Ecodesign and through technology investment but also through systems organization and improvement of rule making. The QWERTY/Eco-Efficiency approach also delivers a clear priority setting in this respect. For RoHS implementation adequate thresholds, appropriate system boundaries and an agreed set of chemical analysis methods are key ingredients for success. It is discussed in a separate section.

The QWERTY/EE concept developed at the TU Delft is applied to balance design strategies with end-of-life treatment processes. Based on this concept, the following approach is used for four different redesign cases of consumer electronic products: 1. Assessing the impact of three general design strategies for improving end-of-life performance: reducing parts and materials that are environmentally burdening in end-of-life, reallocating materials or components and improving connections between various parts. 2. Redesign priorities are determined by QWERTY/EE analysis showing which materials and components to focus on in particular. 3. Determining the feasibility of redesign options based on the technical and economical consequences of changes in the current product design. 4. Evaluation of the actual redesign in order to check whether or not an environmental improvement is realized. The results of this approach show the value of the QWERTY/EE concept for design for end-of-life activities. The actual redesign results show that despite the very limited degree a designer has for improving end-of-life aspects from an environmental perspective, still significant improvements can be realized in certain cases and not only from an environmental perspective but also in costs.

An extensive literature analysis has been carried out, encompassing over 850 papers published at ecodesign community conferences. Using a classification framework based on academic and industrial processes of fact-finding, analysis, implementation, and exploitation of ecodesign knowledge and adjacent topics, insight has been generated as to the distribution of research attention across these topics. This information has been used to discuss propositions related to under- and overemphasis of research topics.

The current WEEE Directive is reviewed as regards its environmental and economic effectiveness. It is concluded that it is a sufficiently flexible platform to start transposition into national laws stakeholders will still have to agree on many items. This concerns both environmental aspects as developing proper definitions, green performance measurement and secondary material issues as well as systems organization and efficiency items as economy of scale, balancing cost and effects of treatments and developing tailor-made strategies. In each of these categories examples are given how this could work out in practice.

A take-back and recycling system of white and brown goods is in operation in the Netherlands as of 01/01/99. It is a collective system financed by a visible fee. The collection rates of the system are according to expectations, the recycling rates achieved are higher than anticipated and the costs are much lower than budgeted. The good performance is chiefly due to its professional management, its economy of scale and the leverage towards recyclers. The results compare favourably with the take-back and recycling system for IT goods which is based on individual responsibility. The system can be developed further by applying quotes for environmentally weighted recyclability, ecoefficiency concepts and introducing rewards for good ecodesign while keeping the economy of scale

The environmental benchmarking procedure as developed by the Design for Sustainability Lab of Delft University of Technology and the Environmental Competence Centre of Philips Consumer Electronics has been applied to TVs sold in the market in three continents: North America (USA), Europe and Asia (China). For each region three or four products of different brands have been considered. In. total some fifty parameters, which are relevant for the environmental performance, have been measured. These measurements allow making calculation of life cycle performance of the products (based on the Eco Indicator 95 system). The results show big differences in all categories; no brand scores consistently best in all focal areas. It is concluded that although TVs are seemingly a mature product, different design tradition, different supplier base and difference in speed of latest technology make that in practice differences up to 50% in life cycle performance have been found. Also, between products sold in the three regions of the world, clear differences were found (although not as big as between best and worst brand. performances). Only partly can this observation be explained by differences in for instance environmental legislation. It is speculated as to what extent the structure of the value chain is responsible. It is concluded that environmental benchmarking is a powerful tool to systematically track down design improvements and to check on supplier relationships.

The connection between environmental and economic aspects is essential for proper eco-design applicability in industrial contexts and examples are shown in this paper. The aim of this review is to show that in practice this combination is done, in various ways, depending on the context. The review tries to cover the overall product value chain. The paper concludes that relevant actors at the eco-design development process use specific tools in order to link environmental performance with economic aspects. Each tool used is intended to satisfy each group of actors' interests and that at each stage of the product development there is a certain way of communicating results.