1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Disposition
Recycling: The collection, reprocessing, marketing, and utilization of materials that were
once considered waste. This involves closing material loops in order to diminish
environmental impairment at both extremes of the linear economy, i.e., in an attempt to
reduce resource depletion and waste.
Remanufacturing or Refurbishment: The upgrading of a retired product or the use of
parts from a retired system for use in a different product.
Reuse: The search for the highest possible economic value in re-using goods,
components, and materials-durability is a result of the capability to re-use goods and
components. The requirements of reuse need to be taken into account in product design
(modular system design commonalty principle); the incentive for this is, again, re-take
[30].
Reverse Distribution: The process of product recovery through the channels utilized to
distribute new equipment. Reverse distribution can be used for asset recovery or
involuntary product recovery.
Table 5-1 lists the needs for effective disposition identified during this roadmapping exercise.
85