seeba Eco-design Tools

Tools Introduction

As a result of legislative and other pressures, there is an increasing requirement to implement eco-design programmes throughout the supply chain. This need for greater understanding of environmental considerations amongst all stakeholders in the electronics sector from consumers, retailers through to manufacturers and component suppliers. In particular there is a need to be increased awareness of eco-design in supply chains amongst electronics manufacturers, systems integrators, component suppliers, recyclers and design consultancies, which will need to cover, for example:

design for dismantling
use of recycled plastics
use of fewer components
use of fewer plastic

However, many of these issues are new for electronics companies. Research in the UK by The Centre for Sustainable Design (CfSD) has highlighted that component suppliers have low awareness of:

environmental issues
eco-design
the WEEE, RoHS and EuP directives

ETMUEL Programme

The Centre for Sustainable Design received funding via the Adapt programme of the European Social Fund (ESF) to develop a two year training programme called ETMUEL focusing on the implementation of environmental considerations in product development and design (eco-design) in the electronics sector. The ETMUEL programme was designed to provide a range of ‘bottom-line’ benefits to project participants:

increased awareness of strategic environmental issues
training of key personnel
increased business competence
best practice benchmarking
new business opportunities
added value.

There was a range of business benefits that the ETMUEL programme brought to participants through the implementation of eco-design programmes:

legal compliance
cost savings
increased competitiveness
increased innovation
reduced environmental impacts.

The ETMUEL project was very successful, and included case studies, the development of simple eco-design tools for use by SMEs, and the Smart ecoDesign™ training.

Eco-Design and Supply Chain Management, 28 June 1999
Conference Proceedings

Eco-Design SME Case Study: Crawford, Hansford & Kimber (CH&K)
"Adding Value to the Supply Chain with Smart ecoDesign"

Eco-Design in Supply Chain Case Study: Cable & Wireless (C&W)
Eco-design and the Supply Chain: Influence Suppliers

Free downloadable tools covering management and technical aspects of eco-design
See below for the different eco-design tools

Development of the Smart ecoDesign™
Smart ecoDesign™

Since the ETMUEL project has completed, the deliverables have been incorporated into seeba, and the tools developed further. These tools are free to use by anybody and have been used or adapted by many organisations around the world.

EuP checklists, Version 1 This document is intended to help companies prepare for the European Energy using Products Framework Directive 2005/32/EC (EuP Directive). However following the checklists does not mean that a company will be EuP compliant since it is only when the Implementation measures for different groups of products are published that the actual requirements for a particular product group will be known. It is recommended that companies keep themselves up to date with EuP developments

The checklists in this document will evolve as the analyses of the different products on the priority list are published and the different standards start to become available.

EuP Active Electronic Components Checklists This document is intended to help manufacturers of active electronic components meet the ever increasing demand from customers for ecofriendly components. The document is split into three main sections:

Legislation/Customer Requirements Checklist.
Eco declarations Checklists.
Ecodesign checklists for active component manufacturers.

EuP Passive Electronic Components Checklists This document is intended to help manufacturers of passive electronic components meet the ever increasing demand from customers for ecofriendly components. The document is split into three main sections:

Legislation/Customer Requirements Checklist.
Eco declarations Checklists.
Ecodesign checklists for passive component manufacturers.

EuP Printed Wiring Boards Checklists This document is intended to help manufacturers of printed wiring boards meet the ever increasing demand from customers for ecofriendly components. The document is split into three main sections:

Legislation/Customer Requirements Checklist.
Eco declarations Checklists.
Ecodesign checklists for printed wiring board manufacturers.

EuP Mechanical Component Checklists This document is intended to help manufacturers of mechanical components meet the ever increasing demand from customers for ecofriendly components. The document is split into three main sections:

Legislation/Customer Requirements Checklist.
Eco declarations Checklists.
Ecodesign checklists for mechanical component manufacturers.

Eco-design checklists, Original Version The original eco-design checklist and does not take into account the requirements of the EuP directive. It is still a useful tool for those companies that are not impacted by the EuP and want to use a more general type of checklist.

Eco-design strategy wheelA tool highlighting sustainability issues in product and service development.

The eco-design strategy wheel is an element of the Sustainable Value software developed by The Centre for Sustainable Design. The eco-design strategy wheel was originally developed by Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.

Eco-design and supply chain management A guide for environmental managers, purchasing managers and product designers.

Smart ecoDesign (Electronics) strategy wheelA tool highlighting sustainability issues in product and service development

The Smart ecoDesign (Electronics) strategy wheel is a tool to quickly determine the environmental strengths and weaknesses of electronics products and services.

Product design and ISO 14001A guide for environmental managers and product designers.

Eco-design healthcheckA simple top level checklist

seeba

seeba Global Resource

Tools Introduction

ETMUEL Programme