Binder
Fakultäten » Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät » Geographisches Institut » Social and Industrial Ecology » Prof. Dr. Claudia Binder (ausgetreten) » Binder
Completed research project
| Title / Titel | Smart labels for waste-resource management | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | This project explores in a quantitative analysis the question of how the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology might improve waste-resource management for selected types of goods. Using a material flow analysis three areas of improvement in the waste-resource management sector were identified by taking Switzerland as an example: (i) Increase share of materials to be recycled; (ii) Ensure and improve purity of the recycled materials; (iii) Provide information about composition of the goods (including toxic components) in order to ease or even automatize further disposal. Four measures, based on application of the RFID technology along the life cycle of consumption and disposal, were developed; their effect on waste-resource management, their potential investment costs analyzed and technological challenges derived. Our results indicate that for short-lived homogenous goods, automation of the waste separation by RFID technology directly at the source of waste is most effective. Resources contained in heterogeneous goods (short- and long-lived) can best be reutilized if their composition is known and can be provided to recycling companies. In addition, for improving waste-resource management along the whole life cycle, information on the precedence of raw materials and assembling conditions of the products should be made available to the consumer, so that resource friendly consumption, similar to biological products in agriculture can be pursued | ||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | RFID, waste-resource management, recycling, material flow analysis | ||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
|
||||
| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
No project-specific funding |
||||
| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
|
||||
| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Mar 2004 to Sep 2006 |