GOALI: Remediating E-waste Problems by Considering Consumer Behavior in Design for Multiple Life Cycles and Design for Ease of Return

电子垃圾是美国和世界范围内增长最快的污染问题之一。随着人口的增加和人均产品渗透率的提高，电子垃圾流继续以每年近5%的速度增长，比任何其他类型的城市垃圾快三倍。这个问题的一个解决方案是从消费者那里回收废弃的电子产品，以便进行翻新或材料回收。然而，有许多原因使得美国的产品回收无利可图，包括收集成本、收到产品的质量(可能在各种非最佳的家庭环境中存储数月甚至数年)、产品过时，以及由于缺乏关于预期退货数量的数据而无法计划。通过从最终用户那里获得更多关于可供收集的旧产品数量和时间的信息，这些问题可以得到缓解。GOALI学术联络机会奖支持基础研究，以量化设计特征和消费者行为对退回废弃物品的总量、时间和质量以及退货流程中的不确定性的影响。此外，研究还将评估消费者的偏好和消费者兴趣随时间的变化，以便设计出既能满足第一消费者的需求，又能再销售以满足未来消费者需求的可持续产品。这项研究有两个主要目的。首先，它将从根本上理解消费者行为的作用，以及设计师对全国每年产生的废弃电子产品数量的决定。更准确地估计被丢弃设备的数量将有助于开发促进电子废物收集和回收进程的系统和基础设施。其次，这项研究将创造一类新的设计评估技术，目的是创造确保长期解决方案来控制废物的人工制品。研究团队将使用三组方法来实现这些目标：(1)多生命周期设计：在设计的早期阶段纳入多个利益相关者或产品所有者的偏好；(2)动态偏好设计：根据消费者偏好和选择随时间的变化对特定设计备选方案的市场需求进行建模；以及(3)易于回收设计：在设计产品时纳入渠道成员(例如回收商或收集者)、分销商和最终消费者的利益。

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest growing pollution problems in the US and worldwide. With increasing population and increasing per capita product penetration rates, the e-waste stream continues to grow by close to 5 percent annually, three times faster than any other type of municipal waste. One solution to this problem is to recover discarded electronics from consumers for refurbishment or material recovery. However, there are a number of reasons that make product recovery in the US unprofitable including the cost of collection, the quality of received products (which may be stored for months, or even years, in a variety of non-optimal home environments), product obsolescence, and an inability to plan due to a lack of data about expected number of products being returned. These problems can be alleviated by having more information about the number and timing of used products available for collection from end users. This Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award supports fundamental research to quantify the impact of design features and consumer behavior on the total volume, timing and quality of returned discarded items as well as the uncertainties in the return flows. Additionally, the research will assess consumer preferences and changes in consumer interests over time in order to design sustainable products that not only can meet the needs of the first consumer but also are re-marketable to satisfy the requirements of future consumers. This research has two main objectives. First, it will provide a fundamental understanding of the role of consumer behavior and designer decisions on the amount of discarded electronics annually generated nationwide. More accurate estimation of the amount of discarded devices will assist in developing systems and infrastructure that facilitate e-waste collection and recovery processes. Second, the research will create a novel class of design evaluation techniques with the aim of creating artifacts that ensure long term solutions to control waste. The research team will use three groups of methods to accomplish these aims: (1) Design for multiple life cycles: incorporating preferences of several stakeholders or product owners in the early stage of design, (2) Design for dynamic preference: modeling market demand of a specific design alternative based on changes in consumer preferences and choices over time, and (3) Design for ease of return: Incorporation of the interests of channel members (e.g., recyclers or collectors), distributors and final consumers when designing a product.