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...analysis' and consumers' responses to this legislation, and the industry were also reviewed. Finally, for future product designers who work with electrical and electronic equipment some guidelines and rules are given to consider while designing for the environment and sustainability.
Keywords: eco-design, energy, products directive, product design
Introduction
The Eco-design of Energy Using Products (EuP) is a framework directive that encourages producers to consider the design of their products, to reduce negative environmental impact of the product throughout its life-cycle. It is thought that 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined in the design phase, therefore the best way to reduce the impact of the product is to look at the design criteria or the product design specifications. The EuP directive requires the producers of appliances to adhere to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive and also to the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), as part of the criteria for conforming to the EuP directive. If these directives are not met, then the producer does not meet the requirements that are set out in the EuP directive and the consequence is that the products could not be placed on sale in the EU. The aim of the directive is to ensure free movement of goods across the EU, to improve the environmental performance of products and appliances, to help secure energy supplies and to enhance the competitiveness of the EU economy. In doing this, it preserves the interests of both the industry and the consumers.
The key question in this study is how can industry, such as those producing small domestic appliances, conform to this directive? In answering this question, it is hoped that a sustainable product design specification can be drawn up to help product designers in the future design products and appliances that have a reduced environmental impact. In understanding and complying with the EuP directives, an understanding of the WEEE and RoHS directives are also sought. The first part of this study looks at whether the public are aware of these directives and to see if the environmental impact of the products and appliances that they purchase influences their final choice on the items that they buy. The second part looks at both the WEEE and RoHS directives and how they will impact on product design and disposal. Finally, there will be a review of the EuP directive and a summary of the investigation into public awareness and also whether the requirements of the WEEE and RoHS directives give some guidance, specifications or rules for future product designers, so that they may produce more eco-designed and sustainable appliances and products.
As yet, the WEEE, RoHS and EuP directives have not been transposed into European member state law which is due imminently. The WEEE directive is due to be transposed into law from the 1 January 2005 and to be adhered to by the July of 2005. However, the final consultation regarding this directive was only finalised in November of 2004, and the amendments and recommendations to help implement this law are as yet unfinished. So at this time, the law may not be implemented until after the 1st January, only time will tell. The RoHS directive and also the EuP are set to be transposed into the law by the 1 January 2006, however, with the delays seen in the implementation of the WEEE directive; this date may also be missed. Once the directives have been transposed into law, the producers of appliances and products that are affected by these laws have 6 months in which to adhere to them. In the UK, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and also DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) are working with the industry to help understand and adhere to the directives.
Section 1
Market research into public awareness
As part of the research into the Eco design and energy using products, an understanding of what the public know about how they dispose of these appliances is very important, as it is they who play a key role in the recovery of the waste electrical and electronic equipment. The surveys utilised an online survey maker, Zoomerang, which distributes and correlates the information from those asked to complete the survey. There were two surveys completed, the first was a trial to find out how the results were collected. This also helped to refine the questions being asked of people in the second survey. During the first trial there were some technical difficulties in the way the distribution list was sent out, this meant that some of the recipients were unable to contribute, although the 19 that did complete the survey and whose responses were recorded, provided some very useful information.
Public awareness survey (take 1)
The first survey asked 19 questions. The first five questions were designed to see how much the people taking part in the survey knew about the legislation that is concerned with large, non household waste such as end of life vehicles and waste electronics, which now have to be broken down into material type so that the material may be recycled and recovered in a sustainable way. This also helps keep contaminants such as petrol and other harmful fluids from contaminating land and water ways. As there are around 25 million cars on the road, the ELV directive affects us all.
1. Are you aware of the Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) Directive?
2. Are you aware of the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive?
3. Are you aware of the End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive?
4. Are you aware of the Land Fill Directive?
5. Are you aware of the Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive?
[TABLE 1 OMITTED]
Participants were questioned about the WEEE, RoHS and EuP directives, as they are the items that are being investigated through this study. Questions were also asked about the Landfill Directive, as a majority of the waste that is produced in the UK goes to landfill, so it was a test to see how much people really did know about their waste. Unfortunately, from the results it is clear that people are not very knowledgeable about the directives and how their potentially hazardous waste should be disposed of.
Questions 6 through to 9 asked the participant about their recycling habits for plastics, metals, paper and glass.
6. Do you recycle paper/card?
7. Do you recycle glass?
8. Do you recycle metals (i.e. aluminium, steel)?
9. Do you recycle plastics?
The results from these questions (Table 2), show that at least half of the participants recover and recycle plastic, glass, paper and metals on a regular basis. Although this does show that people are recycling, it seems that the most important and easiest waste to recover, waste metal, is not collected as frequently as those materials that actually take more energy and resources to recover like glass and paper. However, some of these recycling habits could be due to the local collection schemes that are on offer to the person who completed this survey.
[TABLE 2 OMITTED]
Questions 10 and 11 asked the participants about the material recovery schemes that are available in their local area, and also how they currently dispose of their waste electrical and electronic equipment. The results are seen in Tables 3 and 4.
[TABLES 3-4 OMITTED]
10. Do you have a regular collection for materials to be recycled in your local area, if so what materials do they take?
11. How do you dispose of your waste electronic and electrical equipment?
Question 10. The 'Other' comments included: there was no collection scheme available, that the collection was not automatic and that one person's collection scheme also included clothes.
The results of question 10, seen in Table 3, show that paper and card are the most commonly collected items in local recycling schemes, closely followed by plastic. Again it is noted that metal waste is not frequently collected via the local schemes, which is surprising considering the potential value there is in this waste stream. Glass is not often collected in local recycling schemes, as when glass is broken and mixed with paper the shards of glass often remain in the paper, even after it is sorted and therefore contaminates it, making that batch of collected paper unusable.
Question 11 looks at the current disposal habits for electronics, from the results in Table 4 it appears that the amenities site is the most commonly used.
Questions 12 to 14 ask the participant about their knowledge on the Eco label that is being promoted in connection with the EuP directive. This logo does appear on a number of items on sale in the shops and these questions were designed to see if it was an influence on the purchasing of those items. The Eco label can be seen in Figure 1.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
12. Do you know what the label (Figure 1) represents?
13. What products do you associate with this label?
14. When purchasing a new domestic appliance does this label influence your choice?
The results from question 12, seen in Table 5, show that people have an understanding of what this label means, however, this may be due to the limited choice of answers that they could give. It is clear that most have associated it with sustainable product design. The actual answer being that the label represents 'sustainable product design and consumption': making use out of sustainable resources and production techniques, and essentially meaning that the product has a reduced environmental impact through design and innovative material usage, although this does not include power consumption. The other comments (of which there were three) said that the participant did not know what the label meant but would have guessed at the reduced environmental impact.
[TABLE 5 OMITTED]
Question 13 asked the participant if they could associate the label with various products that are currently on the market, the results of which can be seen in Table 6, some of the items listed do have the logo applied to their packaging and some do not. There was also an 'Other' column where people could add comments, they included:
[TABLE 6 OMITTED]
I don't because I've never seen the label Don't know (commented from two participants) All listed Large electrical appliances.
This question was trying to find out who really knew about the label and sustainable products. Table 6 only shows the results that people commented on. The list included textiles, hard floor coverings, paints and varnishes, bed mattresses and also furniture, all of which can be seen with the Eco-label but none of which were chosen by those completing this survey. Those items asked about that have an * next to them in the key, demonstrates which items the Eco-label can be applied to.
Question 14 asked if this label made an impact on the decision making when purchasing new items. Sixteen out of the 18 who responded, said that this label DOES NOT influence their purchase. This may be due to the lack of education about what this logo means and also due to the restricted number of items on the UK market that may have this item displayed on its label or packaging. Two people said that this label did influence their purchase.
Questions 15 and 16 were designed to identify the participants purchasing habits, how the participant comes to their final choice over an item, and also what influences the final choice. Questions 17, 18 and 19 were designed to see if people were consistent in what they said in the previous questions, and also looked at the type of appliances that the participants had in their homes.
15. When purchasing a new domestic appliance does its power consumption influence your choice?
16. When purchasing a new kitchen appliance such as a food processor, blender or kitchen mixer, what influences your final purchase?
17. What type of vacuum cleaner do you own?
18. Is your vacuum cleaner bag-less?
19. Do you own any of the following appliances?
There were 19 responses to question 15, which looked at the power consumption/Watts ratings and whether this made an impact on the participants final choice of purchase when buying domestic appliances. Ten of those responses said that power consumption did have an impact and 9 said that it did not. There was also an opportunity for the participant to comment on these power ratings and 2 did respond:
Energy ratings Is there enough power?
Clearly, there is not much to prove whether this does impact on the consumers' choice as it is nearly a 50 : 50 split.
Question 16 asks the participant to comment further on their purchasing decisions and what helps the final choice. It asks them to rate how important the design, size functionality and other aspects that might have an impact on their final purchase. This also includes looking at the watts rating to see if the answers seen in question 15 are consistent. The results to question 16 are seen in Table 7.
[TABLE 7 OMITTED]
From the results of question 16, shown in Table 7, it is very clear that the function of the appliance is the most critical, as there is no point in purchasing something that you are never going to use. The cost is the second biggest influence over the final choice, followed by the size of the appliance. These choices are closely followed by the holistic influences over style and design, make and watts ratings. Energy efficiency and also the environmental impact of the products are tertiary considerations, if considered at all.
Questions 17 and 18 looked at the type of vacuum cleaners the participants used in their home. The results, seen in Table 8, were interesting, as the most common vacuum cleaner was the Dyson, which is advertised without power consumption/watts ratings, so clearly this is not a direct influence over the final choice. When you compare this to question 16, there is a conflict of information that is being received. However, question 16 could have been misleading, talking about all electrical equipment, most of which, with the exception of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, is marketed with information on power consumption and watts ratings. Question 18 was a question done out of interest, though there was again an almost 50 : 50 split by the use of bagged and bag-less vacuums. The use of bag-less vacuums could be argued to be better as they do not require the additional purchase of bags that standard vacuums require, and therefore are more sustainable. However, bag-less vacuums do need to have their filters replaced, so the argument is not really upheld, unless the material consumption and frequency of the change of filters is investigated....
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
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