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Plastics that contain flame retardants additives, particularly those that contain brominated flame
retardants
Chlorine-based plastics that produce dioxins when improperly incinerated, such as PVC use of PVC in product packaging is prohibited in some countries
Foams that are blown with chlorofluorocarbons CFC-blown
Thermosets such as polyurethane and foam-in-place urethane
Packaging materials that require special solvents for cleaning or removing labels and markings
Polystyrene PS and expanded polystyrene foam EPS.
• Design and use of reusable packagingpacking.
• Design packagingpacking for disassembly and recycling; and markinglabelling of packaging to
facilitate recycling e.g. EU – Green Dot symbol. •
Optimize transportation by designing for pallet loading requirements, mode of transport, handling requirements, etc.
• Consider packaging that is stackable or easily broken down to reduce the volume of stored or
transported packaging materials.
5.8 Designing for end-of-life treatment
The material in this checklist refers to sections 2.1.3.2.7, 2.4 and 3.4. Has the product’s design taken into consideration aspects related to its end-of-life EoL treatment, as
follows? •
Assure compliance with applicable EoL treatment regulatory requirements, e.g. WEEE in the European Union, and with international standards, e.g. ISO 11469, ISO 1993 plastics marking for EoL treatment.
• Positive impacts of EoL treatment based on the product being fully recycled and resulting in reduced
natural resource consumption for materialssubstances used to manufacture new equipment. •
Conform to general EoL principles, such as:
easy and safe separation of parts containing hazardous substances and preparations;
materials including electronic modules connected to the case, housing parts or chassis, intended for different end-of-life treatment, should be easily separable;
disassembly down to the module level for example, power supply, disk drive, circuit board should
be possible using commonly available tools and all such modules should be easily accessible;
mark type of polymer, copolymer, polymer blends or alloys of plastic parts, including additives weighing 25 g or more and with a flat area of 200 mm
2
or more, in conformance with ISO 11469. •
Size and weight of products – make the product more lightweight for less eco-impact from EoL transport, and more manageable for product disassembly and handling.
• Finishes coatingssurface treatments should avoid materials that inhibit recycling.
• Enable disassembly, separation and purification per section 4.3 – Best practices.
5.9 Design for manufacturing
The material in this checklist refers to sections 2.2 and 3.2. Has the product designer considered the general principle for eco-efficient manufacturing – minimize
resource consumption in production and transport of the ICT product? Has the designer further considered the following?
• Specify lightweight materials and components.
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• Specify materials that do not require additional surface treatment.
• Structure the product to avoid rejects and minimize material waste in production.
• Minimize the number of components.
• Specify materials with low-intensity production.
• Specify clean, high-efficiency production processes.
• Simplify as few manufacturing steps as possible.
• Use minimal resources in transporting materials, components, sub-assemblies and finished products.
5.10 Smart usage
The material in this checklist refers to sections 2.3 and 3.3. Has the following best environmental practices been considered for the use of the installed ICT product?
• Ensure efficiency of resources consumed within the product’s use stage.
• Follow guidance for establishing a green data center, if applicable.
• Employ energy efficiency measurement methods for data center equipment, if applicable.
• Monitor real-time energy consumption to assess energy sources – with interest in renewable energy
sources. •
Conform to ETSI TR 102 530 guidelines regarding power distribution low and high voltage and ACDC power systems.
• ICT infrastructure equipment consolidation – with interest in improving energy efficiency through
higher levels of utilization. •
Energy proportional design – achieve such proportionality through technical improvements such as standbysleephibernation modes and the use of multi-core CPUs.
• Cooling – consider recommendations for thermal management.
• Servicing – minimize degree of routine servicing, e.g. remote servicingsoftware upgrades.
6 Conclusions
This document on sustainable products points to the deep challenges that today’s product designers face in creating products that have the least environmental impacts, from design and development, through to
manufacture, use, recovery and recycling. By focusing on environmentally-conscious design, this document provides a template for the kind of framework that a designer can use, including taking advantage of the
best practices captured in existing standards and guidelines.
Clearly, what is needed for ICT designers to take advantage of this is the following:
Foster environmental intelligence
Possibly due to time constraints, lack of knowledge andor lack of resources, few ICT designers have been adequately exposed to the fundamental concepts of environmentally-conscious design. A new wave of
designers needs to build environmental intelligence in to their core work.
Design relationships, not objects
A key thread throughout the document is how decisions made at one stage of the life cycle impact many or all other stages. As a result, ICT designers need to consider the relationships that are created and mediated
as a result of their design work. These relationships cover manufacturing, sourcing, sales, use, reuse,
