Material declaration and recycling description
Material declaration
A material declaration is a disclosure of the types of materials (metals,
chemicals, plastics, alloys, etc.) that a product contains and/or hazardous
materials (heavy metals, toxic chemicals, etc.) that the product does not contain. No standard format
for a material declaration exists.
A “positive” declaration is here defined as a declaration
of
the materials in the product and a “negative” declaration is a declaration of
the hazardous materials the product does not contain.
An example of a “positive” material declaration.
When making a “positive” material declaration, there
are a number of issues that have to be decided, e.g. lowest level of total
weight to declare, which materials and additives to declare. For more
information, see Material
declaration.
An example of a “negative” material declaration.
For the negative listing of "materials not
present" in a product some issues have to be addressed, e.g. legal, standards, materials, functions.
For more information, see Material
declaration and some examples.
How to collect information about the materials in the
product.
Generally, a product is built by components, some designed
and manufactured in your company and others bought from suppliers or
contractors.
Identifying the materials present/not present in products/components
designed and produced in-house should not be very difficult. Use, for
example, CAD system, drawings, specifications, or if possible interview the designers.
An purchased component can be of two different kinds, either
the component is designed specifically for your company or it is a general, off-the-shelf
component. For components designed specifically for your company, getting information can
be somewhat difficult, but usually someone in the organization has a direct contact
with the producer and can help you with getting the material data. For general, off-the-shelf, components
getting information can be more difficult. Your supplier may not know
the material data and does usually not have a direct
contact with the actual producer of the component. One possible way to get
information is to make a direct contact with the producer, e.g. by sending a
questionnaire on material content, but success is not guaranteed.
If no material data for a component can be obtained, one
could still make a material declaration stating what is included/not included.
For example, "This material declaration presents all materials except for
the control unit for which no data could be found"
The material declaration can be presented in many different
ways, either as a standalone fact sheet for one product (similar to an SDS - for
chemicals) or as a presentation for a whole product range. Material declarations
can also be included in manuals, marketing material, product descriptions,
etc. For more information, see description of Material
declaration.
Recycling description
A Recycling description is a document describing how a product should be treated
at the end of its lifetime. No standard format exists but it should include a
material content listing, drawings of the product that indicates where the different materials are
placed and
a description of how the product should be disassembled and in which potential recycling fractions
the different components should be sorted.
As a first step, clarify the legal requirements for your type of product. Is there a recycling system in place or
is one planned for your
product? Does your product have take back requirements? What type of information
does a recycler need to safely recycle your product? Does your product include
components that need special handling/treatment e.g. batteries? The RoHS and
WEEE directives state legal
requirements for electrical products.
Now, make a disassembly instruction of your product by making a description, in figures/pictures
as well as in text, of how the product should be
disassembled (the need for special tools or handling). List the materials in the different components or materials
into different recycling fractions. Describe components that need special handling e.g.
components containing batteries
The recycling description can suggest one or several recycling methods e.g. copper
wire to copper recycling. The recycling description should also describe the packaging materials and how the packaging
materials can be recycled.
When all of the information has been gathered you are ready to
write the recycling description and a possible outline of the document is given
below.
- Introduction
– describing the company, contact address/person, environmental management
system in place (certified ISO 14001, EMAS),
- Production
(where, how, suppliers,…)
- Materials
in product (Material declaration)
- Product
use (emissions, energy use,…)
- Transports
- Packaging
- Product
disposal
- Recycling
system – take back
- Disassembly
- Materials
in recycling fractions
- List
of potentially harmful materials and handling of them
See information on Recycling
description and some examples.
Experiences
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