Table 5.1 provides a list of selected hazardous substances, most of which are identified by the essential directives and regulations on hazardous substances. Some of them are highly hazardous materials, which should be avoided. Some of them are banned in some countries but could be allowed in others.
Driven by regulations and/or sustainable development ambitions, most manufacturers have now established a list of banned and restricted materi- als, and another list of preferred materials. Proactive manufacturers such as HP and Dell have been updating a hazardous material watch list and assessing materials for future phase-out beyond the mandatory regulations.
These lists have to be integrated into the procedures and protocols of envi- ronmental management within the companies and supply chains. Standards such as ISO/IEC 17050-1:2004 can be used as it specifies general require- ments for a supplier’s declaration of conformity in cases when it is desirable or necessary (ISO, 2014). Many manufacturers nowadays specify their own supplier codes of conduct. There is also a need for an effective and inte- grated information system which facilitates the application and compliance of the material list so that the companies can design out hazardous and environmentally damaging substances as well as reducing the consumption of energy and other natural resources. Below is a case study illustrating how all these can be achieved.
Product Design, Cleaner Production and Packaging 127
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● designing products to increase recyclability;
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● reducing the use of hazardous materials;
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● reducing energy use in production and consumption of a product;
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● increasing the use of recycled material in products;
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● minimizing the ratio of packaging material to product volume;
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● labelling all plastic parts weighing more than 4 grams to increase future recycling.
Motorola maintained specific internal protocols and reporting requirements for its factories worldwide. Each factory was required to report on a standard set of environmental metrics consistent with its corporate environmental goals. Some of the main environmental metrics were:
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● volatile organic materials emissions (metric tonnes per billion dollars of sales);
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● hazardous air emissions (metric tonnes per billion dollars of sales);
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● hazardous wastes (thousands of metric tonnes per billion dollars of sales) and water use (million cubic meters per billion dollars of sales);
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● electricity use (billions of kilowatt hours per billion dollars of sales) (Motorola, 2002, p 32);
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● annual Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) compliance record (number of noncompliance notices and fines and penalties).
This case study focuses on the way Motorola integrated product design for the environment. Motorola divided its product design process into three tiers. Tier 1 involved concept development and product systems design;
Tier 2 covered detailed product design and manufacture of a prototype;
and Tier 3 covered actual mass production (Hoffman, 1997). During each design stage, some protocols and tools were developed to integrate environmental considerations. A list of banned substances (called W18 Specifications) detailed concentration levels of specific substances allowed (measured in parts per million). Motorola also developed and used specific software tools to assist its environmental improvement programmes. An environmental assessment tool called the Product Environmental Template (PET) was developed to support the identification, limitation or elimination of hazardous substances during the pre-design or concept development stages (referring to the W18 Specifications).
The design of products which favour cleaner, reusable and recyclable materi- als requires knowledge about a lot of materials and regulations. For example, there are 58 families and over a thousand different grades of plastic used for different applications. Due to advancements in science and technology, the list of raw material is growing. Some of the more recent raw materi- als being considered are, for example, metal matrix, advanced composites, nano-materials, speciality polymers, flexible ceramics, and memory metal.
In the textile industry, it is desirable to use materials for making fabrics that are free of carcinogens, mutagens, persistent toxins, heavy metals, endocrine disrupters and bioaccumulatives. Such fabrics are compostable and can be safely return to the earth at the end of their useful life. However, there is a need to consider the cost and feasibility of obtaining a constant supply of such fabrics. It can be difficult for non-technical logisticians and supply chain professionals to comprehend such scientific knowledge. In terms of
PET also helped the design team to identify the energy efficiency of the products, as well as meeting the various regulations.
The Motorola Toxicity Index was used to identify and weigh chemicals used in a product in terms of their toxicity. This allowed product designers to sum up the aggregate measure of the toxicity of a product. Green Design Advisor (GDA) was used in the detailed product design stage in order to improve the recyclability of products while designing out toxicity (Feldmann et al, 1999). GDA was also involved in the prototyping and production stage. During the prototyping stage, the environmental impacts of a new product were further assessed by the Environmental Product Assessment or REAL (Rapid Environmental Assessment Lab).
During the mass-production stage, the Parts Information Management System (PIMS) was used to track supply and production of parts. The Environmental Data Management Team (EDMT) was responsible for updating and recording the environmental data of the parts and products.
Chemicals and substances embedded in each part were tracked and recorded, together with supplier details. Compliance Connect was used to ensure compliance of the environmental policies in the factories and supply chains. This is a tool which integrates electronically to identify each part in each Motorola product by part number, by preferred global supplier with contact information, by technical specifications (including the W18 specifications), and by toxic substance and toxicity.
Product Design, Cleaner Production and Packaging 129 the selection of material for designing sustainable products, there are several useful guidelines for logistics and supply chain professionals. One may refer to databanks for hazardous substances, for example:
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● Hazardous Substances Data bank, United States National Library of Medicine (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/).
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● Priority list of hazardous substances, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, (ATSDR) (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/).
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● List of materials from Lenneth (http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/
elements/f.htm).
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● List of material subjected to several regulations in the United States, Environmental Protection Agency (http://www3.epa.gov/).
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● Other material selection criteria and tools such as Okala Ecodesign, Cambridge Materials Selector Software, etc.
Even though manufacturers may try to choose environmentally friend- lier materials and manufacturing technologies, they need to consider other factors such as supply availability, supply reliability, material and process quality, lead time and cost. The supply of raw materials, especially from agriculture activities, can be rather unpredictable due to the effects of climate change, over-finishing, pollution and natural disasters. Sourcing of raw materials from low-cost producing countries could reduce the cost of material input but increase lead times and supply uncertainty. In some cases, low-cost sourcing also increases the chances of suppliers using unacceptable labour practices and techniques that damage the environment.