Environmental issues with the remanufacturing industry

Abstract

Researchers often regard remanufacturing as an environmentally beneficial end-of-life option. There have been, however, few environmental measurements performed in the area. The aim of this paper is to identify general environmental pros and cons with remanufacturing. This is done through the analysis of practical examples in remanufacturing industries. Life Cycle Assessment methodology has been used for the environmental validations. The first conclusion, based on the industrial cases and the literature review, is that remanufacturing is preferable from a material resource perspective when compared with manufacturing of new products. The second conclusion is that remanufacturing is preferable from a more overarching perspective for some of the investigated cases, but it is not possible to draw any general conclusions since the companies studied are few and benefits from remanufacturing are highly context-related.