6. Ecodesign for recycling

Designing products to minimize their impact on the environment has become one of the industry's top priorities, both during the product life cycle and when they are taken out of service. The aim is to minimize final waste, by giving priority to :

• as far as possible, the reuse of parts and components ;

• recycling of materials, which means less consumption of raw materials;

• finally, energy recovery, as certain materials can be used as fuel to replace heating oil or natural gas.

Parts must therefore be designed from the outset with a view to their subsequent recycling. This is known as "Design for Recycling".

To achieve this, designers have a number of options:

• choosing...