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Burcu Hiçyılmaz - Sedat Alataş - Etem Karakaya

d. The End of Life and Strategies

Post-use stage and end-of-life of the product is represented by this stage.
This stage is very important in terms of material efficiency, as the need for raw
materials can be reduced thanks to the materials contained in the product
at the end of life. Therefore, the role that the end of life strategies play in
increasing material efficiency does not only concern the period after the
product lifespan is over. The materials obtained from a product whose at the
end of lifecan be reused in the production or use stages. So end of life stage
strategies also concerns these two stages.
Through the analysis of reports, seven end of life strategies were identified,
which can be listed as follows: (i) relocating strategy, which means the use of
certain components in a different product in the same type with the same
purpose; (ii) refurbishing strategy, which in a similar case, means the use of
the components in a similar product after intensive repairs and maintenance;
(iii) cascading strategy, the use of the component in another type of
product with little renewal; (iv) re-forming strategy, which refers to the use
of the components in a different type of product after intensive repairs and
maintenance; (v) remanufacturing strategies, referring to the remanufacturing
of a product after getting restructured according to its specifications created
from scratch; (vi) the end-of-life strategies aiming to recover the lifespan of a
product, and the recovery strategies referring to the recovery of components;
(vii) the recycling strategy, which refers to the recycling of materials for reuse.
All of these strategies, except for the recycling strategies, make up the types
of reuse strategies. Reuse refers to the production of parts made of various
materials with minor or intensive repairs and maintenance. Therefore, it is
a priority strategy over recycling because there is no need for new material
demand and no emission is caused by the production of the part. For instance,
the use of iron beams salvaged from one building in another one is important
as it will result in a decrease in the demand for iron, and prevents potential
emissions due to processes from extraction of iron as raw material to its
production as iron beams. The materials that cannot be reused, on the other
hand, can be included back to economy through recycling strategies. These
strategies, which especially cover the use stage and the end of life stage, and
are referred to in literature as 4R (reduce, repair, recycle, reuse) strategies, are
summarized in Figure 7. This scheme is important for displaying the proper
strategy to be used for each stage, the classification of reuse strategies by the
writers, and clarification by the writers on the reuse strategies, which frequently
get mistaken for each other. The design of products with an awareness of
sustainability and according to the 4R strategies is an important point to
consider. Therefore, most 4R strategies are really important in providing

97 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate