Descrizione del progetto
Un nuovo programma di verifica esamina la longevità dei prodotti di consumo
L’utilizzo delle risorse e la generazione di rifiuti da apparecchiature elettriche ed elettroniche sono aumentate rapidamente nel corso degli anni. Estendere la vita utile dei dispositivi è una soluzione promettente per mantenere risorse preziose all’interno dell’economia e ridurre i rifiuti. Il progetto PROMPT, finanziato dall’UE, mira a sviluppare un programma di verifica indipendente per l’obsolescenza precoce, che sosterrà la valutazione della longevità dei prodotti di consumo quando sono messi sul mercato e contribuirà ad estendere la vita utile dei prodotti, agevolando la transizione verso un’economia circolare. Il progetto metterà a disposizione di progettisti e responsabili delle politiche alcune raccomandazioni su come migliorare la durabilità dei prodotti, sensibilizzare i consumatori affinché compiano scelte informate e creare consapevolezza circa le condizioni del mercato.
Obiettivo
Waste production and resource use is increasing for electric and electronic consumer products. At the same time many critical materials cannot be recovered in recycling processes. Therefore a promising strategy would be to lengthen the lifetimes of these products in order to get closer to a Circular Economy.
The project PROMPT is going to support the development of more durable and longer lasting products by lowering the asymmetry of information between consumer and manufacturer and thereby to allow consumers to make better choices. This is achieved by the development of an integral testing programme for electric and electronic consumer products that takes into account the main key issues of product failures and premature obsolescence:
• Product durability and reliability
• Adaptability, upgradability, and reparability
• User behaviour and market
PROMPT takes a multi-stakeholder approach by including different consumer, test, repair and research organisations in the consortium who will carry out the work. Consequently, results will be achieved that are viable for different stakeholders and independent from manufacturers. With the help of an Advisory Board, additional stakeholder input will be gathered. The board will consist of experts from industry, retail, design, environmental, science and consumer sectors.
A baseline of research will be established by collecting empirical data on technical issues, design shortcomings, market obstacles and replacement causes for premature obsolescence. These results will give input to the development of a range of specific testing methods addressing the three fields of issues outlined above. The results will be synthesized in an integral testing programme for premature obsolescence that will be validated and benchmarked through test cases. Results will be analysed and prepared to give validated input to standardisation, product design, consumer communication and policy recommendations.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinatore
80686 Munchen
Germania