Design for end-of-life treatment of work machines

This report was created in the "Environmental technology requirements in the design of vehicles and work machines" project. A variety of equipment and machines are referred to as work machines, but for the purposes of this report, the term work machine will be used in reference to tractors and forest machines, i.e., the products of the companies which participated in this project. The steering group of the project comprised of the following companies: Valtra Inc., Timberjack Oy, Ponsse Oyj, Rautaruukki Group Corporate R & D, M-Filter Oy and Tamglass Safety Glass Ltd. The mass % of metals in the material distribution of work machines is app. 85, the mass % of rubber is app. 10 and the mass % of plastics is app. 5. The main steel qualities used in work machines include unalloyed base and quality steels or high-strength weldable steel. The most common applications include bodies and parts of work machines. Cast iron is used in, for example, cylinder blocks, piston rings, transmission components, gears, sprockets, brake drums or axles and shafts. Rubber can mainly be found in tyres. The majority of plastic parts used are found in the cabin, and the largest plastic parts usually include various types of protectors, casings, containers and fitted carpets. The windows of work machines can also be made of plastic. The methods of recycling unalloyed scrap steel and cast iron already exist and are used relatively widely. In addition to metallurgical requirements, there are also requirements related to piece size for this type of scrap. The coal content of scrap metal does not affect its recycling. Restrictions have been placed on blend component contents. The terms of reception for scrap vary according to the steel factory and foundry. Since 1996, a recycling system for tyre rubber has been in place in Finland. No established custom to recycle plastics is yet in existence. It would be appropriate to establish a national procedure for the recycling and/or recovery of plastics, especially since the use of plastics in work machines appears to be on the increase. In the specification of end-of-life treatment of work machines, close co-operation between the manufacturers of work machines, parts and materials, distributors, consumers, dismantlers and collectors and processors of used materials is required. In order to be able to create and actively maintain such co-operative procedures, companies need to network in a new way. Co-operation between different manufacturers in the field will complement traditional co-operative procedures. To a large extent, recycling procedures may then converge, in which case their practical implementation is best carried out in co-operation with the different manufacturers.