RFID in recycling data management of electric and electronic equipment

This research report is the final report of the project "Use of radio frequency identification technology for managing information concerning the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment (ETEK)" carried out between 1 March 2003 and 28 February 2005. The project was a part of the Streams research programme of Tekes, the National Technology Agency of Finland. The recycling process is a challenging environment with regard to the application of RFID technology. Among other things, the metal contained in the products and collection containers made of metal imposes technical obstacles for the detection of RFID tags. Due to this, the applicability of RFID technology to recycling was studied both in laboratory conditions and in production environments at recycling facilities. RFID equipment operating on frequencies of 13.56 MHz and 869 MHz was used in the studies. The subject of the study was the identification of display units and metallic collection containers. The identification of display units was studied in an industrial environment at the Kuusakoski Oy disassembly line, and the identification of collection containers at Ekokem Oy. The most important advantages of RFID technology identified in the project include product identification and association with the producer in any phase of the waste treatment process, precise distribution of costs among producers, the possibility for automatic sorting of products, availability of product information, improved efficiency of material flows, automation and improved efficiency of information management, and improved efficiency of collection container management.