Research and Education with Scrap P. Kopacek*, M.Shala**, K. Ismaili**, F. Sylaj** * Intelligent Handling and Robotics (IHRT) , Vienna University of Technology Favoritenstrasse 9-11, A – 1040 Wien, Austria ;e-mail : kopacek@ihrt.tuwien.ac.at **Faculty of Mechatronics, University for Business and Technology Lagjia Kalabria p. n., 10000 Prishtinë, Kosovo; tel: +381 (0)38 541 400, e-mail: muzafer.shala@ubt-uni.net; kreeshnik_@hotmail.com; fatos.sylaj@gmail.com Abstract: End of Life Management (EOL) is currently a hot topic in the electronics industry. Currently mostly IT equipment and goods of consumer electronics are considered. There are three possibilities depending on the age and kind of the device: Resell – Reuse – Recycle called the “3R`s”.For recycling fully or semi-automated disassembly will gain in importance in the nearest future. Designers have to take into account EOL because of regulations and laws as well as according to ethical codes contributing to protection of the environment. In this paper a definitely new approach for Reuse is presented. Mostly in developing countries laboratory equipment for education and research is very expensive. Therefore we produced such equipments form hard- and software scrap. Keywords: End of Life Management, Reuse, Education, Research. 1. INTRODUCTION Since the first industrial revolution, the use of natural resources and the pollution of the environment have increased rapidly. The reasons for these developments are innovations in production technologies and products. While the material wealth of the humans rose, the problems caused by these progresses increased too. Nowadays, the awareness regarding the topic of sustainability is as high as never before. There exist two main drivers for the development of an efficient End of Life (EoL) Management for automation devices. One comes from the ecological point of view and one from the economical side. Both aspects are getting more important and relevant for the whole society, but also for single players, like governments, companies and consumers. Ecologic thinking is getting more and more visible in our society. People are more aware about nature than a few years ago. It is not just considered as a shop, where we are able to take what we need, but more as our house, which we have to take care about. The idea of sustainability in many different contexts is widely spread, especially in industrial countries. Since the (first) industrial revolution, the pollution of the environment has increased dramatically. Observable impacts of this development are the ozone hole, the pollution of water by several materials (e.g. oil or other chemicals), the pollution of air by various substances (e.g. different exhaust gases) or the contamination of wide areas by radioactivity. The other important aspect is economical based. The resources of our earth are not unlimited and therefore the prices of scarce raw materials like various metals are rising continuously. This increases the cost for new products and it gets more interesting to reuse and recycle used products and materials. Governmental restrictions all over the world have the goal to protect the environment. These measures range from additional taxes on pollution causing devices (e.g. the EURO norms for cars) to the ban of whole groups on products (e.g. the ban of conventional electric bulbs in the European Union). One important frame is the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) regulation by the EU (European Union, 2003a). Another important regulation within the EU is the RoHS directive (European Union, 2003b):. It is closely linked to the WEEE directive. WEEE were responsible for 8,3 to 9,1 million tons of waste within the EU in 2005. Predictions forecast a growth to 12,3 million tons till 2020, which means an expected growth rate of around 40-50% ( European Commission, 2008). 2. END OF LIFE MANAGEMENT To handle the devices in their End of Life (EoL) in an economic and ecologic useful way, it is necessary to know about the possibilities and limitations. There exist a lot of different problems, but also a lot of chances to raise the standard of nowadays waste treating efficiency. One dimension is the ecologic aspect. The handling of the devices should not affect the environment in any negative 15th Workshop on International Stability, Technology, and Culture The International Federation of Automatic Control June 6-8, 2013. Prishtina, Kosovo 978-3-902823-34-2/2013 © IFAC 16 10.3182/20130606-3-XK-4037.00048