Grantee Research Project Results
Demanufacturing Partnership Program Located at Rutgers University
EPA Grant Number: R824738Title: Demanufacturing Partnership Program Located at Rutgers University
Investigators: Mahon, Joan
Institution: Rutgers University - Newark
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: October 1, 1995 through September 30, 1997
Project Amount: $200,000
RFA: Incentives and Impediments to Pollution Prevention (1995) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Sustainable and Healthy Communities , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development
Description:
This proposal addresses the 1995 Environmental Technology Initiative Program in the area of Domestic Diffusion. Its purpose is to develop a Demanufacturing Partnership Program, a socioeconomic project related to pollution prevention, that would accelerate the diffusion of the innovative technology of demanufacturing, while aiding this technology's commercialization efforts. This pollution control technology is currently undergoing rapid advancement, but in many places (e.g., individual industries, labs, universities). This proposal is an attempt to help coalesce knowledge of the research into one focal area.Demanufacturing is a marriage of economic development and environmental technology that solves two problems at once. From an urban economic development perspective, demanufacturing provides jobs and the use of underutilized infrastructures. From an environmental perspective, demanufacturing will provide for the reuse, rather than the I\disposal, of resources because consumer products are disassembled and their component parts are recycled.
The Partnership Program, located in Newark, would help catalyze the efforts of many organizations and institutions of higher learning by establishing working groups. Partnerships comprised of members of industry, government, communities and universities would explore environmental strategies that would reduce solid waste and allow greater recycling and reuse of materials. Working jointly with organizations in the public and private sectors would allow sources of market inefficiency, barriers to commercialization and failure in the environmental technology sector to be identified. The synergistic effect of industries working together in a non-competitive environment should promote innovation in pollution prevention technology. Partnership between industry and Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Stevens Institute of Technology and other research institutions would provide both scientists and industry access to pollution prevention technology currently being researched.
To accelerate the diffusion of demanufacturing technology three partnerships are proposed: 1) an industry-wide partnership involving those companies who are in demanufacturing and manufacturing industries such as computer, electronic and auto manufacturers who desire to learn about pollution prevention technologies; 2) a university/college partnership where scientists and researchers can share current information strategies and technologies in pollution prevention; and 3) a university/industry partnership where key problems and current solutions will be explored.
A semi-annual newsletter will be issued via hard copy and Internet that disseminates and communicates timely information about high priority prevention technology gaps, identifying and addressing non-regulatory sources of market inefficiency and failure in the environmental technology sector, as well as new developments in the industry.
Supplemental Keywords:
Scientific Discipline, Waste, Sustainable Industry/Business, cleaner production/pollution prevention, Municipal, Economics and Business, Social Science, cleaner production, socio-economic publications, waste minimization, waste reduction, demanufacturing, economics, computers and electronics, cost benefit, municipal waste, demanufacturing partnership, recycling, innovative technology, reuse, Environmental Technology Initiative, incentives and impediments, industrial innovations, pollution prevention, source reductionProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.