Re-design of a digital voice recorder to meet the needs of circular economy — Status analysis

This paper will focus on a re-design process of a digital voice recorder in order to foster the reparability and to improve the reusability of parts, components, modules or the whole product. The purpose of the developed process and its application is not only to reduce the environmental impact but also to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing circular economy design aspects combined with an economic advantage for the manufacturers. This process consists of three main steps: the status analysis, the development of new product concepts and the product realization. This paper addresses the results of the status analysis, which includes a value analysis, an analysis of the reparability, a D4R-analysis and an environmental assessment of the reverence product — a digital voice recorder Philips DPM8000.