Recycling plastics from e-waste: Implications for effective eco-design

This paper presents five case studies on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling to provide a coherent overview on the likely impact of eco-design measures on recycling of plastics used in energy-related products within the EU. Whilst some eco-design measures, such as improving disassembly of plastic parts, may generally benefit recycling operations, other measures were found to be ineffective or requiring further investigation. For example, product polymer marking, and provision of product-specific information was rarely utilized by participant organizations, if at all. Additionally, this study highlights a disconnect between the aims of substance bans as an eco-design measure and the impact upon plastics recycling in practice. Future research could help with quantitative and/or statistical analysis of WEEE processing to investigate across a wider selection of recyclers and recycling processes. Despite 20 years of research on eco-design, it appears that EU eco-design policies and voluntary initiatives are still being devised without adequate understanding of their impact on different types of recycling practices. Empirical research on recycling processes can provide important insight to ensure eco-design measures are effective and avoid unintended consequences for the environment.     

Ecological cues, gestation length, and birth timing in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

We examined annual variation in the timing of conception andparturition in the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and thesynchrony of birth timing with resource cues, using 8 yearsof monthly birth, rainfall, and vegetation data, measured asNormalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Monthly birthshad the strongest significant correlations with NDVI and rainfalllevels 12 and 13 months in the past, respectively. In addition,the synchrony of current year births corresponds most stronglyto the synchrony of the previous year's NDVI distribution. Becausethe gestation period of buffalo has been estimated to be around11 months, these findings suggest that improved protein levels,occurring approximately a month after the first green flushof the wet season, are either a trigger for conception or conceptionhas evolved to be synchronous with correlated environmentalcues that ensure females enter a period of peak body conditionaround the time of conception and/or parturition. With a gestationperiod of approximately 340 days, parturition occurs to takeadvantage of the period when forage has its highest proteincontent. A comparative analysis of gestation periods withinthe subfamily Bovinae indicates that African buffalo have aprotracted gestation for their body size, which we suggest isan adaptation to their seasonal environment. We also found thatinterannual variation in the birth distribution suggests a degreeof plasticity in the date of conception, and variation in thenumber of calves born each year suggest further synchrony ata timescale longer than a single year.