Sustainable Circular Economy for the Integration of Disadvantaged People: A Preliminary Study on the Reuse of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Adriano Cordisco, Riccardo Melloni and Lucia Botti
Additional contact information
Adriano Cordisco: ReFuel Solutions S.r.l., 41125 Modena, Italy
Riccardo Melloni: Department of Engineering Enzo Ferrari (DIEF), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Lucia Botti: Department of Engineering Enzo Ferrari (DIEF), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: The circular economy is attracting the attention of governments and companies who recognize the importance of promoting a sustainable approach toward social and industrial development. The European Union requires EU State members to support a sustainable approach to improving the production and consumption of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). This paper supports the conceptualization of a sustainable circular economy model, proposing the reuse of lithium-ion batteries from WEEE. The aim is to define a circular economy-based production model for the reuse of waste lithium-ion batteries and support the inclusion of disadvantaged people in the recovery process, breaking the barriers of social discrimination. The activities introduced in this paper are part of a circular economy project for the social integration of disadvantaged people. In this paper, the preliminary results of the project are introduced, proposing a methodology for the disassembly of waste lithium-ion batteries. The disassembly line balancing proposed in this paper focuses on the need to include workers with physical, psychological, sensory, or intellectual limitations, as well as people experiencing communication difficulties. Future steps of the project will focus on the design of the assembly line to produce battery packs for pedal-assisted bicycles from the recovered lithium-ion cells.

Keywords: lithium-ion battery; disassembly; line balancing; social sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8158/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/13/8158/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:8158-:d:855482

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().