What are refurbished and remanufactured electronics?

As noted on the EPA New England Region Web pages, refurbishing is a “process of making ‘cosmetic’ changes to update the appearance of a product, such as cleaning, changing fabric, painting or refinishing. This term is often associated with used office furniture and differs from remanufacturing in that none of the structural parts of the product are replaced.” Remanufacturing is the “process of restoring used durable products to ‘new’ condition, to be used in their original function, by replacing worn or damaged parts.” You can view these definitions at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/assistance/reuse/def.html

For information on electronics recycling and refurbishing, please see the following Web pages:

WasteWise Update: Remanufactured Products: Good as New (PDF):
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/smm/wastewise/pubs/wwupda6.pdf(12 pp, 548K, About PDF)

The New Wave in Electronics: eCycling (PDF):
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/pdfs/consumer.pdf (2 pp, 393K, About PDF)

eCycling home page:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/index.htm

Plug-In To eCycling Home Page:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/partnerships/plugin/

Electronics: A New Opportunity for Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling (PDF):
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/downloads/elec_fs.pdf (4 pp, 988K, About PDF)

Consumer Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd/catbook/

If you have additional questions on this topic, you may submit them to the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery through its Find an Answer or Ask a Question database. Although it is similar to this database, questions are answered by subject experts within the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery.

http://waste.supportportal.com/

Was this answer helpful?

What are refurbished and remanufactured electronics?

Frequent Questions