Models and indicators for cost-benefit analysis of a green product

The aim of the present study is to offer an effective model for the cost-benefit analysis of a green product, with regard to its suitability for recycling. As well as allowing improvement in the environmental performance of a project, different choices of material and variations in its architecture can lead to prohibitive costs which must therefore be quantified and, as far as possible, contained. A reference model of the product´s life cycle already proposed by the authors was used as a basis for the definition of some appropriate indicators which are helpful in quantifying the financial cost correlated with the product´s suitability for recycling at the end of its working life. The relation between the increase in recovery flows and the resulting effects on production costs was also investigated. This showed that the economic advantage of modifying the architecture or the choice of materials to achieve an improvement in the recyclability of the product is linked to the possibility of programming an elevated number of recovery cycles