Environmental risks of mass produced, small and cheap products regarding end-of-life scenarios

Despite all the success and ongoing efforts of the industry and society in making technologies and products environmentally benign, it has to be stressed that a rapid increase in application fields and dissemination-particularly of small and cheap products-might cause environmental hazards in the long-term. In this paper opportunities was shown to counteract potential risks by the development in the field of multifunctional chip cards (MFCCs). These cards are believed to have great future market potential and high quantities of sales. By analysis of the MFCC concept the potential key influences on the environment are identified at a very early stage of technology and product development, thus enabling economically and ecologically efficient design changes.