Abstract for: Product Policy Impact in the Lifecycle of Light Bulbs Through System Dynamics

Like any other Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE), light bulbs have significant environmental impacts throughout their lifecycle. The stages of production, use and end of life are considered for Bogota City in this paper. The middle class population is studied. The main variables are: raw materials recycled material, purchase criteria, formal and informal channels for recycling, recycling process and landfill. A system dynamics approach is used to model the behaviour of the system, considering different Integrated Product Policies (IPP), which contributes to minimize environmental impacts. The evaluated policies are: 1. Intra-Technological Energy Efficiency Change; 2. Energy cost variation; 3. Recycled materials incorporation, 4. Hazardous materials elimination, and 5. Recycling consumer tax. The best results on energy consumption reduction and amount of recycled material are outcomes of the synergy of all the policy instruments. The economical instrument shows good results in both variables in the case of single policy evaluation.