A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR ANALYSIS OF PRINTER REMANUFACTURING SCENARIOS

Abstract

The growing concern about sustainability and efficient resource management has driven studies on the circular economy and the remanufacturing of electronic devices, such as printers, in higher education institutions. Remanufacturing is seen as a promising strategy to reduce electronic waste and the costs associated with purchasing and maintaining equipment. This study aims to analyze the economic and environmental impacts of printer remanufacturing in a higher education institution, using computational modeling as an analysis tool. The research adopted the System Dynamics methodology, following four main steps: problem specification, construction of formal models, computational implementation and solution verification. Computational modeling was carried out with the Vensim software, allowing the simulation of different printer remanufacturing scenarios and the assessment of their economic and environmental impacts. The model was divided into three submodels: number of printers, number of toners and refills, and economic and environmental impacts. The study identified that the remanufacturing of printers can result in a significant reduction in costs and the volume of electronic waste generated. Specifically, a cost reduction of around 37% and a 2.5-fold decrease in the volume of electronic waste was observed when compared to the scenario without remanufacturing. Furthermore, the scenario that involved replacing printers with rented models had the lowest volume of toner disposal, indicating an effective strategy to minimize waste generated. Therefore, printer remanufacturing emerges as a viable and sustainable strategy for higher education institutions, offering significant economic and environmental benefits.