(CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL) -- Responsible manufacturing has become an obligation to the environment and to society itself, enforced primarily by customer perspective and governmental regulations on environmental issues. This is mainly driven by the escalating deterioration of the environment, such as diminishing raw material resources, overflowing waste sites, and increasing levels of pollution.

Responsible manufacturing related issues have found a large following in industry and academia, which aim to find solutions to the problems that arise in this newly emerged research area. Problems are widespread, including the ones related to the life cycle of products, disassembly, material recovery, remanufacturing, and pollution prevention.

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