Circular Economy, Recycling & Remanufacturing worked example
End-of-Life Processing Cost at 72% share of units requiring paid processing: a worked example
Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop share of units requiring paid processing to 72%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate processing cost for end-of-life products that must be received, depolluted, dismantled, sorted, recycled, or disposed.
The inputs for this scenario
- End-of-life units received for processing: 7,800 units (held at the documented default)
- Disassembly and disposal cost per unit: 4.9 $ / unit (held at the documented default)
- Share of units requiring paid processing: 72 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 100)
- Fixed compliance, permitting, or line setup cost: 8,600 $ (held at the documented default)
Working through the calculation
- The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Variable end-of-life processing cost = end-of-life units processed × processing cost per end-of-life unit × units requiring paid end-of-life processing.
- Total end-of-life processing cost works out to 36,118 total end-of-life processing cost at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
- Processing cost per received unit works out to 4.63 $ / piece at these inputs.
- Variable end-of-life processing cost works out to 27,518 $ at these inputs.
- Fixed compliance, permitting, or line setup cost works out to 8,600 $ at these inputs.
How this compares with the baseline
- Against the tool's baseline example, where share of units requiring paid processing sits at 100% and the headline result is 46,820 total end-of-life processing cost, this scenario comes in 22.86% below the baseline at 36,118 total end-of-life processing cost.
- The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to share of units requiring paid processing, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It assumes one blended cost per unit; mixed product families with very different teardown effort or hazardous content should be modeled in separate batches rather than averaged into one rate.
Results at a glance
- Total end-of-life processing cost: 36,118 total end-of-life processing cost (headline result)
- Processing cost per received unit: 4.63 $ / piece
- Variable end-of-life processing cost: 27,518 $
- Fixed compliance, permitting, or line setup cost: 8,600 $
Run it with your numbers
- To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live End-of-Life Processing Cost calculator, set share of units requiring paid processing to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.