Abstract The demand for customization is gradually increasing given that recycled materials no longer meet customer demands for new products. Meeting the needs of a particular customer may require release of numerous new materials and recycled materials to minimize both total production costs and total CO2 emissions. The lot-sizing production-to-order problem is to optimize the lot size for each potential lot release. This study focuses on the relationship between new materials and recycled materials under varying production cost, machine yield and capacity and energy consumption. Fuzzy multi-objective linear programming (FMOLP) models are used to analyze factors in the relative cost-effectiveness and CO2 emissions. The proposed model evaluates cost-effectiveness and CO2 emissions and integrates multi-component and multi-machine functions for remanufacturing systems. The analytical results can help managers during decision making by enabling systematic analysis of the potential cost-effectiveness of recoverable remanufacturing.