Purpose – To improve the efficiency and economy of electro-mechanical product's recycle process, this paper aims to propose a disassembly sequence planning (DSP) method to reduce additional efforts of removing extra parts in selectable disassembly. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology has three parts, which includes a disassembly hybrid graphic model to describe the product disassembly information, an object inverse-directed method to optimize the disassembly design and a model reconstruction method to achieve a better DSP. Findings – According to the disassembly cost criteria and the parameters of disassembly tools, the disassembly efficiency increases and the disassembly cost decreases due to the use of partial destructive mode compared with non-destructive mode. The proposed partial destructive DSP is more efficient and economical. Research limitations/implications – Partial destructive disassembly mode cannot be used for the flammable or explosive component in the procedure of the DSP optimization algorithm. Practical implications – DSP of an electric corkscrew is analyzed to investigate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Originality/value – This paper proposes a partial destructive disassembly based DSP method for product disassembly, which provides a new approach for the disposal of end-of-life products.