Effective e-waste management-The role of international cooperation and fragementation

E-waste problems related to trade in wastes and informal recycling in the developing countries address environmental, social, and economic effects. Moreover, given on multiple aspect considerations, it is found that currently recycling fragmentation trade presents. This paper first reviews the driving forces of international trade in wastes and characters fragmentation in recycling industry. In the premise that environments and economic/social benefits can be exchanged among countries, we offer managerial conditions on international cooperation solution that increases e-waste treatment cooperation and fragmentation and contributes to effective e-waste management.e-waste management, recycling fragmentation trade, international cooperation importing countries, exporting countries, environment

Green economy and the reverse logistics of waste electrical and electronic equipment

From the way globally accepted for economic growth representation of evolution of a country related to the findings of non consideration of environmental assets and liabilities as a measure of occupancy in the economy of the countries, this study suggests a paradigm shift in the operation of the world economy with the implementation of the Green Economy concept seeking the achievement of environmental goals necessary to a level considered optimal in terms of pollution at lower cost to society. The focus of the study is given to the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), particularly in the reverse logistics of WEEE as a potential tool for economic growth maintenance condition with sustainability. A diagnosis on the use of reverse logistics of WEEE in the world is also presented based on research conducted in countries on five continents. At the end of the study it was concluded that the application of reverse logistics in the world is still incipient with no evidence of the use of economic instruments that give opportunity for growth and sustainability. Accordingly, it is emphasized that the management of WEEE practiced in most countries has shown motivation solely on financial profit based on the export / import of waste in a kind of ruse coated green taking into account the environmental and health risks of the population in developing countries or in development, which are the main final destination of WEEE

Transplanting EU waste law:The European waste electrical and electronic equipment directives as a source of inspiration to Brazilian law and policy

What are the legal instruments and policy choices producing improvements in e-waste management strategies worldwide? Could they be used from one legal system to another? The EU’s tradition of focusing on waste management and setting goals and responsibilities for all stakeholders involved in products life-cycle is remarkable. Its progress in policy and legal instruments on the field throughout the years represent a source of inspiration to other jurisdictions outside the European Union. At the same time, there have been developments in Brazilian law on the topic of waste management through the National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW), Brazil’s most recent Act, the NPSW is a mark of progress, specifying priority waste streams and demanding well-structured and implemented take-back systems. Nonetheless, there have been considerable difficulties with moving further. This book studies and analyses the process of drafting and implementing the WEEE Directives in the European member states (MS) with the aim of identifying key policy and legal instruments that have contributed to fully working national WEEE systems. Supported by the Legal Transplants Theory it verifies the possibility for a jurisdiction to inspire others and, points out which lessons could be learned from the European experience that could contribute to the development of the corresponding laws in Brazil

Transplanting EU waste law:The European waste electrical and electronic equipment directives as a source of inspiration to Brazilian law and policy

What are the legal instruments and policy choices producing improvements in e-waste management strategies worldwide? Could they be used from one legal system to another? The EU’s tradition of focusing on waste management and setting goals and responsibilities for all stakeholders involved in products life-cycle is remarkable. Its progress in policy and legal instruments on the field throughout the years represent a source of inspiration to other jurisdictions outside the European Union. At the same time, there have been developments in Brazilian law on the topic of waste management through the National Policy on Solid Waste (NPSW), Brazil’s most recent Act, the NPSW is a mark of progress, specifying priority waste streams and demanding well-structured and implemented take-back systems. Nonetheless, there have been considerable difficulties with moving further. This book studies and analyses the process of drafting and implementing the WEEE Directives in the European member states (MS) with the aim of identifying key policy and legal instruments that have contributed to fully working national WEEE systems. Supported by the Legal Transplants Theory it verifies the possibility for a jurisdiction to inspire others and, points out which lessons could be learned from the European experience that could contribute to the development of the corresponding laws in Brazil

Partner selection in green supply chains using PSO – a practical approach

Partner selection is crucial to green supply chain management as the focal firm is responsible for the environmental performance of the whole supply chain. The construction of appropriate selection criteria is an essential, but often neglected pre-requisite in the partner selection process. This paper proposes a three-stage model that combines Dempster-Shafer belief acceptability theory and particle swarm optimization technique for the first time in this application. This enables optimization of both effectiveness, in its consideration of the inter-dependence of a broad range of quantitative and qualitative selection criteria, and efficiency in its use of scarce resources during the criteria construction process to be achieved simultaneously. This also enables both operational and strategic attributes can be selected at different levels of hierarchy criteria in different decision-making environments. The practical efficacy of the model is demonstrated by an application in Company ABC, a large Chinese electronic equipment and instrument manufacturer

Closed Loop Supply Chain: Evaluating Ecological Footprint

Purpose:  The purpose of this research is to evaluate the success of the closed-loop E-waste supply chain operations, primarily focused on achieving sustainability objectives related to the manufacturing, distribution, reusing, and discarding of electrical components. Methodology: The supply chain operations reference model offers suggestions and benchmarking tools to monitor the performance of supply chains and enhance the processes. This study illustrates a conceptual framework to show how these standards could be used in the E-waste supply chain to link business processes, metrics, industry standards, and technology to enhance the relationship and coordination between the supply chain members and to increase sustainability throughout the supply chain. Findings: According to an assessment of the literature, insufficient attention has been paid to the SCOR model's sustainability criteria. Consequently, in the wake of portraying the structure of the Supply Chain Operation Reference model, we make sense of which credits should be included in the Supply Chain Operation Reference to reflect manageability and which cycles and practices are related to every standard or should be remembered for Supply Chain Operation Reference to lay out the connection between execution, cycles, and practices. Conclusions: When a company's supply chain has achieved a desirable degree of eco-friendliness in all regards, its performance will be improved and satisfactory from a sustainability perspectiv

From Supply Chains to Total Product Systems

The evolution of supply chain management and practice has had an integral and expanding role in contemporary global economic and socio-political change over the past 25 years or so. Thi srole is moving closer to centre stage with the emergence of business models equating to 'total product systems'. The impacts of advanced supply chain practice include driving fundamental changes in approach to product design, the concept of 'product', production methods, distribution, marketing, aftermarket support and end-of-life (EOL) reprocessing. Viewed in their full context, methods in supply chain management (SCM) have major influences on societal functioning and on economic development at global, national and local levels. Even the supply chains for simple products can involve several different industries and link many companies, large and small. Those for complex products may span several technological domains and economic sectors, linking hundreds or sometimes thousands of companies

Market Transformation for Value-Retention Processes as a Strategy for Circular Economy

There is increasing global interest in the application of circular economy as a tool for enabling the decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation. Despite this growing interest, there is a lack of in-depth insight about the quantified potential benefits that value-retention processes (VRPs) – direct reuse, repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing – can contribute to circular economy and improved resource efficiency. In this assessment, product-level production impacts are bridged with economy-level insights about market, regulatory, technological and infrastructure conditions, to demonstrate and quantify the essential role of value-retention processes within circular economies. Three representative products were selected from each of three industrial sectors known to engage in VRPs (Industrial digital printers, vehicle parts, and heavy-duty and off-road equipment), and select environmental and economic impacts were assessed at the material- and product-levels. Results indicate that, where appropriately employed, the adoption of VRPs can lead to significant reduction of negative environmental impact and positive economic opportunity at the product- and process-levels. Further, these insights were assessed in the context of diverse sample industrial economies around the world (Brazil, China, Germany, and United States of America) to better understand the significance of varied systemic conditions and barriers to VRPs in the realization of circular economy objectives. In aggregate, this work highlights the need for policy-makers and decision-makers to incorporate systems-perspectives and integrated environmental and technology policy approaches into their circular economy strategies. Industry must embrace a product-system design approach that considers both forward- and reverse-logistics, as well as a new value-proposition based in maximized customer utility, multiple product service lives, and results-oriented business models. In parallel, governments of both industrialized and non-industrialized economies must look for opportunities to further enable, enhance, optimize, and improve the efficiency of accepted value-retention practices if they are to optimize their potential for value-retention and the pursuit of circular economy

Adoption of green innovation practices in SMEs sector: evidence from an emerging economy

In developing world, awareness and environmental concerns are forcing small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt green practices. Hence it is important to distinguish the major obstacles/barriers which hinders the adoption of green practices in SMEs. This study utilizes a framework (three-phase) to classify the major barriers/obstacles and solutions to eliminate these obstacles in green innovation adoption. In total, twenty-five barriers and fifteen solutions were recognized through review of existing literature and experts opinions. Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchal Process (AHP) was utilized to rank these barriers and Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed to give appropriate ranks to strategies/solutions to overcome the identified obstacles. The findings of our study revealed that out of six major barriers, legal barriers were the most critical obstacles in green innovation adoption in Pakistani SMEs. Information barriers were the second critical green innovation adoption obstacles/barriers in SMEs, followed by technical-barriers, managerial-barriers, economic-barriers and marketbarriers. These findings will offer insights to SMEs stockholders to overcome and eradicate barriers to green innovation, who intend to adopt green practices instead of conventional ones. Our study analysis will assist SMEs in prioritizing the major factors influencing green innovation adoption