Effective Implementation of WEEE Take-back Directive: What Types of Take-back Network Patterns in China

AbstractThis paper further explains the context of this new legislation and describes, compares and then analyzes the four alternative strategies to reducing end-of-life waste, i.e., repairing, reconditioning, remanufacturing or recycling. It also presents a more robust definition of remanufacturing, which differentiates if from repair and reconditioning engineering. By using a two-stage sequential decision game model, the economic behavior of the main stakeholders under three different types of take-back modes are presented; based on the objective of social welfare maximization, the issues of take-back network, recycling targets setting, recovery catalogs sorting and, supervision and stimulation of take-back models are discussed. Our conclusions demonstrate that: manufacturers, recyclers and consumers do not always share the same preference over three patterns, but the mode of manufacture-leading take-back can reach maximum social welfare; the most efficient network system should be around the manufacturer individual take-back responsibility to build; the take-back level and the recovery catalogs must synthesize the factors involve environmental impact of product, take-back cost/benefit, and recycling and manufacturing industries’ market structure etc.; the supervision and stimulation decision matrix associated with the Producer Responsibility Organization is as an effective tool to balance the environmental benefits and social welfare

Remanufacturing and product design: designing for the 7th generation

The following is taken directly from the research report. This report investigates Design for Remanufacture in terms of both detailed product design and the business context in which Design for Remanufacture may operate. Key Study Objectives • To understand the link between design and remanufacture • To understand how Design for Remanufacture can lead to increased innovation and Sustainable Development (SD) • To identify proactive strategies to further Design for Remanufactur

Policies for Resource Efficient and Effective Solutions : A review of concepts, current policy landscape and future policy considerations for the transition to a Circular Economy

This report presents basic concepts around resources, resource efficiency and the Circular Economy. The limitations and the opportunities within the Circular Economy are identified and clearly presented. The current policy landscape in the EU as well as in Sweden is thoroughly analysed and a set of policy areas with a significant untapped potential for resource efficiency is identified. The policy areas which have been underutilised so far include policies for re-use, repair and remanufacturing; green public procurement and procurement for innovation with resource savings embedded in their design; policies to facilitate waste markets and improve take-back infrastructure; economic instruments targeting resources; and policies promoting sustainable consumption. Together with these promising policy areas, a roadmap for designing such policies within policy packages is presented with the aim to facilitate the promotion of dynamic policy mixing, which is better suited for addressing the multi-level challenges of the Circular Economy. Finally, an agenda for future research in resource efficiency policies is discussed and the need for a bottom-up perspective –in par with overarching resource strategies – is emphasised

Circular economy: limits and benefits of its implementation

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Elements of Green Supply Chain Management

The purpose of the paper was to highlight the elements of green supply chain. The rise in greenhouse emissions and pollution of the environments by firms has precipitated the need for organizations to realign their supply chain operations with a view of conserving the scarce resources. Firms in the hospitality industry rely on energy and water as their key resource inputs in ensuring that they offer better services to clients. The paper looks at how firms can implement several elements of green supply chain in their processes. This is a conceptual paper and the methodology used is a desktop research in which in depth literature review is done to highlight how firms can incorporate green supply chain tools in their supply chains. The analysis is based on previously conducted research from books and relevant journals and articles. The findings of the paper confirm that firms need to implement green supply chain elements as a continuous process to achieve sustainability in the supply chain processes. The study concludes that firms need to enhance the levels of implementing green supply chain practices in managing their operations. This is an emerging supply chain management paradigm that will enable firms to realize long term sustainability in their operations. Key words: Green Supply Chain Management Element

CANON: A Circular Economy Business Model Case

This report presents the case study of Canon’s EMEA business for Document Solutions (DS), with a focus on the business model for remanufacturing and refurbishment. It was chosen as it provided an example of a mature remanufacturing model, as well as potential for further circularity and business benefit through expansion of refurbishment activities. Canon EMEA has also been growing services such as Managed Print Service (MPS) – a service-based model for providing printer copiers – which, while not a focus of the case study, provides opportunities for both remanufacturing and refurbishment. Canon operates in a market which is currently in decline, with vendors competing intensely for market share. This is creating a stark contrast between a business model driven by new product sales, and one that emphasises the cultivation and reutilisation of existing deployed assets. In this context, it is important to emphasise that this case study focuses on the circular business models and potential for Canon EMEA, whose business is principally a combination of sales/marketing and service delivery. This is in contrast to Canon Inc. (Japan) who manufactures and supplies equipment for Canon EMEA to sell and integrate into its service offerings. This case study explores the opportunities, as well as enablers and barriers, to Canon expanding the role of remanufacturing and refurbishment within its circular business models. We believe this will have important positive implications for Canon given the broader strategic challenges it face

Advancing the circular economy Reverse logistics and remanufacturing of dieselparticle filters

The Circular economy (CE) is an economic system created as an alternative to the unsustainable linear economy. CE and its business models aims to deal with the challenges as resource depletion, waste creation and over consumption by closing the material loop. CE is today practiced using different business models. One such business model is remanufacturing. A business model that has gained a lot of attention in different industries, especially in the vehicle industry. The vehicle industry, is an industry that use a lot of materials, and have a huge impact on the environment, and with the use of remanufacturing, it accomplishes to reduce material usage and decrease environmental impacts. This creates the need to look further into the remanufacturing of vehicle parts, and the focus of this thesis is remanufacturing of more diesel particle filters in the Swedish market. The thesis involves three actors, Volvo Cars, Stena Recycling Sverige, and UBD Cleantech. The study originates from Giab godsinlösen Nordic AB, that had the assumption of that there are valuable streams of diesel particle filters that currently are not collected but could be collected for remanufacturing. This study goes through literature of different concepts with key concepts of drivers and barriers for remanufacturing in the vehicle sector. This to identify what drivers and barriers there are for remanufacturing in the vehicle sector. This is followed by interviews with representatives at Stena Recycling Sverige, Volvo Cars and UBD Cleantech to examine the possibilities to collect more diesel particle filters for remanufacturing. The findings show that there are established cooperations that could enable remanufacturing of more diesel particle filters. But barriers such as the customer demand, storing and sorting can be a difficulty to overcome. However, drivers such as the environmental incentive and laws and regulation is positive for it. The conclusion and recommendations suggest further research in evaluating the quality of the filters, and the customer demand for them, but also to research other actors such as car dismantlers and car workshops that are related to the collection of diesel particle filters