Bititci, U

Cheng, S-Y

Greening, P

Karamperidis, S

Rutherford, C

Cheng, Siu Yee

Bititci, Umit Sezer

Greening, Philip

Rutherford, Christine

Karamperidis, Stavros

Heriot Watt Pure

WEEE flows: a case study of a reverse supply chain for mixed small electrical waste

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), is the one of the fastest growing waste
streams in Europe with 12 million tonnes expected to be generated by 2020 (European
Commission, 2018). In terms of unit numbers, small WEEE represents the largest fractions
of WEEE arisings and the reuse/recycling return rates for small WEEE items (e.g. household
appliances, mobile phones, computers, toys) are much lower than large WEEE (e.g. white
goods and televisions). WEEE contains hazardous materials so diverting these away from
landfill is environmentally beneficial, and there are also economic benefits associated with
recovering and reusing components. As a result there has been growing interest in the
Reverse Supply Chains (RSCs) of electronic goods and what value can be extracted from
these unwanted items. Whilst there are many examples of electronic reverse supply chains
in the literature, these typically focus on one specific product type. This paper presents an
empirical case study of a RSC for the recovery of a mixed electrical product stream. The
authors design a bespoke three tier collaborative RSC for the collection, transport and
treatment of mixed household WEEE. The RSC is unique in that it is a collaboration between
an electronics ReManufacturer (RM), and a Collecting Firm (CF) whose primary business is
the national distribution of news publications.
The live pilot implementation of the collaborative RSC allowed the researchers a
rare opportunity to collect primary data into the potential value recovery of the mixed
WEEE stream. From a practical perspective, the study is an example of how firms can
collaborate to harness surplus logistics capacity to support environmental activities and
potentially lead to business diversification opportunities. For academics, this paper would
be a useful addition as unique, empirical case study

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