The Theoretical Background
The circular economy concept is
increasingly gaining great relevance in academic research and on the
agenda of policy-makers. The main aim of the CE framework is to
create a regenerative system able to ensure optimal reuse, renovation,
remanufacturing and recycling of products, materials and waste by
handling them in closed loops. Such restorative economic system
should be intentionally developed and designed through the adoption
of strategies that close and narrow resource loops.
From the CE
perspective, the reverse supply chain and the reverse logistic can be
considered necessary approaches to "close the loops" of end-of-life
(EOL) products. In literature, several definitions of Reverse Logistics
exist (Table 1), which, although emphasizing different aspects, all
highlight the importance of the recovery and reuse processes of EOL
products and/or their disposal. In other words, the scholars aim to
underline the environmental sustainability view of reverse logistics.
Table 1. Some principal definitions of Reverse Logistics present in literature.
Definition of Reverse Logistics |
"…
The term often used to refer the role of logistics in recycling, waste
disposal and management of harzadous materials, a broader perspective
includes all relating to logistics activities carried out in source
reduction, recycling, substitution, reuse of materials and disposal". |
"…The
process whereby companies can become environmentally efficient through
recycling, reusing, and reducing the amount of materials used". |
"The
process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient,
cost-effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished
goods, and related information from the point of consumption to the
point of origin for the purpose of recapturing value or proper
disposal". |
"…
Reverse Logistics is the process of planning, implementing, and
controlling the efficient, effective inbound flow and storage of
secondary goods and related information opposite to the traditional
supply chain direction for the purpose of recovering value or proper
disposal". |
"The
process of planning, implementing and controlling backward flow of row
materials, in process inventory, packaging and finished goods, from a
manufacturing, distribution or use point of proper disposal". |
"As
an aspect of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), Reverse
Logistics can be regarded as a business strategy in which recovery
activities are imposed for the purpose of increasing sustainability" |
A strong relationship between RL and CE exists. The
relationship between CE and RL can be seen from their general purpose,
their main focus, and some characteristics. In particular, both of the
approaches aim to: (i) support a more sustainable socio-economic
development, (ii) focus on environmental, economic and ecological
aspects and on the proper management of used product, waste and EOL, and
so on, and (iii) have several similar characteristics,
such as the repair, refurbishing, recycling and disposal cycles. Nevertheless, some of the CE principles (e.g., leakage
minimization) are considerably broader than the RL activities.
As
shown in Table 1, some definitions of RL include also manufacturing
activities in the Reverse Logistics definitions, such as recycling or
recovery of EOL products. Notwithstanding, scholars claim that,
when there are also manufacturing activities, it is more appropriate to
adopt a Reverse Supply Chain (RSC) framework.
The RSC
definition considered in this work is the efficient and effective
management of a series of necessary activities to recuperate a product
from the consumer to dispose of it or recover the residual value. A
RSC is composed of five activities, namely Collection or acquisitions;
Reverse logistics; Inspection and arrangement; Reconditioning;
Distribution and sale.
The collection is, therefore, a critical
activity for the whole WEEE management cycle being: (a) the initial
phase which effectiveness influences the performance of the remaining
phases, and (b) the WEEE collected represents only the 40% of EEE put on
the market in the period 2010–2016 in EU after 10 years of regulations.
Moreover, among the various EOL products identified in RSC research,
WEEE is considered as one of most appropriate, especially if we
consider that the growth of the EEE market segment is one of the fastest.
According to this, an extensive literature about the WEEE
management exists that focuses on several different aspects. It is
important to underline that WEEE collection phase is very critical for
the effectiveness and efficacy of the whole WEEE management process
and, if properly managed, it can lead to improvements in the quantity
and the quality of collected waste.
Within the literature on
the topic, some authors analyze the contribute of different
socio-economic and technical variables on the collection performance at a
regional level, or compared the technical efficiency of dynamic
logistic models with traditional ones in a local context. Biganzoli
et al. evaluated the environmental performance of the overall WEEE
collection system associated with e-waste management in a specific
Italian region, while Favot et al. studied if EPR fees on WEEE
stimulate proactive behaviour and impact on the e-waste collection
performance in Italy. Other authors compared the overall waste
management performance and the adoption of proper practices between
developed and developing European countries. Many scholars proposed
quantitative models for the optimization of e-waste CCs, e.g., or new costing methodologies to support decision making
processes. Another important result in literature is that the
increasing of the number of collection centers corresponds to a positive
variation in the waste collection performance. In particular, they show that the highest
scores in term of WEEE collection performance is achieved in those
municipalities which set the collection centers. On the contrary,
Bouvier and Wagner found that the WEEE collection performance are
not affecting by driving distance and, thus, number of CCs. As a
consequence, it is important to note that empirical findings about the
effect of techno-organisational variables (e.g., presence of CCs) are
not always consistent. Waste collection has been analyzed for the
stream of municipal waste in Italy, highlighting that legislative
measures have both improved the national results and increased the gap
among different areas.
However, to our knowledge, few
papers specifically evaluated: (a) the impact of the European and
national regulatory system on the achievement of e-waste collection
targets; (b) the organizational structure and the territorial
distribution of the WEEE collection system. To contribute to shedding
light on this aspect, a first step is to provide a synthesis of specific
aspects of the EU regulatory system that are illustrated in the next
section.