The Reverse Supply Chain of E-Waste Management Processes
Read this article. The authors propose that reverse supply chains can achieve economic as well as environmental and social benefits. Regarding your electronic devices, do you know how you can recycle and reverse supply them back to a vendor?
The EU and National Law Basics of E-Waste Management
In the last few years, the European Union has issued various Directives aimed at supporting a correct and effective treatment and disposal of e-waste. The Directive 2002/96/EC aimed to promote the recycling, recovery and reuse of WEEE in order to reduce its disposal in landfills. To this aim, the main elements introduced by the 2002 Directive are: (a) the adoption of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle, which is imposed on the producers to finance the WEEE collection activities; and (b) the adoption of the one-to-one principle which allows for consumers to deliver for free their WEEE if they buy an equivalent EEE. Moreover, such Directive defines a rate of WEEE collection equal to four Kgpc per year by 2008. In 2012, the EU Directive 2012/19/EU modified the collection thresholds and introduced a more severe target such that any State has to collect at least 45% (about 8 kgpc) of the total weight of the WEEE defined as a percentage of average weight of the EEE placed on the market (POM) from 2016, and 65% (about 12 kgpc) from 2019 (alternatively 85% of WEEE which has been generated). Finally, in 2017, the European Commission issued the Circular Economy Package, which gives further rise to the development of a reverse supply chain from consumers to producers where EPR plays a critical role in accomplishing the defined quantitative targets.
In Italy, the EU Directive 2002/96 was implemented through the Legislative Decree 2005/151 and the Ministerial Decree 185/2007 that regulated the management of WEEE by promoting the recycle, reuse and recovery and by restricting the use of certain hazardous substances contained in EEE.
Specifically, the first decree regulated the management of WEEE collection system and adopted the Clearing House Model as its own national system. The second decree focuses, instead, on the actors of the WEEE collection system. The Clearing House is a national system, whereas the end product manufacturers are grouped in organizations named Collective systems which are responsible for the entire WEEE management cycle. These actors cooperate with various operators (collectors, logistic operators, recyclers, waste management organizations, etc.) to provide WEEE management services. The government supervises the various Collective systems by means of the Coordination center (CdCRaee) which operates as a clearing house among the Collective systems to which they have to adhere. The Coordination center realizes the supervision of the entire system.
Finally, the legislative Decree 2005/151 has introduced efficiency awards for the Municipal CCs when they are able to reach a certain collection performance.
In 2014, Italy has issued the
Legislative Decree 2014/49, drawn on the Directive 2012/19/EU, that (a)
adopts the new and higher collection target since 2016; (b) establishes
appropriate measures and procedures to prevent the WEEE generation; and
(c) promotes reuse, recycling and other forms of WEEE recovery also by
introducing efficiency bonuses.