Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of waste mobile phone recycling in China

Bian, Jinghong; Bai, Haoyu; Li, Wenchao; Yin, Junbo; He, Xu

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.05.047

Cited by 42 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…For example, recycling of phones may take various forms, the method of which will have a bearing on the resulting environmental impact (Bian et al. ). This is with reference to the particular recycling method and is not inclusive of the other impacts already discussed in this article.…”

Section: Tackling the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This assumption is an oversimplified representation of the more realistic nuanced EOFL, and in order to understand the true impact that a mobile phone may have, it is necessary to expand the range of scenarios through which it may be discarded; this kind of study is presently lacking. For example, recycling of phones may take various forms, the method of which will have a bearing on the resulting environmental impact (Bian et al 2016). This is with reference to the particular recycling method and is not inclusive of the other impacts already discussed in this article.…”

Section: Multiple Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integrating Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment: Asking the Right Question

Suckling

Lee

2017

J of Industrial Ecology

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Mobile phones offer many potential social benefits throughout their lifetime, but this life is often much shorter than design intent. Reuse of the phone in a developing country allows these social benefits to be fully realized. Unfortunately, under the current state of development of recycling infrastructure, recovery rates of phones after reuse are very low in those markets, which may lead to an environmental burden due to loss of materials to landfill. In order to recover those materials most effectively, recycling in developed countries may be the best option, but at a cost of the ability to reuse the phones. The issues facing integration of social and environmental concerns into a single life cycle assessment and resulting challenges of identifying the disposal option with the most sustainable outcome are explored using mobile phones as a case study. These include obtaining sufficient geographical and temporal detail of the end of life options, the collation and analysis of the large amounts of data generated and the weighting of the disparate environmental and social impact categories. The numerous challenges may mount up to make performing life cycle assessment of mobile phones unwieldy. Instead of trying to encompass every aspect in full, it is proposed that focus is given to answering a question which takes into account the resources available: it is important to ask the question which has the best chance of being answered

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Section: Tackling the Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Multiple Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment: Asking the Right Question

Suckling

Lee

2017

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…On the other hand, the WEEE contains some toxic materials that may pollute the air, soil, and water if they are arbitrarily discarded, or improperly disposed [5]. For example, many components of waste mobile phones (WMP), just like batteries and printed circuit boards (PCBs), contain heavy metals, such as Cd, Cu, Ni, Sb, and Pb.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, many components of waste mobile phones (WMP), just like batteries and printed circuit boards (PCBs), contain heavy metals, such as Cd, Cu, Ni, Sb, and Pb. If these metals in WMPs are recycled or reused, there is a consequent decline in environmental pollution [5]. Cucchiella suggested that the laptops, tablets and smart phones are the most valuable categories of WEEE [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regulations, such as "Measures for the Control of Pollution from Electronic Information Products (Chinese RoHS Directive)" in 2006, "Regulation on the Administration of the Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products (Chinese WEEE Directive)" in 2009, and "Special Planning for the 'Twelfth Five-year' Waste Recycling Technology Project" in 2012, have been proposed to promote complete recovery of WMP components and to normalize the treatment of WMPs. On the 9th February 2015, the latest "Directory of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Processing" was enacted [5]. But even so, there are still many obstacles to develop Chinese WEEE management system, such as higher operating cost, weaker awareness of environmental protection, and imperfect incentive mechanism [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimizing the WEEE Recovery Network Associated with Environmental Protection Awareness and Government Subsidy by Nonlinear Mixed Integer Programming

Wang

Wan

2019

Journal of Advanced Transportation

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Recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) plays an important role in protecting environment and conserving resources. Design of a more efficient WEEE recovery system is an imperative need for the relevant decision-makers, such as alleviation of overcapacity or insufficient recycling in many developing countries. In this paper, we optimize the WEEE recovery network which is associated with recycling prices and government subsidies by a nonlinear mixed integer programming approach. An integrated model is first proposed to formulate a design problem of WEEE recovery network, being involved with collection centers, two types of transfer stations, processing centers, incineration plants, landfill plants, secondhand product markets, and government subsides. The recycling prices and the transported quantities of WEEE (the number of batches) are endogenous variables of the model, being subject to a number of practical constraints. For solving this model, an algorithm is developed based on the branch and bound method. Scenario analysis and numerical experiments indicate that: (1) appropriate capacities of transfer stations can be provided by the proposed model for designing an environmentally and economically efficient WEEE recycling system, especially for alleviating the existing overcapacity or insufficient recycle. (2) An optimal governmental subsidy can be obtained in virtue of the proposed model and algorithm. (3) Diversity of transportation modes and permission of more than one mode in the same delivery route can greatly reduce the cost of recycling WEEE. (4) Preferred awareness of environmental protection can increase the profit and the recycled quantities, as well as reduction of the total recycling cost.

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Heterogeneity in corporate green supply chain practice adoption: Insights from institutional fields

2023

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Firms adopt different green supply chain management (GSCM) practices at varying levels. Drawing on institutional field theory, this study aims to explore the heterogeneity in GSCM practice adoption considering different firm characteristics, including firm size, industry, and ownership. Secondary data from 394 firms operating in China show that four organizational groupings—brown, light brown, light green, and green—firms exist. Multinomial logistic regression results show that larger firms and firms in the electronics industry are more likely to be greener, indicating that firm size and industry play a strong role in discriminating GSCM practice adoption. Interestingly, no differences between domestic and foreign‐owned firms exist, implying that the gaps in institutional perspectives between Chinese domestic and non‐domestic ownership may be disappearing. This study provides practical implications for strategic benchmarking of GSCM practices. The results also have broader implications for firm operations within China and Chinese firms competing elsewhere.

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Comparative environmental life cycle assessment of waste mobile phone recycling in China

Cited by 42 publications

References 17 publications

Integrating Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment: Asking the Right Question

Integrating Environmental and Social Life Cycle Assessment: Asking the Right Question

Optimizing the WEEE Recovery Network Associated with Environmental Protection Awareness and Government Subsidy by Nonlinear Mixed Integer Programming

Heterogeneity in corporate green supply chain practice adoption: Insights from institutional fields

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