139
With the aims to help the plans to improve the level of eco-efficiency in the EEE,
our analysis has identified some potential areas of improvement. Specifically, more
efforts are needed to achieve higher efficiency levels from waste categories C and
D, which mainly contains small equipment, lights, electrical and electronic tools,
and medical devices.
The implications that can be extracted from our research are obvious, as some
countries have to face a real challenge in the treatment of WEEE. This challenge
could be achieved by better adapting national policies to the European legislative
requirements through more convenient collection and treatment for this kind of
EEE; additional containers in public places, at retailers; public awareness campaigns supporting consumption and collection; encouragement for the design and
production of EEE which take into full account its repair, reuse, disassembly, and
recycling; better control from public institutions regarding their recycling and
recovery; and stronger legislation regarding the obligations of producers and distributors, among others.
From the empirical research point of view, extensions of this investigation are
expected. Among them, in our opinion two of them are relevant both from the theoretical and the empirical perspectives: (a) the consideration of a more complex technology by considering the existence of bad or undesirable outputs, i.e., the tons of
material collected but neither recovered nor recycled, and (b) the extension of the
mathematical models by considering the process of adjustment and target setting in
the efficiency estimations. We hope to spend effort and attention on these extensions
in the near future.
References
Abbott M, Cohen B (2009) Productivity and efficiency in the water industry. Util Policy 17(3–
4):233–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2009.05.001
Achillas C, Aidonis D, Vlachokostas C, Karagiannidis A, Moussiopoulos N, Loulos V (2013)
Depth of manual dismantling analysis: a cost–benefit approach. Waste Manag 33(4):948–956.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.12.024
Aigner DJ, Chu S-F (1968) On estimating the industry production function. Am Econ Rev
58(4):826–839
Aigner D, Lovell CK, Schmidt P (1977) Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. J Econ 6(1):21–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(77)90052-5
Barba-Gutiérrez Y, Adenso-Diaz B, Hopp M (2008) An analysis of some environmental consequences of European electrical and electronic waste regulation. Resour Conserv Recycl
52(3):481–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.06.002
Borthakur A, Govind M (2017) Emerging trends in consumers’ E-waste disposal behaviour
and awareness: a worldwide overview with special focus on India. Resour Conserv Recycl
117:102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.11.011
Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E (1978) Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur
J Oper Res 2(6):429–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(78)90138-8
Chi X, Wang MY, Reuter MA (2014) E-waste collection channels and household recycling behaviors in Taizhou of China. J Clean Prod 80:87–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.056
7 Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in European Union…
With the aims to help the plans to improve the level of eco-efficiency in the EEE,
our analysis has identified some potential areas of improvement. Specifically, more
efforts are needed to achieve higher efficiency levels from waste categories C and
D, which mainly contains small equipment, lights, electrical and electronic tools,
and medical devices.
The implications that can be extracted from our research are obvious, as some
countries have to face a real challenge in the treatment of WEEE. This challenge
could be achieved by better adapting national policies to the European legislative
requirements through more convenient collection and treatment for this kind of
EEE; additional containers in public places, at retailers; public awareness campaigns supporting consumption and collection; encouragement for the design and
production of EEE which take into full account its repair, reuse, disassembly, and
recycling; better control from public institutions regarding their recycling and
recovery; and stronger legislation regarding the obligations of producers and distributors, among others.
From the empirical research point of view, extensions of this investigation are
expected. Among them, in our opinion two of them are relevant both from the theoretical and the empirical perspectives: (a) the consideration of a more complex technology by considering the existence of bad or undesirable outputs, i.e., the tons of
material collected but neither recovered nor recycled, and (b) the extension of the
mathematical models by considering the process of adjustment and target setting in
the efficiency estimations. We hope to spend effort and attention on these extensions
in the near future.
References
Abbott M, Cohen B (2009) Productivity and efficiency in the water industry. Util Policy 17(3–
4):233–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2009.05.001
Achillas C, Aidonis D, Vlachokostas C, Karagiannidis A, Moussiopoulos N, Loulos V (2013)
Depth of manual dismantling analysis: a cost–benefit approach. Waste Manag 33(4):948–956.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2012.12.024
Aigner DJ, Chu S-F (1968) On estimating the industry production function. Am Econ Rev
58(4):826–839
Aigner D, Lovell CK, Schmidt P (1977) Formulation and estimation of stochastic frontier production function models. J Econ 6(1):21–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(77)90052-5
Barba-Gutiérrez Y, Adenso-Diaz B, Hopp M (2008) An analysis of some environmental consequences of European electrical and electronic waste regulation. Resour Conserv Recycl
52(3):481–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.06.002
Borthakur A, Govind M (2017) Emerging trends in consumers’ E-waste disposal behaviour
and awareness: a worldwide overview with special focus on India. Resour Conserv Recycl
117:102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.11.011
Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E (1978) Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur
J Oper Res 2(6):429–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/0377-2217(78)90138-8
Chi X, Wang MY, Reuter MA (2014) E-waste collection channels and household recycling behaviors in Taizhou of China. J Clean Prod 80:87–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.056
7 Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in European Union…