42
for many nations in the Pan-European region.
1
Furthermore, this correlational relationship seems to hold regardless of the stages of economic development of specific
countries in their sample.
Current Issues
As we noted above, the generation of Electronic-waste is likely to continue to grow
over time globally. The often included items in waste electrical and electronic
equipment are air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, television sets,
other appliances, and cell phones. Many of these items are bulky and difficult to
dispose of. In addition, they might produce toxic substances on the grounds if abandoned. From the life cycle perspectives,
2
production of these products requires large
amounts of metal, energy, and other resources and generates significant amounts of
greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, and CFCs). For these and other reasons for recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment was identified as an important
issue of environmental management.
Recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
While many countries recognize that promoting recycling of waste electrical and
electronic equipment is an important policy issue, there are still a number of difficulties to implement policies that promote such recycling. For example, since the
items included in waste electrical and electronic equipment are generally consumer
goods, such policies must be compatible with consumers’ incentives. Similarly, we
would like to include producers and/or retailers of these products in the recycling
process since retailers, for example, will have first-hand information on the customers who purchase these products. Delegating some responsibility of recycling to
producers and retailers is called extended producer responsibility (EPR) and is often
included in waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling laws in many
countries.
Economics of Recycling Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
It is essential to pay attention to the economic principles underlying policy matters
on environmental management such as collecting, recycling, and processing of
Electronic-waste. Since the products which generate Electronic-waste after they are
consumed are produced using metals and also precious metals for some products
like cell phones, recovering some of these metals and precious metals from recycled
waste electrical and electronic equipment items is likely to give some economic
benefits.
3
Also, collecting discarded waste electrical and electronic equipment from
consumers’ homes and transporting them to the specified deposit is not free. For
1 Kusch and Hills (2017) show in particular that an increase of 1000 international $ GDP purchasing power parity (PPP) means an additional 0.5 kg waste electrical and electronic equipment is
generated.
2 We regard environmental management analyses and approaches based on life cycle and supply
chain perspectives interchangeably (see, e.g., Hayami et al. (2015) and Hayami and Nakamura
(2007)).
3 This is discussed in Sect. 3.3.
H. Hayami and M. Nakamura
for many nations in the Pan-European region.
1
Furthermore, this correlational relationship seems to hold regardless of the stages of economic development of specific
countries in their sample.
Current Issues
As we noted above, the generation of Electronic-waste is likely to continue to grow
over time globally. The often included items in waste electrical and electronic
equipment are air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, television sets,
other appliances, and cell phones. Many of these items are bulky and difficult to
dispose of. In addition, they might produce toxic substances on the grounds if abandoned. From the life cycle perspectives,
2
production of these products requires large
amounts of metal, energy, and other resources and generates significant amounts of
greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, and CFCs). For these and other reasons for recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment was identified as an important
issue of environmental management.
Recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
While many countries recognize that promoting recycling of waste electrical and
electronic equipment is an important policy issue, there are still a number of difficulties to implement policies that promote such recycling. For example, since the
items included in waste electrical and electronic equipment are generally consumer
goods, such policies must be compatible with consumers’ incentives. Similarly, we
would like to include producers and/or retailers of these products in the recycling
process since retailers, for example, will have first-hand information on the customers who purchase these products. Delegating some responsibility of recycling to
producers and retailers is called extended producer responsibility (EPR) and is often
included in waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling laws in many
countries.
Economics of Recycling Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
It is essential to pay attention to the economic principles underlying policy matters
on environmental management such as collecting, recycling, and processing of
Electronic-waste. Since the products which generate Electronic-waste after they are
consumed are produced using metals and also precious metals for some products
like cell phones, recovering some of these metals and precious metals from recycled
waste electrical and electronic equipment items is likely to give some economic
benefits.
3
Also, collecting discarded waste electrical and electronic equipment from
consumers’ homes and transporting them to the specified deposit is not free. For
1 Kusch and Hills (2017) show in particular that an increase of 1000 international $ GDP purchasing power parity (PPP) means an additional 0.5 kg waste electrical and electronic equipment is
generated.
2 We regard environmental management analyses and approaches based on life cycle and supply
chain perspectives interchangeably (see, e.g., Hayami et al. (2015) and Hayami and Nakamura
(2007)).
3 This is discussed in Sect. 3.3.
H. Hayami and M. Nakamura