Title: How to design and manage WEEE systems: a multi-level analysis

Authors: Valerio Elia; Maria Grazia Gnoni

Addresses: Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Campus ecotekene, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento, Campus ecotekene, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: The growing production of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) justifies the increasing attention of both institutional and industrial organisations. The fast adoption of legislations, rules, and practices leads to a great dis-homogeneity in the technical, organisational and cost models adopted world-wide. The paper proposes a scientific literature analysis about WEEE design and management processes. A three-level taxonomy has been proposed in order to classify research papers: the basic logic is to propose a comparison between a WEEE system and an typical industrial engineering problem. The two first levels refer to the most critical issues characterising the design as well as the management of a typical WEEE reverse chain. The last one analyses different approaches/tools/methods currently applied in the scientific literature for WEEE design and management. A discussion is proposed to support waste practitioners as well as researchers in developing more effective and efficient WEEE management systems.

Keywords: WEEE management; WEEE design; end of life; EoL products; review analysis; waste electric and electronic equipment; literature review; industrial engineering; WEEE reverse chains.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2015.069165

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2015 Vol.15 No.3, pp.271 - 294

Received: 10 Dec 2013
Accepted: 23 Dec 2014
Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

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