A multi-objective decision-making model to select waste electrical and electronic equipment transportation media

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) materials possess considerable economic value, together with potential toxicity. The rapidly increasing sales of EEE worldwide, constitutes the rational management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) a matter of critical importance, both in economic and environmental terms. Taking into account that reverse logistics is one of the most important parameters in the management of waste equipment, it is particularly important for the manufacturers to control relevant cost in order to be market competitive. One of the most critical decisions regarding reverse logistics costs is the type of carrier to be used. To this end, this paper presents a multicriteria optimisation model for multi-type carriers of WEEE, based on multiple objective linear programming (MOLP). The main goal of a MOLP model is the weighted optimisation of different objectives. In our case, the proposed MOLP approach minimises total logistics costs, consumption of fossil fuel and production of emissions due to transportation of WEEE with the use of different types of containers. The model embodies existing infrastructure in collection points and recycling facilities and targets towards optimisation of the reverse logistics network for a single planning period by taking into account both economic and environmental aspects of the problem under study.