Optimizing reverse logistic costs for recycling end-of-life electrical and electronic products

With accelerating technological changes and market expansions of electrical and electronic products (EEPs) during the last few decades, much focus and effort have been placed on the waste of these products. In order to reduce their negative impacts on the environment and human, at the end of their product lifecycles, their wastes need to be properly handled, processed, disposed, and if applicable, remanufactured, recycled or reused. Based on the analysis of the waste EEPs (WEEPs) reverse logistic network, this paper presents a mathematical programming model which minimizes the total processing cost of multiple types of WEEPs. The monetary factors considered in the model include the costs of collection, treatment, and transportation as well as sales income with different fractions of returned products. Based on the proposed model, the optimal facility locations and the material flows in the reverse logistic network can be determined. A sensitivity analysis of the proposed model is also presented. Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to gain a better insight into the proposed model.

► A comprehensive recycling network model of WEEPs is developed.
► Transportation cost plays an important role in the recycling process.
► The optimal facility locations and the material flows can be determined.
► Several future research directions are suggested.