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Recovery logistics as a concept of sustainable development with regard to mobile telephony

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Summary

Recovery logistics is a concept that includes flow streams directed in the reverse direction in relation to primary flows. By using this concept, you can gain a number of benefits, both economic, environmental and social, that is, the benefits of the prin-ciple of sustainable development. This article consists of three parts. The concept of recovery logistics is presented in the first part of this paper. In the second part of the article, the authors attempted to determine the importance of recovery logistics in sus-tainable development. The third part of the paper presents the process of recovery and the life cycle of mobile phones.

Keywords: reverse logistics, sustainable development, recovery, product life cycle, mobile phone market

Introduction

Technological development and production of electronic devices shorten their usage and gen-erate significant amounts of used waste. The aim of the article is to indicate recovery logistics as a concept of sustainable development, bringing economic, ecological and social benefits. The article consists of three parts. The concept of recovery logistics is presented in the first part of the paper. In the second part of the article, the authors attempted to determine the importance of recovery logistics in sustainable development. The third part of the paper presents the process of recovery and the life cycle of mobile phones.

1. Recovery Logistics

In standard examples, there are considered processes in which actions lead to the creation of a product having a value for the user who is taking it over, in the case of the recovery process, the actions involve dismantling and retrieving parts of the product (raw materials, subassemblies).

The materials based on the definition of recovery logistics are aimed at demonstrating the pos-sibility of increasing the recovery rate of the recycled materials from waste streams [6, p. 189]. The English concept of Reverse Logistics, often encountered in source literature, is often incorrectly translated as reverse logistics, however, it is meant to denote recovery logistics recovery [10, p. 53]. Recovery logistics is defined as the process of planning, implementing and controlling the effi-cient and economically effieffi-cient flow of recyclable materials within the supply chain and the asso-ciated raw material information counter to the direction of flows in the traditional supply chain in order to value recovery or proper redevelopment [10, p. 54]. Recovery logistics puts the emphasis on value recovery in the product or packaging [5, p.42]. Traditional logistics involves the movement of raw materials to manufacturers and then products to end customers. Upon delivery of the product to the final customer, i.e. at the time it arrives at its intended destination and use, the original logistic process ends and thus other processes begin, which are called the return process. These processes

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result, inter alia, from return of products, their use and service, and finally, the post-disposal obliga-tion. [4, pp. 76–87].

We can distinguish the following types of recovery logistics:

• Return recovery logistics such as unsold mobile phones and the cellular phones, about which the customers are changing their minds and refusing to buy them, for instant Internet sales and the sales based on mailing lists, returns of unsold telephones,

• Complaint recovery logistics – refunds resulting from product defects related to the warranties or warranties for the product and recalled by the manufacturers due to defects or flaws detected, • Waste recovery logistics – may result from legal regulations or economic circumstances, when it is worthwhile to recover the recyclable materials from the waste, e.g. the return of used bat-teries, used mobile phones [10, p. 91].

Because of the fact that the discarded electric and electronic equipment is a material object, supportive operations for dismantling and component acquisition, which are known from traditional logistics, include transport and storage activities coordinated with the work of the entities forming the so-called chain of removal, namely [17]:

• the location of unused produts, including waste; • entities organizing the collection;

• segregating entities and • landfill or recycler.

2. Recovery logistics and sustainable development

The concept of sustainable development that defines the relationship between economy, society and the environment was defined in the 1970s as a result of the growing risks of rapid depletion of non-renewable natural resources, environmental degradation, climate warming, rapid demographic growth and growing socio-economic desparities [16, s. 23]. On June 16, 1972, a report was published defining sustainable development as a right to meet the developmental aspirations of the present generation without limiting the rights of future generations to meet their development needs, mean-ing that the economic and civilization growth of the present generation should not take place at the expense of depleting non-renewable resources and destroying the environment for the good of future generations.

Logistics plays a key role in the sustainable development of a competitive economy. It is diffi-cult to imagine a smoothly growing economy without transport and adequate infrastructure. At the same time, a large number of transported people and goods makes its impact on the environment, affecting its pollution and noise. Therefore, it is expected that the logistic sector will take responsi-bility for its environmental impact. In the past, environmental protection and resource conservation did not take a proper place in the minds of logistics managers. Currently, the public and many public institutions more and more often turn to companies to take business, social and environmental con-siderations into account when making business decisions. Sustainable development has become a new challenge for logistics companies. In response to growing environmental awareness, logistics providers should create sustainable business development strategies that take into account ecological aspects. Protecting the environment and resources will be an integral part of logistics [12].

The issue of the relationship between economy, society and the environment has been, and will continue to be, the subject of interdisciplinary research. These three keystones have become the basis for the development of the concept of sustainable development. A contemporary challenge for

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humanity is to provide decent living conditions for present and future generations, no matter where they live. Sustainable development is a response to the dynamic changes in the global economy, with a special focus on the natural environment [16, p. 15].

Sustainable development is a concept that is increasingly ruling all activities, including the ac-tivities of different businesses. This is the result of growing human awareness, not just legal require-ments. The global popularity of the concept is reflected in rich online resources and the growing number of scientific publications in the field. Since the first time the concept of sustainable devel-opment emerged in the international debate in 1987, efforts have still have been being made to turn theoretical considerations into practical implementation [7, p. 190].

Sustainable development comes down to the fulfillment of three basic objectives: ecological (halting environmental degradation and elimination of its threats), economic (satisfying the material needs of humanity by means of technologies that do not affect the environment) and socio-humani-tarian (culture, education, security, health care, the elimination of hunger, misery and poverty) [11, p. 80].

Logistics generates economic benefits but it also generates threats to the environment. The in-troduction of sustainable development principles in the area of logistics should address the applica-tion of modern environmental technologies that: would eliminate harmful environmental impacts, prevent pollution, allow for sustainable use of resources, generate a small amount of waste, ensure waste recycling [11, p. 83].

Recovery logistics is one of the areas which are in line with the principle of sustainable devel-opment. Recovery chains, or sustainable logistic chains, are processes in which the resources used are environmentally friendly. The resulting products after use are recycled and reused, which results in extended product lifecycles. EMAS and ISO are the tools that influence the correct processes carried out by the company, they also foster the correct implementation of the recovery processes and lessen the negative impact of the company on the environment. [2, p. 19].

3. Recovery processes and the life cycle of mobile telephones

In recent years, the mobile phone has become a popular device. The quantity of manufactured and used phones makes it an object of considerable environmental impact. According to data quoted by the US Federal Communications Commission, the first mobile phone was introduced by Motorola DynaTAC in 1983. Twenty years later, more than 1.2 billion phones were sold in the world over the year [3, pp. 515 – 525]. Lately, we can see a certain stability of sales, whose size in 2013 was estimated at 1.8 billion copies [15]. According to Ericsson Mobility report, the number of active phones in 2014 was approximately 7 billion [18].

In addition, the technological and operational changes of mobile phones, which are signaled even by calling them Smartphones or iPhones, must be taken into account. As far as users are con-cerned, the functions offered, that is, software, are important. We will, however, focus on the mate-rial composition, the value of matemate-rials used in production and the possibility of their recovery after they are no longer used.

In order to fully realize the economic potential of the recovery of the materials from which the mobile phone is made, it is sufficient to take into account that its composition is the following: • plastics – 56%,

• metals – 25%, including: copper – 15%, iron – 3%, aluminium – 3%, nickel – 2% and other rare metals (gold, silver, platinium, palladium) – 1%

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• glass and ceramics – 16%, • other materials – 3%.

Percentages should be completed with quantitative data. It is estimated that – naturaly, depend-ing on the phone model – from one copy one can recover about 9 grams of copper, 150 milligrams of silver, 25 milligrams of gold, as well as small amounts of platinum and palladium.

For each product you can formally specify a time period in which it has a market value. By specifying such a range, we determine the product life cycle. The life cycle of a product on the market encompasses all the phases of a product's existence, from its design, manufacture, until its cessation. You can distinguish four basic phases of the product life cycle. These phases are [8, p. 340] :

I. Placing the product on the market; II. Sales growth;

III. Maturity and saturation of the market; IV. Sales decline.

Due to the continuous improvement of electronic products, both the individual product life cy-cles and the entire cycle are shortened. A good example of electronic products are cell phones. The mobile telephony market is characterized by high levels of saturation and an constantly growing number of operators and consumers. It can be said that it is already in the maturity phase of the mobile phone that a new model appears (Picture 1). In this way, the life cycle of mobile phones is shortened.

Figure 1. The life cycle of mobile phones Source: own source.

The distinction of the mobile phone segment is related to the product-specific activities of man-ufacturers who strongly intervene in shaping the individual phases. A particular type of interference

Model 1 Model 1a Model 1b Model 1c

S a le s Time P h a se I P h a se I I P h a se I II P h a se I V M o d el 1 & P h a se I M o d el 1 a

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is the aggressive introduction of new modes with new applications and permanent software updates that are unable to be installed by older versions of phones. Without going into details, we'll just point out that these are very common reasons for abandoning older models to acquire new ones. Market observations indicate that the replacement of the old model with the new one takes place already after 18 months [1]. The thing is that this older model – replaced by the new one – generally can still perform its basic functions. For this reason, considerations regarding the life cycle of a mobile phone should be complemented with a study of the time of use of a mobile phone. The ancillary question here must be whether the "recalled" product still functions for the current user. According to the research conducted in the USA, about 65% of the withdrawn phones are sent to new users, very often outside the US territory [3, pp. 515 – 525]. What is of interest to us, the user change is a market operation that does not really matter to the usability of the phone, as we are not interested in the problems regarding the need for another software or adaptation to the technical requirements of the new network. The change of the user will be treated as an extension of the useful life of the object.

We will assume that the bordering point for the operation of the phone is not the user’s resig-nation from it but the user’s recognition of it as useless and the suggestion that the concept of value can only refer to the components derived from it. This is a very important assumption which allows to consider the question of value both from the pragmatic as well as the economic point of view. In pragmatic interpretation, from a useless object there can be obtained objects that can be used as secondary raw materials or as components of other objects, and therefore can be useful. We can then talk about recovering the value interpreted by usability measures.

From something that had a measure of utility equal to zero, there appears something whose measure of utility can be defined by a positive number. The consequence of pragmatic understanding of value can be the economic interpretation. Formally, an object whose utility measure is zero can also be assigned an economic value of zero and a positive utility measure can be assigned an eco-nomic measure in accordance with common valuation rules. It should be immediately stressed that this is only a theoretical suggestion for the introduction of economic values. An important problem is the difficulty in estimating the cost of acquiring components which is associated with, among others, the difficulty with identifying the entities that should be included in the recovery processes. The mundane cause is often the fact that these entities simply are not existent and the recovery process is only hypothetical. In such situations, the challenge that arises is to create model concepts, how to create socially justified groupings of objects, how to stimulate the essence of their activities and how value recovery processes should be carried out by them. This is the subject matter to be investigated in the research. The presented text is a preliminary recognition of the needs and possi-bilities of dealing with this subject.

The lack of support for pragmatic valuation through economic values is not conducive to shap-ing the understandshap-ing of the importance of recovery processes. A mere indication that the recovery of components is important must be supported by accepted and socially acceptable arguments. In modern society, this role is fulfilled by ecological arguments related to legal conditions and strong educational propaganda. The individuals who consider their phone unusable should be aware of the hazards associated with the "careless" disposal of such phones, as well as the fact that there are some mobile phone components harmful to health and the environment such as lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium, which are rarely mentioned in product specifications.

Educational and legal propaganda is provided by the world and European scientific and political institutions. In the European Union in January 2003, the WEEE directive 2002/96 / EC was adopted,

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which aimed at introducing the principles of responsibility of manufacturers, suppliers and importers for the collection, reuse, recycling and recovery of electronic waste. Since August 2012 a revised WEEE 2 directive has been in force strengthening the requirements for the entities dealing with electronic objects. The requirements of this directive – naturally adapted to the local law – are re-spected almost everywhere in the world [13]. Poland as a Member of the European Union has intro-duced the equivalent of WEEE Directive "Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Law" (WEEE), which has been in force since 1 January 2016 [19]. The introduction of this law requires not only a decision of political importance, but also a wide range of research and suggestions for actions that are relevant to life in the ecological environment. This requires consideration of recovery issues both at theoretical as well as practical levels. In the latter, examples of implementations in other countries, such as Germany, Austria or Switzerland, may be helpful.

4. Conclusion

The interdisciplinary nature of logistics means that the issue of sustainable development from the point of view of recovery logistics is an important and up-to-date research direction. [14, p. 132]. Recovery logistics is a concept that includes flow streams directed in the reverse direction in relation to primary flows. Thanks to this concept, a number of economic, ecological and social benefits can be gained, the benefits that result from the principle of sustainable development. The electronics, and especially mobile phones market is characterized by a short product lifecycle, but still more and more phones used according to the concept of recovery logistics are given the "second life" bringing economic, environmental and social benefits.

Economic benefits are achieved through cost reduction and reuse of raw materials and materials. Ecological benefits are obtained by reducing the use of primary raw materials and recycling, reduc-ing the negative impact on the environment. Social benefits are achieved through responsible busi-ness, donations and other pro-social activities.

The benefits of logistics recovery certainly include the impact on human health and the envi-ronment which will not be exposed to the toxic substances and elements present in this type of waste as cell phones represent.

Bibliography

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LOGISTYKA ODZYSKU JAKO KONCEPCJA ZRÓWNOWAĩONEGO ROZWOJU NA PRZYKŁADZIE TELEFONII KOMÓRKOWEJ

Streszczenie

Logistyka odzysku jest koncepcj, która obejmuje strumienie przepływu skiero-wane w odwrotnym kierunku w stosunku do przepływów pierwotnych. Dziki zastoso-waniu tej koncepcji mona uzyska szereg korzyci zarówno o charakterze ekonomicz-nym, ekologicznym jak i społecznym – czyli korzyci, które wynikaj z realizacji zasady zrówowaonego rozwoju. Artykuł składa si z trzech czci. W czci pierwszej arty-kułu przedstawiono koncepcj logistyki odzysku. W czci drugiej artyarty-kułu autorzy podjli prób okrelenia znaczenia logistyki odzysku w zrównowaonym rozwoju. W trzeciej czci artykułu przedstawiono proces odzysku i cykl ycia telefonów komór-kowych.

Słowa kluczowe: logistyka odzysku, rozwój zrównowaony, odzysk, cykl ycia produktu, rynek telefonii komórkowej

Paweł Szudra

Katedra Inynierii Zarzdzania i Systemów Loggistycznych Wydział Ekonomii i Zarzdzania

Uniwersytet Zielonogórski e-mail: p.szudra@wez.uz.zgora.pl Przemysław Dulewicz

Katedra Inynierii Zarzdzania i Systemów Loggistycznych Wydział Ekonomii i Zarzdzania

Uniwersytet Zielonogórski

Cytaty

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