2. The research context: Reverse distribution systems for electrical and electronic products
2.4 The industry for the collection of EE-products at end- end-of-life
Inorder to study coordination in this context, it is necessary to understand the 'industry for the collection of EE-products at end-of-life', and we have included a brief empirical analysis of the industry. Itis our argument that this industry consists of four 'sectors'. The fust of these sectors are the authorities. The authorities have developed the EE-Regulations that sanction the need for the systems. The regulations are operationalized through the industry agreement, where the EE-industry takes on the responsibility to organize the systems. The Eli-industry represents a second sector. The EE-industry is represented by the industry organizations and each EE-company is involved indirectly. The EE-industry has determined that the waste management companies should administer the industry agreement. The waste management companies are the third sector in 'the industry'. The waste management companies have engaged actors in the waste management industry to perform the operations in the collection systems. The waste management industry represents the fourth sector. The sectors are illustrated below:
Figure 2.3: The four sectors in 'the industry for the collection of EE-products at end-of-life'
The sectors represent a picture of how flows are organized in the industry. The commercial interests are based in the EE-industry and involve the authorities, but the waste management companies administer them. The physical flows, however, are organized in the waste management industry. Inthis sense, there is a division of work between the actors, and it is
reasonable to argue that the waste management companies administer the flows in that they coordinate the physical flows and the commercial interests. Related to a reverse distribution system, the waste management companies coordinate the funds and regulations from the stakeholders on one side and the collection system, which produces collection rates, on the other. This is illustrated below:
Thewaste management
company
Stakeholders
§
s
Figure 24:An illustration of the flows in the industry for collection of EE waste
In the table below, we show an overview of volumes for the waste management companies, i.e. for the different systems, from 1999 to 2003 (cf. appendix
Ai
2• The collected volumes reflect the extent to which the waste management companies have fulfilled their mandated tasks. The numbers also indicate the market share of the volume that the waste management companies administer.22The period of our study is from July 1999 until July 2004. We have therefore included data in the table that was available for each year-end.
22
Table2.5:Collected and expected volumes, and collection rates from 1999to 2003
xpected volume 1999 2000 2001 2002 200
28145 56290 56290 56290 5219
vitevareretur 14632 29263 29263 29263 3018
lektronikkretur 14500 29000 29000 29000 2900
otal 57277 114553 114553 114553 111 381
ollecled volume
vitevareretu r 48,4 43,7 32,5 30,3 28,
lektronikkretur 27,0 24,6 19,3 17,7 17,
agnSelis 0,7 1,0 1,
urovironment 2,4 2,7
otal 100 100 100 100
*Calculated by dividing collected volume over expected volume.
**Calculated from collected volume
The waste management companies within the industry agreement dominate in terms of market shares. The volumes show that the independent systems run small-scale operations in comparison. The market shares have to be understood in light of the scope of the product categories that the waste management companies are responsible for. Elektronikkretur is responsible for consumer electronics, Hvitevareretur for white goods and RENAS for general electric products. The three companies are responsible for 'the total market' according to the industry agreement, and their responsibility share (the share of the expected volume) is not equal. In 2003, RENAS' responsibility share was 46.8 %, Elektronikkretur's was 26.1 % and Hvitevareretur's was 27.1 %.
Eurovironment has specialized in leT equipment. RagnSells, however, collect products within all categories. Based on these categories, we can illustrate the relationship between the waste management companies as shown below:
Table2.6:The relationships between the waste management companies
Hvitevareretur
Competitors Elektronikkretur
RENAS
Eurovironment
RagnSells Competitors Competitors Competitors
The Eurovironment system competes with El-retur in general and Elektronikkretur in particular. Elektronikkretur is responsible for the leT category, according to the industry agreement. The leT category has an expected volume of 7,800 tonnes per year and in 2003 Eurovironment collected approximately 28 % of the volume, while Elektronikkretur reported a 66 % collection rate. In total, the collection rate is approximately 95 %. In relation to the natural environment and the demands from the government, the collection rate is satisfactory.
However, the rates represent thecollected volumes and they do not reveal anything about the products' disposition, i.e. the waste management option. The chosen option within the collection systems is recycling, with one exception - the Eurovironment system also reprocesses products for reuse. The reusable products are put back into the marketplace. In principle, this means that the products return to the end-of-life stage for a second time. Thus, the waste management option may be relevant for performance evaluation of the system.
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2.5 Summary
Two documents direct operations in 'the industry for the collection of EE-products at end-of-life': the EE-Regulations and the industry agreement between the ME and the EE-industry.
The authorities have left the responsibility of finding the best solution with which to handle EE-waste at end-of-life to the industry, but within a legal frame of reference. The industry agreement has resulted in the development of three waste management companies and two collection systems. In addition, a few independent waste management companies and collection systems have been established, although these are small scale compared to the industry agreement systems. The authorities believe that the solutions for the collection of EE-waste have been successful but have still identified a number of challenges within the area (SFT 2004). As a result of these challenges, the EE-Regulations have been subjected to revisions and changes have been suggested.
Inshort, a new industry has been created and a set of reverse distribution systems has been established. The flows of distribution are split between different sectors within the industry but are administered by the waste management companies. As a result, the coordination responsibility of the systems is placed with the waste management companies. The reverse distribution systems require a high degree of coordination. A number of actors are involved in the same task of collecting EE-waste but they have varied spheres of interests. However, if the waste management companies are able to achieve coordinated action between the actors, a sufficiently high collection rate is expected (Le. 80 %).
Theory