BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
REVERSE LOGISTICS
strategicinsight
Handle with care
Developing a safe, responsible, and effective system for handling
consumer electronics returns isn’t just good for the planet. It can
also be very, very good for your business.
THE IMAGES REMAIN TROUBLING LONG
after they’ve faded from the screen. Vast quantities of toxic electronic waste dumped around villages and cities in countries like Nigeria and
China. Workers burning wires in an attempt to
recover copper or aluminum for resale, releasing
a hazardous stew of chemicals into the air. Young
children playing among the scattered, and often
carcinogenic, materials.
That’s not a vision of a dystopian future, but
an everyday reality. Our love affair with electron-
ics—and desire to have the next new thing—has
created a surging tide of e-waste. Although some
is disposed of responsibly, much of that waste
still ends up in local landfills or incinerators,
while quite a bit gets shipped overseas by
unscrupulous recyclers for “dismantling under
horrific conditions,” according to the Electronics
TakeBack Coalition (ETBC).
