Economic and Environmental Assessment of Extended Producer Responsibility and No Reuse Policies in Mobile Phone End of Life Networks

Abstract

This thesis presents an assessment of the economic and environmental effects of Extended Producer Responsibility and No Reuse Policies, by using an agent-based model of Mobile Phone End of Life Networks. Electronic waste of mobile phones is an increasing problem. Governments have reacted by adopting various types of legislation, the most common being Extended Producer Responsiblity (EPR). EPR makes producers reponsible for the collection and processing of their End of Life products. Companies have also reacted. Either because of fear of competition of reused phones, or because of data security concerns, some companies have adopted No Reuse Policies (NRP). NRP means that phones are not allowed to be reused. The findings show that EPR is beneficial for the environment and for the economics of refurbishers. The effects do depend heavily on the disposal choices made by individual consumers. Findings also show that the effects of NRP are not significant. Because the effects (of EPR) depend heavily on parameters which are not yet supported by data, further research should concentrate on gathering empiric evidence.