Refurbishing and recycling of cell phones as a sustainable process of reverse logistics: A case study in Brazil

The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of a sustainable “reverse logistics” processes of the cell phone manufacturing industry in Brazil. To this end, it carried out a case study on a cell phone refurbishment company that is responsible for the reconditioning of cell phones; the company also receives returned cell phones from one of the largest cell phone manufacturers in Brazil. Another company collects waste from the refurbishing process and recycles the precious metals and plastic from the electronic electronics components. A number of propositions were made and confirmed through an interview conducted with the owner of the refurbishment company. It is concluded that the main reasons for the return of the product are the “buy back” process, irreparable and at the end of life cell phones. And from cell phones received from the manufacturer, it is estimated that about 15% of the products are returned to the market without remanufacturing, 15% are used for the salvaged components, and 70% are reconditioned for return to the market. The refurbishing process proved to be profitable because the annual cash flow approached USD 2.5 million and generated a profit of USD 226 thousand for the refurbishment company and prevents a discard of 4.5 tons/year of EEW, which gives an efficiency of 88% of all the cell phone manufactured by the company. Thus, the reverse logistics chain of the cellular manufacturing industry in Brazil has proved to be very sustainable, with zero net EEW.