After-Life of Mobile Phones: Waste or Return to Production?

Parvez Alam and Ann George

Working Papers from eSocialSciences

Abstract: This study extends the understanding of global production network (GPN) analysis by considering the post-consumption activities of the product in question, namely mobile phones. The authors examine the production networks involved in mobile waste treatment and the employment conditions in these networks. Also, in a context where e-waste management raises questions on environmental pollution and health, they examine how far Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) operates in India. They find the post-consumption activities of mobile phones to be highly dynamic. This point is illustrated by the existence of a vibrant secondary market for mobile phones refurbished from the discarded ones, the recent trend of recycling of mobile waste, the discovery of the high value of its components, and the growing trade of mobile waste, though it is still a small component of the entire e-waste.

Keywords: global production network; Mobile waste treatment; Waste Management; Environmental pollution; Extended Producer Responsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-07
Note: Institutional Papers
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.esocialsciences.org/Download/repecDownl ... &AId=7185&fref=repec

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:7185

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from eSocialSciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Padma Prakash ().