The Reuse of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) has much scope for improvement in almost all countries. Some legislation, such as the European Directive, aims to increase reuse, to prevent such equipment from being recycled without being reused. In this sense, the reuse of WEEE has a huge interest from an economic, environmental, legal, and social viewpoint. However, this has not been studied much so far. This paper adopts a bibliometric analysis of the scholarly literature that has addressed the study of reuse of WEEE. For the purpose, we have examined 32 papers on this topic, indexed up to 2014 in the Scopus database, and have identified trends and opportunities related to the what, how, and where of the research in this matter. The results show the need for further investigations on certain aspects of reuse in order to overcome the barriers that exist in different countries. In particular, further case studies are needed in countries that practice greater reuse. Further research is also necessary in logistics and the reasons why different economic agents do not reuse WEEE. Besides, it is also important to understand the aspects of strategic human resource management and operation management of reuse centers.