What must be understood at the offset, is that South China (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan) is the manufacturing facility of the world. Almost any company that wants to make a product, and ultimately, make a profit, will have it manufactured in South China.
The CEO of SAMIAN SOLUTIONS has spent many years in China, and across The Asia pacific region whilst in the employ of one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world and knows only too well the difference in the Health and Safety factory provisions between England, China and the entire Asia region.
The above has to be understood, when looking at the reverse logistics chain of the electronic products, once that they have reached the “end of life”. The UK abides to the European Union WEEE laws and legislations, and the business and retail sector for electricals, understands what it MUST do to be legally compliant. The challenges arise when the system is put into reverse.
The WEEE Legislation dictates that the “Producer” is responsible for the product that it manufactured, and this, often, quite acceptably, is ‘delegated’ to the retail (seller) outlet, as they are closer to the marketplace, and ultimately, to the consumer.
The process dictates that the “end of life products must be returned to an “AATF” (Authorised, Approved Treatment Facility). There are over 35 of these facilities in the UK, who will collect, break down, and basically return the products back into raw materials. The issue then comes – who wants to buy these raw materials. The only buyer is “The Factory of the world”
Like most processes, they are open to “human interpretation” – and some may see an advantage of not going ‘through the process’ and this of course would eliminate the need to actually do anything to the “rubbish” – and just ship it to China, as it is, without treatment.
Shipping British rubbish to other countries does happen, as the author knows only too well from when he was presented with British domestic rubbish that had arrived in a container in Jakarta in Indonesia.
The question now – is would “the system” know this, and like most systems – they are fallible, but there are two key dynamics that are helping to improve this reverse logistics process:
- China is becoming more “selective” on the state of the material that it receives from UK and the rest of the world, and is currently implementing its own WEEE Legislation. It is now insisting that it receives raw material and not rubbish.
- The TrackerBack system that traces (ANY) shipment and gives it an electronic code every time (physical) ownership changes hands, so now, the “process” can follow the flow of all material – both valuable material moving in, and rubbish moving out.
Local Authorities in England reported that they had dealt with over 2.6 million incidents of fly-tipping 2006-07. This represents a 5% increase from 2005-06. The estimated cost of clearance of illegally dumped waste reported by local authorities between 2006 - 2007 was £73.7 million. Enforcement action on individuals and businesses guilty of Fly-Tipping can be fined up to £50,000 with a six month prison sentence. If the case is taken to Crown Court, fines can be unlimited.
For as long as a sensitive or valuable delivery needed to be made, we have needed the proof of delivery. Experience shows that often the intended recipient does not get the delivery. A valid Duty Of Care Certificate has been duly signed by authorised people only. However a piece of paper can be lost although it is the responsibility of the contractor to show they have it in evidence at any time. The Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies can do spot checks to see that a licensed organisation is complying with legislation. There are heavy fines now for non compliance.