Resources Sustainability through Material Efficiency Strategies: An Insight Study of Electrical and Electronic Companies

Fu Haw Ho,Yoke Ling Woo,Raja Ariffin Raja Ghazilla,Salwa Hanim Abdul-Rashid

doi:10.3390/resources8020117

Abstract

The circular economy (CE) is in a growing trend, especially to address the concern of resources sustainability, both from academics as well as industrial practitioners. For manufacturing businesses and services to be sustainable, using materials efficiently is an essential strategy, which is able to enhance the promotion of CE. However, for a developing country like Malaysia, little is known about the ongoing material efficiency strategies among the manufacturers. This paper presents a qualitative investigation of adopting material efficiency strategies in the manufacturing industry. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the material efficiency strategies at selected Electrical and Electronics (E&E) companies in Malaysia. A list of 11 E&E companies material efficiency strategies were determined and explicated. This paper provides valuable insights to academics and practitioners for a better understanding of the current practices pertaining to the material efficiency strategies in E&E companies in a developing country.

Highlights

The Circular Economy (CE) concept is in a growing trend in both developed and developing countries, especially to promote the return or recycling of obsolete products through the resource chain [1]
Material efficiency plays a vital role in promoting the Circular Economy through minimizing the resource utilization, and returning obsolete products to the material chain
This study has confirmed the current practices of the E&E sector in material efficiency efforts

Summary

Introduction

The Circular Economy (CE) concept is in a growing trend in both developed and developing countries, especially to promote the return or recycling of obsolete products through the resource chain [1]. Most of the waste generated from industrial activities are not being effectively managed along with their life cycle, inasmuch as the materials and products are not being efficiently reused and recycled or considered unknown [2,3,4]. In Malaysia, industrialization is the backbone of the country’s economic development, especially the manufacturing sectors. The expansion of the industry sector contributes significantly to environmental issues, such as e-waste generation [5,6,7,8], with a steady growth rate of 3–5% [5,9]. The recovery rate of industrial products during their end-of-life is still low, and has become a critical issue for manufacturers, e.g., electronic devices [7,10,11].

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