Risk-based performance evaluation of improvement strategies for sustainable e-waste management

Abstract

Recycling companies need to implement strategies to improve their current e-waste management practice for achieving sustainability. With the innovative nature of the improvement strategies and the uncertainty of operational settings, a variety of risks are inevitably associated with their implementation. These risks are interrelated and may affect the performance of these strategies. Different from existing multi-criteria decision making (MCDM)-based evaluation and risk assessment methods, this paper proposes a new risk-based performance evaluation approach for evaluating the e-waste management improvement strategies. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the fact that it incorporates the impact of interrelated risks of various types on the sustainability performance of strategies by considering the probability of occurrence and the severity of consequence of risks. An empirical study on an e-waste recycling company in China is conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach. The evaluation outcome provides the case company with useful new insights in managing the improvement strategies and their potential risks as a whole and individually. A value-risk matrix analysis is conducted to help the case company direct its management efforts and resources when implementing the improvement strategies under risks. The approach makes methodological and practical contributions to MCDM research and e-waste management practice.