Environmental performance of waste recyclers: ensuring the quality of the custody chain

摘要

The environmental practices of service providers can influence the companyperformance. This paper presents an audit tool to assess the environmental management ofthe stakeholders involved in the productive process. The tool development includes aprocedure establishment, validation and cycles of partner’s assessment. The results for theservice providers involved with the recycling of electronic and polymeric wastes generatedin the manufacturing of electronic equipment are presented. The tool is based onquestionnaires addressing environmental issues relating to legal compliances,documentation, building facilities and waste management procedures. A friendly andinteractive data processing facilitates the environmental performance analysis of servicesuppliers. The audit tool was applied on 13 waste recyclers and it was adequate to diagnosethe environmental performance of each stakeholder. The diagnosis and monitoring processare powerful strategies to minimize the environmental impacts of the entire productionchain and to promote its openness and transparency into the continuous improvementnetwork of environmental issues.