What do they do with returns?

Do you ever wonder what does manufacturer do with the product you returned? Well, the answer to this question -for consumer electronics industry- is reported in a study conducted by Reverse Logistics Executive Council. Unfortunately there is no information on the date of this project (probably before 2004), but I think numbers still makes sense and reflect more-or-less the reality in the industry.

According to this study conducted on 65 consumer electronics company, more than one-third of companies recycle their returned products. One-fourth goes with remanufacturing and then selling to 2nd markets. Since there is no information on the condition of returned products, it is unknown to us whether it is logical that one-third of these companies recycle their returned products. However, the rate of throw aways is striking: approximately one-fifth of companies just throw away returned consumer electronics products. That's a big percentage, can you imagine what kind of profit and environmental sustainability opportunities exist?