Abstract
The vision of widespread item-level RFID (radio
frequency identification) essentially means replacing
barcode labels on products with electronic
components. The ecological effects seem worrying at
first glance, but are still largely unclear. In this paper,
we provide an integrated analysis of both the negative
and positive impacts of item-level RFID on waste
management. We use the European Union (EU)
legislation on waste management as a framework to
summarize challenges and point out potential benefits
of item-level RFID on waste management and
recycling. We deduce the question of the optimum
decoupling point as a central issue of this research
area.