The Green Potential of RFID Projects: A Case-Based Analysis

RFID has been a popular technology in the areas of supply-chain management, asset tracking, and manufacturing. In general, research related to RFID´s potential contributions fall under technological, applications-related, or policy and security issues. However, there´s little discussion in the extant literature on the environmentally responsible management of RFID. Traditionally, information and communications technologies (ICT) have been viewed as having a negative impact on the environment, and RFID, as part of ICT, has earned a similar reputation. RFID is also one of the main technologies of pervasive computing, which consumes enough energy to negatively impact the environment. Furthermore, some experience has suggested that we need to take precautionary measures to prevent the likely negative results from the final disposal of RFID labels. Currently, RFID tags are neither biodegradable nor recyclable. Nonetheless, RFID could indeed be a part of green IT, not only by adding economic value to organizations but also by improving environmentally responsible practices related to IT-for example, by accurately tracking a perishable item and preventing its spoilage, RFID can save energy in operations ranging from growing and harvesting to packaging and refrigeration. To explore RFID´s potential in green IT, we reviewed 13 case studies, evaluating RFID´s contribution to green objectives.