Chapter 17 - Electronic waste: Environmental risks and opportunities

Abstract

Electric and electronic equipment (EEE) comprises a variety of devices of diverse sizes and compositions that contain a power or battery supply. Refrigerators, cell phones, video cameras, computers, air conditioners, washing machines, and lamps are examples of EEE. Rapid technological evolution and population growth, allied to an ever-growing digitalized economy, have led to an increasing consumption of such equipment. Consequently, waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE, or simply e-waste) generation has also increased worldwide. E-waste is composed of up to 69 elements (precious and base metals, and critical raw materials). Furthermore, WEEE may be composed of toxic, hazardous, and ozone-depleting substances, such as mercury, brominated flame retardants (BFR), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). Improper WEEE disposal may result in water, soil, and air contamination and risks to human health. Therefore, proper e-waste management is crucial from a social, environmental, and economic point of view. Nonetheless, the collection and recycling rates of WEEE remain low and many differences among countries are observed regarding this issue. The complexity and variety of WEEE streams as well as the lack of legislation and proper take-back systems hinder recovery activities. Moreover, current full-scale recycling plants focus mainly on precious and base metals while many critical raw materials are still landfilled. Energy and resource-intensive technologies are still applied for material recovery, increasing the carbon footprint and the overall environmental impacts of the EEE life cycle. Thus, the adoption of low-impact and more-efficient recycling routes is needed to contribute to the low carbon and circular economy.