Chapter 9 - Occupational health hazards associated with E-waste handling, treatment, management, and case studies

Abstract

A recycling industry should help mother earth to conserve nature. Electronic waste (E-waste) recycling should be practiced without the emission of harmful pollutants. But due to the lack of standard operating procedure in an environmentally sound manner, there is improper recycling of E-waste which results in the emission of pollutants that do not have a proper remedy. E-waste has enormous metal contents which are then converted to metallic oxides, nitrates, and sulfates during the treatment process. These secondary forms of metals are easily soluble in the environment. And so, it is important to concentrate on the treatment process. Once the treatment process is confirmed then the source of treatment has to be concentrated. Plastics may release toxic elements when mixed with acid and so it has to be segregated before treatment. In the place of occupation, it is important to concentrate on workability and maintain an accident-free environment. A recycler must practice good health and safety practices. The health hazard can be monitored only when the exposed workers are tested for metal accumulation in blood, with which lots of health and safety equipment can be mounted in the environment. The occupational health hazard not only damages the particular person but also damages the entire generation by bioaccumulation and gene damages and so it is very important to be concentrated. This chapter reveals the occupational health hazard, health, and safety to be maintained in an E-waste treatment and recycling plant. It also deals with the hygienic environment in the hazardous treatment site with which few recyclers in India are working on. The occupational health hazard that occurs in different steps of the treatment process has also been clearly discussed in this study.