Abstract
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management in Port Harcourt, an oil-producing city in Nigeria, has become an environmental challenge for the location. WEEE recycling is predominantly managed by informal recyclers, who lack the skills to perform risk-free recycling, hence raising health risks to individuals in associated communities and degrading the environment. Formal recycling, which embraces the best practices for effective WEEE management, is faced with several limitations, such as a lack of detailed guidelines on waste recycling, reuse, and final disposal techniques, with no opportunities for landfilling. A qualitative approach was adopted for this study. Data were gathered via questionnaires and analysed graphically. A background literature review of the assessment of informal recycling methods and associated challenges was performed. Hence, a new concept for the local management of WEEE processing was introduced. This concept limits the role of informal recyclers to WEEE collection. In this case, informal recyclers are paid for WEEE collection; they no longer engage in further WEEE processing. The results show that 48% and 40% agree to partner and collaborate with government agencies, respectively. Conversely, 52% and 40% agree and strongly agree, respectively, to limit their activities to WEEE collection only if the government is willing to pay for the services.
Highlights
Baldé et al [50] reported that, in the year 2016, of the bulk of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) gathered in Asia, which amounts to 18.2 million metric tons (Mt) (i.e., 4.2 kg/inhabitant), only about 2.7 Mt was recorded for collection and will be recycled
The study did not directly address the challenges associated with informal recycling but only attempted to identify indicators that may be of help
Our study looks at approaches to existing management practices at the location, as its focus is to prevent the change the existing WEEE management practices at the location, as its focus is toharmful prevent and primitiveand style of WEEE
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Port Harcourt, an oil-producing city in Nigeria, experiences a massive number of individuals arriving in search of financial benefits from the oil and gas industries Because of this ever-rising number of inhabitants there is an increase in the consumption of materials as well as the generation of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) and other environmental contaminants. In a study on WEEE generation by Mihai et al [8] this growing waste stream and its inappropriate handling generate serious pollution- and health-related challenges. Fluorinated biphenyls and analogues are toxic pollutants emitted due to the indiscriminate dumping of WEEE [9–14] Electronic appliances such as televisions and computer monitors contain potentially harmful elements and compounds, which are evident during disposal or recycling.
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