E-waste Recovery Research Articles

Toward a better understanding of China's e-waste reverse logistics implementation barriers: A certified disassembler's perspective

E-waste, containing valuable materials and hazardous substances, poses a significant challenge to the environment and society. One approach to addressing this challenge is the implementation of a reverse logistics network to recover e-waste, which involves a disassembler connecting the upstream collector with the downstream recycler and disposer. In China, a certified disassembler in a subsidy scheme plays a crucial role in e-waste recycling effectiveness. However, a declining recycling rate and high idle capacity have led to a ‘certified disassembler dilemma’. This study uses stakeholder analysis processes to identify barriers to e-waste reverse logistics, and the grey-based decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory approach is utilized to explore their causal relationships. The results, supported by a sensitivity analysis, indicate that the certified disassemblers' internal capability deficiencies form the most significant causal barrier, with a net cause value of 2.74. In contrast, the increased number of illegal disassemblers is the primary determinant of all other barriers, with a prominence value of 19.5. Recommendations for improving certified disassemblers' internal capabilities are provided, including exploring the deep processing of waste materials, extending the residential collection network, and reassessing multiple e-waste recovery options.

Circulating the E-Waste Recovery from the Construction and Demolition Industries: A Review

E-waste or electronic waste uses electrical power from a power cord/plug/battery. Construction and demolition (C&D) industries use various electronic components such as cables, switches, sockets, electrical heat pumps, air conditioning systems, and solar panels, which become e-waste at the end-of-life-cycle stages. E-waste contains valuable metals/non-metals/plastics that are recoverable and recyclable. E-waste disposal is banned from landfills in Victoria (Australia), because of their toxic components that require an additional waste separation process to avoid considerable environmental emissions and costs of separation and safe disposal. This paper aims to review the alternative circularity scenarios for recoverable materials from e-waste the C&D industries. Alternative scenarios for e-waste handling and management originating from the C&D industries are assessed in the current study. We identify and assess the important circularity indicators and waste management steps that would drive towards the identification of future initiatives or policy development to increase the resource recovery from e-waste. The policies would help to advocate for policy development for the C&D industries’ e-wastes.

Exploring incentive mechanism in smart e-waste management system in China

With the vast increase in global e-waste, e-waste management is becoming increasingly critical. China produces a large amount of e-waste every year, but the recycling rate is minimal. To avoid causing severe environmental pollution and affecting human health, the Chinese government has focused on recycling e-wastes. E-waste contains precious metals and critical minerals, which are misplaced resources and have recycling value. We combined the incentive system with the smart e-waste collecting system and constructed a set of incentive measures suitable for China’s smart e-waste collection system, which is conducive to enhancing the e-waste recovery rate and is applicable. The existing smart e-waste collection system adopts a single economic incentive method. It faces fierce competition from unauthorized informal recyclers, resulting in a small number of users and a failure to fully utilize its advantages. In the reverse logistics of e-waste recycling, consumers are the starting point of product recycling. By analyzing the characteristics and determinants of Chinese users’ recycling behavior, this study selected appropriate incentives for a smart e-waste collection system to satisfy Chinese consumers’ perceptions of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment. The incentive system is based on economic incentives, including currency, reward points, and tax incentives, and combines negative incentives, mainly fines. Rewards and punishments are employed simultaneously to achieve long-term and sustainable incentive effects. The incentive system is based on the convenient infrastructure of the smart e-waste collection system, and its financial model must be shared by multiple stakeholders from the government, smart e-waste systems, and manufacturers.

Forecasting e-waste recovery scale driven by seasonal data characteristics: A decomposition-ensemble approach.

Forecasting the scale of e-waste recycling is the basis for the government to formulate the development plan of circular economy and relevant subsidy policies and enterprises to evaluate resource recovery and optimise production capacity. In this article, the CH-X12 /STL-X framework for e-waste recycling scale prediction is proposed based on the idea of 'decomposition-integration', considering that the seasonal data characteristics of quarterly e-waste recycling scale data may lead to large forecasting errors and inconsistent forecasting results of a traditional single model. First, the seasonal data characteristics of the time series of e-waste recovery scale are identified based on Canova-Hansen (CH) test, and then the time series suitable for seasonal decomposition is extracted with X12 or seasonal-trend decomposition procedure based on loess (STL) model for seasonal components. Then, the Holt-Winters model was used to predict the seasonal component, and the support vector regression (SVR) model was used to predict the other components. Finally, the linear sum of the prediction results of each component is used to obtain the final prediction result. The empirical results show that the proposed CH-X12/STL-X forecasting framework can better meet the modelling requirements for time-series forecasting driven by different seasonal data characteristics and has better and more stable forecasting performance than traditional single models (Holt-Winters model, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model and SVR model).

A System Dynamics Modelling Approach for Electronic Waste Recycling after Floods in Jakarta and New Orleans

Due to climate change, flood-related disasters are expected to increase. Floods generate enormous amounts of waste, including electronic waste (e-waste). E-waste should be recovered not only because it can have detrimental effects on human health and the environment but also because of the valuable metals contained in it. In this study, a system dynamics model based on current practices and waste management was established using Vensim to determine the revenue that can be generated by e-waste recycling after floods in two socio-geographic and economic contexts: Jakarta and New Orleans. At current recovery rates, the formal systems employed for recovering valuable materials would yield 8% (€58 million) and 14% (€80 million) of the potential yield for the Jakarta and New Orleans models, respectively. Moreover, the model estimated that informal e-waste recycling would yield €1.2 billion. The model also highlighted several problems encountered in post-disaster waste management in both scenarios, such as low capacities of temporary storage sites, increased landfilling rates, low yields of recovered e-waste components, and limitations on the transportation of waste. For optimizing the recovery of valuable metals, regulations addressing e-waste must be implemented more thoroughly, and post-disaster waste management guidelines must be revised to contextually address flood disasters. When more data are available, an improved model can be established and used as a basis for policymaking to improve the infrastructure of solid waste management to optimize e-waste recovery.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED SUSTAINABLE ELECTRONIC WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN RIVERS STATE

High obsolescence rate and end-of-life of electronic equipment resulting in high generation of electronic waste remains the biggest challenge with use of ICT in higher institutions. This study evaluated and developed an environmentally sound E-waste management system for higher institutions in Rivers State. The study employed research surveys in data acquisition through questionnaires, interviews and observation. Hypotheses were postulated to test areas of interest. Study indicated that institutions generate a reasonably amount of electronic/ICT wastes that are poorly managed. Desktop computers, printers, laptops, UPSs, old CRT monitors, and printer cartridges are the majority generated and available E-waste in storage in these institutions. Results revealed that the level of awareness on hazardous nature of E-waste among the sampled population was significant. The level awareness on E-waste recycling among sampled population was also significant. There are no accurate records or inventory of ICT equipment procurement and E-waste generation and disposal in the institutions. Policies and programs on source reduction E-waste segregation and handling, facilities for E-waste recovery, recycling and reuse are practically not available in the institutions. The study concluded that there is no proper management and disposal of electronic/ICT waste in higher institutions in Rivers State. Significant numbers of respondents expressed the need for the institutions to establish an integrated electronic/ICT waste recycling center. An Integrated E-waste management system that will not only address the current poor E-waste management practices in the institutions but also achieve environmentally sound management of E-wastes in the institutions has been developed in the study.

Cross-Shift Changes in Pulmonary Function and Occupational Exposure to Particulate Matter among E-Waste Workers in Ghana

Objectives: To examine the association between cross-shift changes in pulmonary function (PF) and personal inhalation exposure to particulate matter (PM) among informal electronic-waste (e-waste) recovery workers with substantial occupational exposure to airborne pollutants from burning and other e-waste recovery activities.Methods: Using a cross-shift design, pre- and post-shift spirometry and concomitant personal inhalation exposure to personal PM (sizes <1, < 2.5, and the coarse fraction, 10-2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter) were measured among e-waste workers (n=142) at the Agbogbloshie e-waste site and a comparison population (n=65) in Accra, Ghana. Linear mixed models measured associations between percent changes in PF and personal PM; self-reported exposures; and (image-based) activities. Results: Following 4 hour (+ 44 min) work-shifts, decelerations in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) per hour were observed among e-waste workers (2.2% and 1.2%, respectively) and the reference population (1.5% and 0.8%, respectively). Despite significantly higher concentrations of personal PM (all sizes) among e-waste workers, increases in PM (all sizes) were not associated with decelerations in PF in either group. Indicative of a lag-effect, e-waste workers who worked “yesterday” had a larger decrement in FVC (2.4%, 95%CI: -4.04, -0.81) in comparison to those that did not work “yesterday”.Conclusions: The acute respiratory-related health effects due to PM exposure among e-waste workers remains unclear. Limitations included potential selection bias due to the “healthy worker” effect and challenges in eliciting valid PF assessments among e-waste workers, short shift duration, the lack of an inception cohort, and inability to measure pre-shift PF among e-waste workers who sleep at the site (89%). Cross-shift studies are useful for generating robust evidence in traditional work settings; however, they need to be adapted to informal settings where workers do not “clock-in” at the start of a shift.

A review on properties evaluation of bituminous addition with E-waste plastic powder

Abstract It is estimated that 50 million tonne of E-waste will be generated globally in 2018. Half of this is personal devices such as computers, screens, smart phones, tablets and TVs, with the remainder being larger household appliances and heating and cooling equipment. Out of this, only 20 per cent of global E-waste is recycled each year, which means that 40 million tonnes of e-waste is placed in landfill, burned or illegally traded and treated in a sub-standard way. India is highly deficient in precious mineral resources while untreated e-waste goes to landfill, there is need for a well designed, regulated E-waste recovery and reuse methods for this has to be utilized. Electronic waste (e-waste) typically includes discarded computer monitors, motherboards, mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones, television sets, air conditioners and refrigerators. With the technology development of consumer electronics, the whole world is facing serious problems caused by huge generation of E-waste produced every day. India has already become the second largest supplier of consumer electronic in the world and will become the number one in the next few years. Reuse of E-waste plastics as aggregates in some or other forms of in construction industry may be considered as economical and technically viable for solving the disposal of large amount of waste and this can be used as aggregates and fine filler in concrete or in the construction of flexible pavement. The idea was to determine whether E-waste plastic can be used an alternative to conventional material like aggregate, bitumen in a flexible pavement structures. This review work focuses on the use of E-waste plastics powder as a partial replacement for bitumen.

Choice of Electronic Waste Recycling Standard Under Recovery Channel Competition

Problem definition: We consider two competing electronic waste (e-waste) recovery channels, each of which consists of a collector and a recycler. Collectors obtain donated e-waste and sell the collected items to recyclers or in the secondary market, whereas recyclers process e-waste and sell the recycled material in the commodity market. Each recycler chooses for certification of one of two standards: e-Stewards or Responsible Recycling (R2). E-Stewards requires comparably more responsible handling, thus a higher processing cost, but attracts more e-waste from environmentally conscious donors. Academic/practical relevance: Despite the rapid growth of e-waste, the operations management community still understands little about e-waste processing supply chains. We add to this body of knowledge by capturing three salient features in the e-waste recovery industry: the existence of two recycling standards, the secondary market, and competition both within and between recovery channels. Methodology: We model the problem as a Stackelberg game and characterize the firms’ equilibrium decisions, deriving managerial insights through sensitivity analysis and numerical studies. Results: Competition between recovery channels is a key factor motivating e-Stewards adoption, whereas a recycler always chooses R2 in its absence. Interestingly, when competition exists both within and between recovery channels, recyclers with strong e-waste processing scale economies choose e-Stewards when incurring significantly higher processing costs than with R2. Furthermore, both the total environmental benefit and welfare might be higher when recyclers choose R2. Managerial implications: Policy makers who aim to encourage e-Stewards adoption should (1) lower entry barriers for new recyclers to induce competition, and (2) offer incentive programs to alleviate e-Stewards’ cost disadvantage, though only when recyclers have weak scale economies. Policy makers and nongovernmental organizations, however, should exercise caution in endorsing e-Stewards because R2 actually may generate a higher environmental benefit because of higher recycling volumes.

EMPHASIZING THE ROLE OF E-WASTE IN THE FINANCIAL PROFITABILITY OF LANDFILL MINING PROJECTS

The Landfill Mining (LFM) concept refers to the process of excavating, and sorting solid waste from operating or closed landfills in order to recycle or produce energy from recovered materials, conserve landfill space, and rehabilitate/redevelop contaminated land. Although LFM offers a wide range of environmental and social benefits, LFM projects need to be, at the same time, economically feasible. The latter is heavily influenced from the composition of the waste excavated from the landfill, the quality of recovered materials and the recycling market conditions. This paper aims specifically at exploring the role of e-waste in the profitability of LFM projects and filling this gap in the literature. For the purposes of the analysis, a “typical” Greek landfill site is examined forming different alternatives with respect to the objectives of e-waste recovery and processing and, consequently, the cost and benefits of the LFM operations, based on the findings of the first pilot project of LFM carried out in Greece, at Polygyros landfill. The results of the study show that the presence of e-waste improves the profitability indices. However, it seems that the adoption of more complex recycling and recovery processes leads to no gain in the financial results.These findings are supported by the uncertainty analysis conducted, which reveals that the price and concentration of plastics are the most significant factors, followed by the non-ferrous metal price and concentration. The conclusions of the study should be seen with caution, however. As the international experience shows, the financial success of LFM projects is site-specific and is not assured in all cases. Therefore, it should be clear that further research efforts in the field are warranted to definitely answer the question. Article DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.20319/mijst.2017.32.122144 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Environmentally Friendly Technology of Recovering Nickel Resources and Producing Nano-Al2O3 from Waste Metal Film Resistors

E-waste is mass-producing in the current world. Recovery technologies of e-waste are developing from crude to environmentally friendly and high-efficiency. Along with waste printed circuit boards, abundant waste resistors were generated. However, there is little information about their recovery technology. Waste metallic film resistors contain a 33.2 wt % ceramics matrix and 65.1 wt % nickel. If it is not properly treated, nickel will be exposed to and harm the environment and humans. This paper presents environmentally friendly and value-added recovery technology of waste metallic film resistors. The recovery technology includes shearing, magnetic separation, and milling. The shearing process was used to liberate the materials contained in waste metallic film resistors. The materials were completely liberated when sheared to 2–25 mm particle sizes. Magnetic separation was efficient for separating nickel particle from sheared materials, and the separation rate reached 100 wt %. The ceramic material was identified as Al2O3, and it were milled into nano-Al2O3. The particle size of nano-Al2O3 ranged from 100 to 500 nm, and it was an important powder coating material. The economic benefit of recovering waste metallic film resistors was analyzed based on energy costs, equipment depreciation cost, labor cost, and economic income. This paper reminds practitioners of e-waste recovery to pay close attention to recovering waste metallic film resistors and avoid environmental pollution.

E-Waste Supply Chain in Mexico: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Management

Electronic waste is a widespread environmental problem. From all waste streams, e-waste is registering one of the largest growing rates (between 3% and 5%). In Mexico, the e-waste recovery system comprises a mix of formal and informal sectors not well known to date. The goal of this article was to analyze electronic waste in Mexico through the active actors in the recovery chain. This article presents the evolution of studies on electronic waste in Mexico. The legal regulations and public policies were analyzed, as were the existing practices of electronic waste handling, and some challenges facing this country for waste flow management. A management model is proposed which highlights components that must be considered in the model and the opportunities and challenges to transition from an unbundled handling, which still has practices that lack environmental and technical support, to sustainable management.

Pneumatic separation of Sn-enriched and Ti-enriched electronic components of waste printed circuit boards

E-waste recovery caused serious pollution in China. Environment-friendly technologies are the pressing demands for Chinese to dispose e-waste. Waste printed circuit board, which is a typical e-waste, needs to be properly treated. Many works related to dispose the basal boards. Littler information was about the dispose technology of electronic components. In this study, due to contain different metals, electronic components were classified as Ti-enriched components (diodes: 156.31 mg/kg; audions: 205.66 mg/kg) and Sn-enriched components (CD capacitances: 172.35 mg/kg; electrical resistances: 204.67 mg/kg; CBB capacitances: 523.94 mg/kg). Pneumatic separation was proposed to separate Ti-enriched components and Sn-enriched components. Movement behavior models of electronic components in pneumatic separation were constructed. Then, optimized parameters of airflow velocity (6.498 m/s) and position (0.865 m) of separation plate of pneumatic separator were obtained. Separation rates of diode, audion, CD capacitances, electrical resistances, and CBB capacitances reached 96.7 wt %, 93.3 wt %, 97.3 wt %, 96.8 wt %, and 93.9 wt % respectively. This paper provided an environment-friendly and effective technology for separating Ti-enriched components and Sn-enriched components of waste printed circuit boards.

A Strategy for Material Supply Chain Sustainability: Enabling a Circular Economy in the Electronics Industry through Green Engineering

Rapid innovation in the field of electronic technologies through the use of rare earth and specialty elements (RESE) has made the electronics industry one of the most rapidly evolving industries to date. However, innovations to harvest these same materials from complex waste streams have not kept pace, thus leading to an unsustainable material supply chain reliant on the mining of increasingly difficult-to-extract ores. Here, we aim to provide a strategy to mitigate these challenges, identifying the technical research and development needed to further sustainable electronics through Green Engineering and the vision of a “circular economy”. This strategy includes (1) design devices for disassembly, (2) materials for substitution, (3) manufacturing processes that enable the use of recycled materials, (4) fabrication efficiency, (5) technology interventions to enable e-waste recovery, (6) methods to collect and separate e-waste components, (7) technologies to digest and recover RESE, and (8) technologies to ...

Key factors of eddy current separation for recovering aluminum from crushed e-waste

Recovery of e-waste in China had caused serious pollutions. Eddy current separation is an environment-friendly technology of separating nonferrous metallic particles from crushed e-waste. However, due to complex particle characters, separation efficiency of traditional eddy current separator was low. In production, controllable operation factors of eddy current separation are feeding speed, (ωR−v), and Sp. There is little special information about influencing mechanism and critical parameters of these factors in eddy current separation. This paper provided the special information of these key factors in eddy current separation of recovering aluminum particles from crushed waste refrigerator cabinets. Detachment angles increased as the increase of (ωR−v). Separation efficiency increased with the growing of detachment angles. Aluminum particles were completely separated from plastic particles in critical parameters of feeding speed 0.5m/s and detachment angles greater than 6.61deg. Sp/Sm of aluminum particles in crushed waste refrigerators ranged from 0.08 to 0.51. Separation efficiency increased as the increase of Sp/Sm. This enlightened us to develop new separator to separate smaller nonferrous metallic particles in e-waste recovery. High feeding speed destroyed separation efficiency. However, greater Sp of aluminum particles brought positive impact on separation efficiency. Greater Sp could increase critical feeding speed to offer greater throughput of eddy current separation. This paper will guide eddy current separation in production of recovering nonferrous metals from crushed e-waste.

E-Waste Management Scenarios in Malaysia

e-Waste, or electronic waste, disposal that is uncontrolled can be harmful to human health and the environment because e-waste contains toxic substances and heavy metals. However, if the waste is properly managed, it can become a business opportunity that produces high returns because e-waste also contains valuable materials, such as gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. The government of Malaysia wants to ensure the safe, effective, and economically beneficial management of e-waste in Malaysia. Management approaches have included law enforcement and regulation and the promotion of e-waste recovery activities. e-Waste of no commercial value must be disposed of at sites/premises licensed by the Department of Environment (DOE), Malaysia. To date, 18 full recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery facilities that use various available technologies have been designated for the segregation, dismantling, and treatment of e-waste. However, there are issues faced by the recovery facilities in achieving the goal of converting e-waste into a source material. The issues include the e-waste supply, the importation of e-waste derived products and coding, and finally the need to develop the criteria for e-waste processing technologies to ensure the safety and the sustainability of the facilities.

A Study on Reverse Logistics Legal system in China : Focusing on E-waste Recovery Legislation

A Study on Reverse Logistics Legal system in China : Focusing on E-waste Recovery Legislation

Assessment of Soil Contamination through E-Waste Recycling Activities in Tema Community One

The study investigated the level of heavy metal concentration in soils at e-waste recycling sites at Tema Community One. Two soil samples were collected from six different sites for laboratory analysis with a seventh location serving as a control. Heavy metals in soil samples were analyzed by digestion method and the use of atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The concentrations of Cadmium, Copper and Mercury were all higher at all the sites than those obtained for the control. The site that recorded higher concentration for copper was about 1200 times higher than the value for the control but statistically, there was significant difference between the concentrations of copper from the six sites (t = 5.168, p = 0.0036). Site 12 and GMG site had concentrations which is 5 times higher than the control and there was significant difference between the concentrations from the six sites and the control (t = 10.39, p = 0.0001) for the cadmium. The mean concentration of mercury from site 12 was found to be 34 times higher than the control value, however, there was no significant difference between the concentrations from the six e-waste recovery sites and the control (t = 2.593, p = 0.05194). E-waste recycling has contributed to the heavy metal contamination of the soil at the recovery sites. Workers safety in relation to these heavy metals is therefore worth researching in the future.

E-Waste Stream Analysis and Design Implications

The quantity and age of the incoming stream of “feedstock” from product take-back systems are known as the major sources of the uncertainty that complicates the e-waste recovery. This paper presents the results of an analysis of data from an incoming stream for an e-waste collection center and analyzes the quantity and age of e-waste by product type and brand. The analysis results point out receiving of outdated products and processing of multiple generations, and brands of products at the same time are among main obstacles to the e-waste recovery. The potential role of product design in overcoming those obstacles is discussed with emphasis on design for upgrade, repurpose, and commonality.