E-waste Generation Research Articles

Stepped Recycling: The Solution for E-waste Management and Sustainable Manufacturing in India

Recycling of wastes to recover raw materials is key aspect which leads to sustainable manufacturing. Wastes from Electrical and Electronic Equipment often abbreviated as “E-Waste” is one of the most threatening and fastest growing waste problems of the entire world. Developing countries like India are at a greater risk because of illegal imports and increasing domestic generation of e-wastes is observed and also since there are very little or no regulations or laws regarding e-waste management. 90% of all the million tons of e-waste of India are discarded by informal recyclers who use rudimentary methods of processing, thus causing air, water and ground pollution. A key factor in sustainable manufacturing is safe disposal and seeing as e-waste is the result of mass manufacturing of electronic goods, it is pivotal to dispose it safely. This paper highlights the present situation of e-waste management in India and its effects so far and presents a new, unique management model, as the best solution for management of e-waste in India. This model takes into account the financial dependency of the informal sector on recycling, incorporates them into the model, and initializes an inter-dependent system of recycling, thus making is profitable for every concerning party involved in the recycling process. Necessary changes in rules and regulations as well as methods to implement this model with ease are described in this paper.

E-waste Generation from Mobile Phone and its Recovery Potential in Bangladesh

Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) or Electronic Waste (E-waste) comes under a special category of waste which is the result of industrialization and ever increasing demand of electronic products in our daily life. With increasing usage of these products waste production is also increasing and leads to continuous depletion of finite natural resources and leading us to an uncertain future. Total number of mobile phone subscribers was 116.55 million at June 2014, about 35 % of the active mobile phone subscribers were account for the dual Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) mobile phone set (MPS) and total volume of this is 990 m³, cumulatively the total weight is 1125 ton. Most of the amounts of these mobile phone sets are added per year in the total waste stream of Bangladesh. Only 2-3 % of these amounts of MPS’s were recycled through the informal sector and recovered some precious metals also. If we can recycled the entire amount of MPS’s about 348.75 kg gold, 105.75 kg of platinum and palladium, more than 163.29 ton of aluminum and 214.32 ton of copper can be recovered. However, these can be the basis of a sustainable material recycle industry to recover materials from the end-of-life mobile phones.J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 9(1): 91-94 2016

Environment-Friendly Technology of Recovering Full Resources of Waste Capacitors

High quantities of waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) have been produced along with the generation of e-waste in the world. High purity metals were contained in waste PCBs. Recovery of waste PCBs caused serious pollution in China. With the view of environment protection, new technologies have been proposed to recover resources from basal boards of waste PCBs. Besides basal boards, waste PCBs contain many electronic components. However, little recovery technology was reported for electronic components. An environmental-friendly technology was proposed to recover waste capacitors of waste PCBs. The materials comprising waste capacitors were liberated by crushing. Then, ferrous metals (nickel alloy) and nonferrous metals (aluminum) were separated from crushed waste capacitors by magnetic/eddy current separation. Nickel alloy particles and aluminum particles can be sent to smelting plants. The optimized operation parameters of magnetic/eddy current separation were fed at speeds of 0.5 m/s, and the rotation s...

Process and Control Management of Ever Increasing Generation of E-Waste

Process and Control Management of Ever Increasing Generation of E-Waste

Where next on e-waste in Australia?

For almost two decades waste electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE or e-waste, has been considered a growing problem that has global consequences. The value of recovered materials, primarily in precious and base metals, has prompted some parts of the world to informally and inappropriately process e-waste causing serious environmental and human health issues. Efforts in tackling this issue have been limited and in many ways unsuccessful. The global rates for formal e-waste treatment are estimated to be below the 20% mark, with the majority of end-of-life (EoL) electronic devices still ending up in the landfills or processed through rudimentary means. Industrial confidentiality regarding device composition combined with insufficient reporting requirements has made the task of simply characterizing the problem difficult at a global scale. To address some of these key issues, this paper presents a critical overview of existing statistics and estimations for e-waste in an Australia context, including potential value and environmental risks associated with metals recovery. From our findings, in 2014, on average per person, Australians purchased 35kg of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) while disposed of 25kg of WEEE, and possessed approximately 320kg of EEE. The total amount of WEEE was estimated at 587kt worth about US$ 370million if all major metals are fully recovered. These results are presented over the period 2010–2014, detailed for major EEE product categories and metals, and followed by 2015–2024 forecast. Our future projection, with the base scenario fixing EEE sales at 35kg per capita, predicts stabilization of e-waste generation in Australia at 28–29kg per capita, with the total amount continuing to grow along with the population growth.

Electrical and Electronical Waste Generation in Turkey: Bursa Case Study

Electrical and electronical equipment that gradually take more place in our daily life, spend their service life in short times and become an e-waste problem to be solved. Because of the hazardous components they contain, e-waste can cause environmental and human health threats if they are not properly managed. If they are managed properly, they can be a valuable raw material source, since they contain valuable metals such as copper, silver, gold, palladium and recyclable components such as plastics and metals. According to a research conducted in 2014, the global e-waste amount accounts to a source worth 52 billion $; however, only 16% of this source has been properly recycled. It is important to know the potential e-waste amount and the behaviors of people in the production of e-waste to realize a proper e-waste management in our country. The amount and property of electrical and electronic equipment and e-waste generation potential per person in Bursa was investigated in this study. A questionnaire was prepared and applied to a group of people including 31 families (100 person). The questions were to investigate the behaviors in the use, replacement, and management of electrical and electronical equipment. The findings showed that usage of lamps (fluorescent and others) were higher than the other equipment, and usage of mobile phones were found to be highest in terms of devices. It was also found that when the mobiles become e-waste since the owners do not want to use them, they are not just thrown away and kept at homes instead. E-waste generation potential of a person from the families investigated was estimated to be 8.14 kg/year.

Scenario of future e-waste generation and recycle-reuse-landfill-based disposal pattern in India: a system dynamics approach

The fundamental requirements of the e-waste management system are the forecasting of the future generation of e-waste and in situ planning to minimize the risk. The prediction analysis (a simulation exercise with base year 2012 and end year 2025) for several e-waste items (desktop, notebook, refrigerator, television and washing machine) reflects an increasing waste generation pattern. The present study deals with the prediction of e-waste generation and the percentage distribution of e-waste through different disposal pathways (landfill, second-hand market and recycling) based on the system dynamics approach (using STELLA software, version 8.0) for the purpose of improved management practice in near future in India. During the prediction of disposal options, the role, importance and functionality of various pathways are also critically analyzed. The simulation results indicate that the specific route of e-waste disposal will largely control the e-waste generation in India as informal sectors, in future, will solely utilize recycle and reuse pathways due to the economics of the specific components of the generated e-waste. On the other hand, the percentage of landfillable e-waste will decrease from 8.06 to 6.54 % within a decade (2012–2025). Finally, the study emphasizes on delineation of a well-composed guideline for policy orientation to protect the human health and environment, as e-waste items and their various components often emit toxic substances particularly during informal trade chain practices.

E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention.

E-waste is hazardous, complex and expensive to treat in an environmentally sound manner. The management of e-waste is considered a serious challenge in both developed and developing countries and Sri Lanka is no exception. Due to significant growth in the economy and investments and other reasons the consumption of electronic and electrical equipment in Sri Lanka has increased over the years resulting in significant generation of e-waste. Several initiatives such as introduction of hazardous waste management rules, ratification of the Basel Convention in 1992 and the introduction of a National Corporate E-waste Management Program have been undertaken in Sri Lanka to manage e-waste. Strengthening policy and legislation, introducing methods for upstream reduction of e-waste, building capacity of relevant officers, awareness raising among school children and the general public and development of an e-waste information system are vital. Research on e-waste needs to be developed in Sri Lanka. The health sector could play a leading role in the provision of occupational health and safety for e-waste workers, advocacy, capacity building of relevant staff and raising awareness among the general public about e-waste. Improper e-waste management practices carried out by informal sector workers need to be addressed urgently in Sri Lanka.

Sustainability assessment and prioritisation of e-waste management options in Brazil

Brazil has an increasing rate of e-waste generation, but there are currently few adequate management systems in operation, with the largest share of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) going to landfill sites or entering informal chains. The National Solid Waste Policy (2010) enforces the implementation of reverse logistics systems under the shared responsibility of consumers, companies and governments. The objective of this paper is to assess sustainability and prioritise system alternatives for potential implementation in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Sustainability criteria and decision alternatives were defined by elicitation of stakeholders. The adopted multicriteria approach combines Life Cycle Assessment with qualitative evaluations by a small sample of regional experts with knowledge of the problem. The recommended system consists of a hybrid WEEE collection scheme with delivery points at shops, metro stations and neighbourhood centres; a pre-treatment phase with the involvement of private companies, cooperatives and social enterprises; and full recycling of all components in the country.

Attributes to facilitate e-waste recycling behaviour

This study aims to identify the set of attributes to facilitate electronic waste (e-waste) behaviour among the community. E-waste disposal is increasing from year to year in parallel with increasing of global population. The short lifespan of electronics and poor e-waste recycling behaviour is among the main contributors to the steadily increasing of e-waste generated. Current recycling rate among the nation is lacking behind, which is only 10.5%. A questionnaire survey has been conducted among the students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to evaluate the current e-waste recycling practice. The results showed that majority of the respondents did not recycle their e-waste on campus. Aggressive efforts is needed to realize the country’s target of 20% recycling rate in year 2020, one of the effective paths is to minimize e-waste generation via active e-waste recycling behaviour among the community. Extensive literatures have been reviewed to classify the attributes to facilitate effective e-waste recycling among the community. Total of five attributes that identified in this study which are Convenience of E- waste Recycling Infrastruture and Services, E-waste Recycling Information, Incentives For E-waste Recycling, Reminder to Recycle E-waste And E-waste Recycling Infrastructure and Services. The set of attributes identified in this study may serve as guideline for the management in designing program to foster e-waste recycling behaviour among the community.

E-waste: a problem or an opportunity? Review of issues, challenges and solutions in African countries

Managing electronic waste (e-waste) in an environmental safe manner has remained a major problem for many countries around the world. In developed countries the management of e-waste is considered a serious issue and forms part of the core policy direction of the government. On the other hand, developing countries in general are yet to effectively manage the problem of e-waste or make it a central part of the government's policy decisions. However, this passive approach to the control of e-waste in this clime has led to massive generation and indiscriminate disposal of e-waste, and continuous trans-boundary movement of these toxic more so, owing to the lack of proper legislation and effective enforcement, the processing of e-waste is left primarily in the hands of the informal recycling sector that is either inadequately equipped with the right facilities and tools or lack the contemporary knowledge of recycling e-waste through environmental sound management (ESM) techniques. Hence, this has led to comple...

Tracking the Global Distribution of Persistent Organic Pollutants Accounting for E-Waste Exports to Developing Regions.

Elevated concentrations of various industrial-use Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), have been reported in some developing areas in subtropical and tropical regions known to be destinations of e-waste. We used a recent inventory of the global generation and exports of e-waste to develop various global scale emission scenarios for industrial-use organic contaminants (IUOCs). For representative IUOCs (RIUOCs), only hypothetical emissions via passive volatilization from e-waste were considered whereas for PCBs, historical emissions throughout the chemical life-cycle (i.e., manufacturing, use, disposal) were included. The environmental transport and fate of RIUOCs and PCBs were then simulated using the BETR Global 2.0 model. Export of e-waste is expected to increase and sustain global emissions beyond the baseline scenario, which assumes no export. A comparison between model predictions and observations for PCBs in selected recipient regions generally suggests a better agreement when exports are accounted for. This study may be the first to integrate the global transport of IUOCs in waste with their long-range transport in air and water. The results call for integrated chemical management strategies on a global scale.

Estimation of Potential E-waste Generation in Jordan

Electronic waste (E-waste) has recently been perceived to be a problem confined to Jordan. The changing of economic scenarios and global technological development has contributed the amount of E-waste becomming part of the waste stream in Jordan. The necessary regulations regarding E-waste are not yet in place. Therefore, a reliable estimation of E-waste generation is crucial to policymakers. Considering the limited available data, this paper describes the current and future estimation of E-waste generation in Jordan, namely cell phones, personal computers, TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. Jordan is estimated to generate about 16,874 tons of E-waste in the year 2015, as compared to the present generation of 15,211 tones, accounting for about 0.7% of all municipal solid wastes dumped in the country. The average amount of E-waste produced per capita indicates it is estimated to grow from 2.38 kg/capita in 2012 to 2.48 kg/capita in 2015. Over a span of 5 years, from 2007 to 2012, a total of 84,533 tones became obsolete. In the 3 years prior to 2015, it is projected that an additional 49,153 tones will become obsolete.

Future e-Waste: Standardisation for reliable assessment

The electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) being consumed today is tomorrow's waste EEE (e-waste or WEEE). Rapid advancement and changes in EEE technology, resulting in faster obsolescence of working products, are escalating the quantum of e-waste. Policies and legislations on e-waste management are evolving to control this global problem of increasing e-waste. In many countries, even the assessment of generation of e-waste is proving to be a challenge. The major constraints in applying available methodologies for e-waste assessment are related to availability, reliability and completeness of data. We analysed certain prevailing e-waste management policies and guidelines and also procedures regarding the procurement of EEE. This paper presents a justification of why a system for managing information related to EEE could facilitate more efficient management of e-waste. The justification relies on the following facts observed: 1) The sector comprising government departments and public establishments is the bulk consumer of the majority of EEE quantity, 2) E-procurement systems exist in government agencies, but are not completely centralised, 3) EEE consumption data is not maintained in a uniform manner across the sector, and 4) consumption data is not linked to e-procurement systems and disposal data. In addition to the justification, the paper identifies mandatory coding (indexing) requirements to facilitate the implementation of such a system. We reason that our proposal, as a proactive measure for future e-waste assessment, would aid the global effort for monitoring of e-waste and policy implementation of e-waste management.

E-waste: A Challenge for Sustainable Development.

E-waste has been identified as the fastest growing waste stream in the world at present. Rapid socio-economic development and technological advancement are the main drivers of this trend. The hazardous chemical components of e-waste have potential adverse impacts on ecosystems and human health if not managed properly. This represents an imminent challenge to achieving sustainable development goals. Although technologically developed countries are the main source of e-product production and e-waste generation, the generated volume has also been increasing in developing countries and those in transition due to transport and transfer from e-waste source countries. Consequently, developing countries are in a vulnerable situation due to their lack of inventory data, waste management policies and advanced technology for environmentally sound management. This study aims to demonstrate that the present global e-waste scenarios and health hazards could prolong the achievement of sustainable development targets. This study illustrates scenarios from different perspectives and raises concerns about e-waste, identifies information gaps, and provides a basis for knowledge and awareness building and technological improvement to facilitate global long-term sustainable development. Total and per capita global e-waste generation has been increased along with socio-economic development. These products present a significant global challenge due to the hazardous chemicals they contain, their highly technical recycling requirements and the high overhead and costs of environmentally sound management, as well as their adverse impacts to human health. Although high-income countries are the main sources of this waste, low-income countries are experiencing an increase in e-waste due to the shifting process of both recently produced and used electric and electronic equipment (UEEE), as well as cheap management overhead costs. Consequently, they bear the greatest burden of adverse health hazards and ecosystem degradation, prolonging their achievement of sustainable development goals. Sustainability is being prioritized for all development activities by integrating societal, economic, environmental, technological, cultural, and gender perspectives. Considering the adverse potential eco-toxicological impacts and diverse health effects of e-waste, an urgent global multilateral agreement is needed addressing its management (i.e., handling, storage, transportation, recycling, and final disposal), whether by land filling or incineration. Due to the global nature of the issue and the difficulty of establishing sustainable and environmentally sound processing of e-waste in low-income countries, multinational negotiation and collaboration is the only realistic solution. Furthermore, comprehensive global e-waste management and policies could help to off-set the hazards of e-waste and are the best approach for achieving sustainable development.

Estimation of computer waste quantities using forecasting techniques

Technology changes rapidly over years providing continuously more options for computer alternatives and making life easier for economic, intra-relation or any other transactions. However, the introduction of new technology “pushes” old Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products to non-use. E-waste is defined as the quantities of ICT products which are not in use and is bivariate function of the sold quantities, and the probability that specific computers quantity will be regarded as obsolete. In this paper, an e-waste generation model is presented, which is applied to the following regions: Western and Eastern Europe, Asia/Pacific, Japan/Australia/New Zealand, North and South America. Furthermore, cumulative computer sales were retrieved for selected countries of the regions so as to compute obsolete computer quantities. In order to provide robust results for the forecasted quantities, a selection of forecasting models, namely (i) Bass, (ii) Gompertz, (iii) Logistic, (iv) Trend model, (v) Level model, (vi) AutoRegressive Moving Average (ARMA), and (vii) Exponential Smoothing were applied, depicting for each country that model which would provide better results in terms of minimum error indices (Mean Absolute Error and Mean Square Error) for the in-sample estimation. As new technology does not diffuse in all the regions of the world with the same speed due to different socio-economic factors, the lifespan distribution, which provides the probability of a certain quantity of computers to be considered as obsolete, is not adequately modeled in the literature. The time horizon for the forecasted quantities is 2014–2030, while the results show a very sharp increase in the USA and United Kingdom, due to the fact of decreasing computer lifespan and increasing sales.

Systematic characterization of generation and management of e-waste in China.

Over the last decade, there has been much effort to promote the management of e-waste in China. Policies have been affected to prohibit imports and to control pollution. Research has been conducted in laboratories and on large-scale industrial operations. A subsidy system to support sound e-waste recycling has been put in place. However, the handling of e-waste is still a concern in China and the issue remains unresolved. There has been relatively little work to follow up this issue or to interpret continuing problems from the perspective of sustainable development. This paper first provides a brief overview of conventional and emerging environmental pollution in Chinese "famous" e-waste dismantling areas, including Guiyu in Guangdong and Wenling in Zhejiang. Environmentalists have repeatedly proven that these areas are significantly polluted. Importing and backyard recycling are decreasing but are ongoing. Most importantly, no work is being done to treat or remediate the contaminated environmental media. The situation is exacerbated by the rising tide of e-waste generated by domestic update of various electronics. This study, therefore, employs a Sales Obsolescence Model approach to predict the generation of e-waste. When accounting for weight, approximately 8 million tons of e-waste will be generated domestically in 2015, of which around 50% is ferrous metals, followed by miscellaneous plastic (30%), copper metal and cables (8%), aluminum (5%), and others (7%). Of this, 3.6% will come from scrap PCBs and 0.2% from lead CRT glass. While more and more end-of-life electronics have been collected and treated by formal or licensed recyclers in China in terms of our analysis, many of them only have dismantling and separation activities. Hazardous e-wastes, including those from PCBs, CRT glass, and brominated flame retardant (BFR) plastics, have become problematic and probably flow to small or backyard recyclers without environmentally sound management. Traditional technologies are still being used to recover precious metals--such as cyanide method of gold hydrometallurgy--from e-waste. While recovery rates of precious metals from e-waste are above 50%, it has encountered some challenges from environmental considerations. Worse, many critical metals contained in e-waste are lost because the recovery rates are less than 1%. On the other hand, this implies that there is opportunity to develop the urban mine of the critical metals from e-waste.

Review on Current Status of Waste Electric and Electronic Product in Malaysia

In the last years, there is an increasing acknowledgment of our impact on the environment due to our lifestyle, while the need to adopt a more sustainable approach as to our consumption habits emerges as of particular significance. This trend regards industrial sectors affecting the consumption habits and, especially, electronic industry where the short life cycles and the rapidly developing technology have led to increased e-waste volumes, such as discarded electronic equipment. Waste Electric and Electronic Product or E-waste is referred to all kind of electric and electronic equipments and appliances that is thrown by users. The majority of such elements result in landfills because it is inexpensive disposal option. The E-waste has become a matter of concern because of toxic and hazardous present in electronic goods and if not properly managed. This equipments are a complicated assembly of thousand material, many of which one highly toxic such as brominates substances, toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active material, acids, plastics and plastics additives. However, their partial recyclability, due to their material composition along with the unavoidable restrictions in landfills, has led to the development of retrieval techniques for their recycling and re-use, highlighting the significance of e-waste recycling, not only from a waste management aspect but also from a valuable materials' retrieval aspect. This paper provides an overview of E-waste generation and management in Malaysia, which, with rapid economic growth and urbanization, is becoming a major social and environmental issue. Thus, major concern for E-waste management in Malaysia has addressed to environmental protection, compared to quantity control. The challenge now is to make the practice effectively in the many different contexts in Malaysia.

Generation and Management of Electronic Waste in India

Electronic waste (E-waste) or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) refers to obsolete and discarded appliances that operates on electricity. Due to our constantly evolving dependence on electrical and electronic equipments (EEEs) in every walk of lives, the amount of E-waste generated worldwide is thriving at an alarming rate, while the management practices and policy-level initiatives are still at an embryonic stage, especially in most of the developing countries. With respect to countries like India, the current methods of storage, processing, recycling, and disposal of E-waste have immense potential to harm human health and environment. This article is an attempt to evaluate the involvement of various stakeholders in the generation and management of E-waste in India by identifying and assessing them. The dominance of informal E-waste recycling sector along with its all socio-economic, health, and environmental implications is addressed. Current status of formal recycling units in the country is assessed upon. A case study assessing various stakeholders’ involvement is incorporated. The findings and conclusions of the article call for an integrated approach in Indian E-waste management scenario including significant considerations such as the identification of diverse range of stakeholders in the E-waste generation and management processes. A sustainable E-waste management system in the country is only possible by identification of the functionalities of various stakeholders.

Role of Informal Sector in E-waste Management in Pune Region

is one of the major hubs of E-waste generation in India. According to several studies Conducted in India, Pune is a major repository of WEEE. The Mumbai-Pune industrial belt is one of the electronic goods manufacturing hubs of the country. This study focuses on e-waste generated in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, understanding material flow and trade chain in the two cities, processes of recycling and disposal covering the informal sector, environmental impact of e-waste recycling and assesses the capacities of existing stakeholders. This study tells the story of the journey of E-waste and its movement from the point of Generation through collection, trading, intermediate processing, forwarding and final disposal in the city of Pune. The study is exploratory rather than exhaustive in scope and was carried out 6 over a brief period of two months. The findings are indicative rather than conclusive. The study draws upon secondary sources of information including research studies and reports as well as primary sources that were willing to volunteer information. Keywords-waste, recycling, informal sector, pune