A review on E-waste: National & International Scenario

Abstract

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest growing municipal solid waste stream in the world. The existing management practices related to E-waste in most of countries are reasonably poor and have the potential to risk both human health and the environment. According to recent studies, only about 6 percent of the E-waste is recycled, of which 95 percent is recycled through the informal sector. E-waste recycling in the formal sector provides jobs to thousands of people and supports the waste management agencies like municipalities. On the other hands, due to the lack of skills and technology in the informal, they follow the recycling process without occupational health and safety (OH&S) requirements and in an environmental harmful manner. It is observed that with increasing E-waste quantities, the recycling process is also changing, with the formal recyclers. There is a common expectation that these formal sector recyclers would be able to manage E-waste in an environmental friendly manner by using best available technologies. The article gives a deep understanding about various sources of E-waste generation, its composition along with health and environmental hazards caused by E-waste and also focusing on the national and international scenario of E-waste.