Global Management of Electronic Wastes

Abstract

Electronic waste or e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, estimated at 40-50 million tons annually, with prediction that developing countries and countries with economies in transition (CEIT) will generate more e-waste than developed countries by the year 2020. It is perceived as the dark side of the information communication technology (ICT) which has transformed the world beyond imagination in the last two decades. Developing countries remain the destination for most of the e-waste from developed countries. Yet the recipient countries lack the infrastructure and resources for the environmentally sound management of e-waste, and employ crude e-waste management methods such as landfilling in open and uncontrolled dumpsites as well as uncontrolled open burning, with the emission of dioxin and furan. E-waste is a unique hazardous waste as it contains both hazardous substances such as heavy metals (e.g. cadmium, lead and mercury) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). It also contains precious metals such as gold and silver as well as strategic minerals such as rare earth metals. The challenges facing developing countries in achieving environmentally sound management of e-waste are presented, followed by a discussion of the socioeconomic, environmental, and human health impacts of unsound e-waste management. Some of the e-waste management challenges facing developing countries were found to include poor feedstock collection strategies,and lack of state-of-art technologies to recover resources from e-waste. Environmental and health impacts of e-waste management in developing countries were also identified and solutions proffered to present and future challenges. E-waste has profound potential to cause damage both to the environment and human health. The methods of e-waste treatment in the developing countries encourage contamination of environmental media such as air, soil, water, and sediment, with consequent bioaccumulation in terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Elevated levels of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants have been reported in blood, placenta of babies, breast milk and hair of people living close to e-waste treatment sites. In developing countries, the contaminants released into environment through e-wastes have been linked with arrays of health problems including endocrine disruption, cancer, liver and DNA damage, spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, premature births, decreased lung function, behavioural changes and developmental problems. Estimates show that metal deposits in e-waste are up to 40−50 times richer than ore extracted from mines. For example, one ton of gold ore yields about 5 grams of gold, but one ton of phone circuitry yields about 150 grams, 30 times as much. Unfortunately, only about 15−20% of the world's e-waste, estimated at about 50 million tons/annum, is recycled. It is unfortunate and ironic too that even with all efforts at achieving global resource conservation and sustainability, only about 15% of the estimated $21 billion worth of gold and silver used in electronics are recovered from e-waste. Consequently, e-waste is a promising reserve of valuable resources for any urban miner. Thus urban mining presents an opportunity to reclaim and recycle precious metals and rare earth metals from e-waste. This requires the use of state- of-the-art facilities to ensure high recovery rates, high purity of recovered material while ensuring that recycling and environmental standards are maintained.