article · Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy
The rapid expansion of information and telecommunications technology (ICT) has led to a significant increase in electronic waste (e-waste) globally. Developing countries, particularly in Africa, face unique challenges in managing this waste, largely due to their reliance on imported second-hand electronics, many of which are not tested for functionality. This results in large quantities of e-waste that these nations are ill-equipped to handle. Key issues include a lack of proper waste management infrastructure, specific legislation, and frameworks for end-of-life product take-back or extended producer responsibility. The study, with an emphasis on Nigeria, suggests that effective management requires implementing extended producer responsibility, establishing remanufacturing for product reuse, and introducing efficient recycling facilities. It also calls for a global system to standardise and certify second-hand appliances intended for export to developing countries.
Poor e-waste management in developing countries poses significant environmental and health risks due to hazardous materials. Addressing these challenges is crucial for sustainable development, protecting public health, and fostering a circular economy by recovering valuable resources from discarded electronics.
This research highlights a clear need for services and technologies in e-waste management within developing countries. Opportunities exist for businesses involved in establishing efficient recycling facilities, developing remanufacturing operations for electronic goods, and creating systems for product take-back. There is also a need for organisations that can implement and manage extended producer responsibility schemes. This is applied research identifying critical infrastructure and policy gaps, indicating a market for solutions that are currently early-stage or non-existent in many regions.
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Information and telecommunications technology (ICT) and computer Internet networking has penetrated nearly every aspect of modern life, and is positively affecting human life even in the most remote areas of the developing countries. The rapid growth in ICT has led to an improvement in the capacity of computers but simultaneously to a decrease in the products lifetime as a result of which increasingly large quantities of waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste) are generated annually. ICT development in most developing countries, particularly in Africa, depends more on secondhand or refurbished EEEs most of which are imported without confirmatory testing for functionality. As a result large quantities of e-waste are presently being managed in these countries. The challenges facing the developing countries in e-waste management include: an absence of infrastructure for appropriate waste management, an absence of legislation dealing specifically with e-waste, an absence of any framework for end-of-life (EoL) product take-back or implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR). This study examines these issues as they relate to practices in developing countries with emphasis on the prevailing situation in Nigeria. Effective management of e-waste in the developing countries demands the implementation of EPR, the establishment of product reuse through remanufacturing and the introduction of efficient recycling facilities. The implementation of a global system for the standardization and certification/labelling of secondhand appliances intended for export to developing countries will be required to control the export of electronic recyclables (e-scarp) in the name of secondhand appliances.
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DOI: 10.1177/0734242x07082028
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