E-waste Management

Research Paper On E-waste Management By Shahukar (ZHCET, AMU) & Mohd Alquama Hassan (ZHCET, AMU)

Abstract Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a big problem in the world because we use technology a lot and throw away our old gadgets quickly. This paper talks about how to manage e-waste better. We looked at what people are doing with old electronic devices, like recycling or throwing them away, all over the world. We found that many people are not doing it right, and this can harm the environment and our health.

We also studied ways to manage e-waste properly. Some places are doing a good job, and we talked about what they're doing right. We think governments, businesses, and people all have a role in making e-waste management better.

In the end, we give suggestions on how to make e-waste management better. This is important not only for taking care of waste but also for making the world cleaner and healthier as we keep using more and more technology.

Introduction In today's world, we're surrounded by new technology like smartphones, laptops, and TVs. While these gadgets make our lives easier, they also create a big problem: electronic waste, or e-waste. E-waste is all the old electronic stuff we throw away, like old phones and computers.

The issue is that these gadgets often have harmful stuff inside, like lead and mercury. When we don't dispose of them properly, it can harm the environment and even people's health, especially those living near where we dump this waste.

The problem is getting worse because we keep buying and throwing away electronic stuff. This makes it hard for the people who manage our waste to keep up.

Bad e-waste management has lots of bad effects, like hurting the environment and wasting valuable materials. It also affects poor communities more because they often deal with this waste in unsafe ways.

So, in this paper, we're going to study e-waste management. We'll look at what's happening around the world and the problems it's causing. We'll also see what's being done right and how everyone, including governments, businesses, and us as consumers, can help manage e-waste better.

Our goal is to raise awareness about e-waste and encourage everyone to take action. We want to find solutions to this growing problem and make the world a cleaner and safer place as we keep using more and more technology.

An Estimation of E-Waste EEE includes a wide range of products with circuity or electrical components with a power or battery supply . Almost any household or business use products like basic kitchen appliances, toys, tools to music, and ICT items, such as mobile phones, laptops.

EEE becomes e-waste once it has been discarded by its owner as waste without the intent of reuse. Each product has different material content, is disposed of and recycled in different ways, and is unequally harmful to the environment and human health if not managed in an environmentally sound manner.

Sources E-waste is being produced by various sources in the country like Govt. sectors, commercial establishments, institutional sectors, research and developments, household and manufacturing sectors of the country.  Individual household and small business as far as PCs emanating from individual households are concerned; it is difficult to know the exact quantity.

Individual households are not major contributors in India. They account for 22% of total computers in India. The rest of share, that is 78%, comes from the business sector.  Large business, institutions, government house and foreign embassies were the earliest users of electronic products; today

they account for 78 per cent of total installed PCs. Hence, they are the major producers of obsolete technology in India. It is observed that the total number of obsolete PCs emanating from business as well as from individual households will be around 1.38 million.  PC manufacturers and retailers are next on the list of contributors to the e- waste segment in India. The waste form this sector comprises defective IC chips, motherboards, 4 cathode ray tubes and other peripheral items produced during the production process. It also includes defective PCs under guarantee procured from consumer as replacement items. It is estimated that around 1050 tons per year of waste comes from this sector.  E waste from imports has been biggest sources of PC scrap are imports. Huge quantities of e-waste such as monitors, printers, keyboards, CPU’s, projectors, mobile phones, PVC wires, etc. are imported. The computers thus imported are of all ranges, models and sizes, and functional as well as junk materials.  Secondary market waste includes TV, computers, mobiles, electric boards etc.

Method for Estimation of E-Waste Generation.

E-waste generated by producer for a specific EEE category code is to be estimated on the basis of quantity (number or weight) of EEE placed in the market in the previous years and taking into consideration the average life of the equipment.

Such estimate should be carried out using the following method; The generation of e-waste from end of life products: E-waste generation (weight or number) in the financial year ‘x – y’ = Sales in the financial year ‘(x-z) - (y-z)’ where, ‘x – y’ = financial year in which generation is estimated, and z= average life span of EEE

Impact of E-Waste on Human Health Workers, aiming to recover valuable materials such as copper and gold, are at risk of exposure to over 1,000 harmful substances, including lead, mercury, nickel, brominated flame retardants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

For an expectant mother, exposure to toxic e-waste can affect the health and development of her unborn child for the rest of its life. Potential adverse health effects include negative birth outcomes, such as stillbirth and premature births, as well as low birth weight and length. Exposure to lead from e-waste recycling activities has been associated with significantly reduced neonatal behavioural neurological assessment scores, increased rates of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), behavioural problems, changes in child temperament, sensory integration difficulties, and reduced cognitive and language scores.

Other adverse child health impacts linked to e-waste include changes in lung function, respiratory and respiratory effects, DNA damage, impaired thyroid function and increased risk of some chronic diseases later in life, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

“A child who eats just one chicken egg from Agbogbloshie, a waste site in Ghana, will absorb 220 times the European Food Safety Authority daily limit for intake of chlorinated dioxins,” said Marie-Noel Brune Drisse, the lead WHO author on the report. “Improper e-waste management is the cause. This is a rising issue that many countries do not recognize yet as a health problem. If they do not act now, its impacts will have a devastating health effect on children and lay a heavy burden on the health sector in the years to come.”

Impact of E-Waste on Environment

1. Computers and most electronics contain toxic materials such as lead, zinc, nickel, flame retardants, barium, and chromium. Specifically with lead, if released into the environment can cause damage to human blood, kidneys, as well as central and peripheral nervous systems.

2. When e-waste is warmed up, toxic chemicals are released into the air damaging the atmosphere. The damage to the atmosphere is one of the biggest environmental impacts from e-waste.

3. When electronic waste is thrown away in landfills their toxic materials seep into groundwater, affecting both land and sea animals. This can also affect the health of the people in the developing countries where most of the electronic waste in dumped.

4. Only 10 percent of cell phones are recycled in the United States and most Americans get new cell phones every 12 to 18 months. This is creating more and more electronic waste and with the lack of responsible recycling, the environmental issues of e-waste are continually increasing.

5. In Guiyu, China, many of the residents exhibit substantial digestives, neurological, respiratory and bone problems. This is the largest e-waste disposal site in China and quite possible the world, Guiyu receives shipments of toxic e-waste from all over the world.

Effects of some of the prime hazardous components in of ewaste are mentioned below:-

Strategies to Minimize Electronic Waste

The challenge of reducing e-waste is something everyone needs to become aware of and make a commitment to doing, and it starts with understanding why we don’t want our used electronics continuously flowing into community landfills.

As technology evolves and keeps improving our electronics, giving us incentives to get rid of our current models for the newest one, there’s been a tendency to just throw away these products. This has created a serious global e-waste problem.

Reducing e-waste isn’t just about eliminating those environmental risks. Minimizing e-waste also helps us to conserve resources and reduces the amount of energy we need to make these products; recycling parts within e-waste uses considerably less energy than creating new ones.

Regulatory Measures For E-Waste

Regulative measures are like rules and guidelines set by governments to control how electronic waste (e-waste) is managed.

These rules tell companies and individuals how to handle, recycle, or dispose of their old electronic devices. They make sure e-waste doesn't harm the environment or human health.

E-waste Management Rules in India.

The Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Ministry (MoEF&CC) have announced the E-Waste Management Rules 2016. These new rules replaced the earlier E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules of 2011.

The new Rules make for stricter norms and are a part of the government’s increased commitment towards environmental governance.

Highlights of the new E-waste Management Rules 2016: 1. It includes CFLs or Compact Fluorescent Lamps as well as other lamps with mercury, and similar equipment.

2. The Rules for the first time, bring producers under the ambit of the Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR, together with the targets.

3. Producers have been made accountable for e-waste collection and e-waste exchange as well.

4. Additional stakeholders included are: 1. Manufacturers 2. Dealers 3. Refurbishers and Producer Responsibility Organizations.

5. Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and other mercury-containing lamps have been brought under the purview of the rules.

India’s Environment Ministry has notified rules targeting the wide range of groups like hotels, residential colonies, bulk producers of consumer goods, ports, railway stations, airports, and pilgrimage spots. This is to ensure that the solid waste generated in their facilities is treated and recycled.

Key Points of E-waste Management Rules 2016:

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Local bodies with a population of one lakh or above were supposed to establish solid waste processing facilities within two years, Census towns below a lakh would be given three years to establish solid waste processing facilities Old and discarded dump sites would have to be shut-down or bio-remedied within five years.

The rules on solid waste management have been amended after 16 years.

Garbage management is the responsibility of municipal bodies, they would have the rights to charge user fees and levy spot fines for littering and nonsegregation.

A transition period of two to five years would be in place beyond which fines would be imposed as per the country’s Environment Minister.

Central Pollution Control Board Report 

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Municipal authorities until 2013-14, have so far established only 553 compost and vermin-compost plants, 56 bio-methanation plants, 22 refusederived fuel plants, and 12 waste-to-energy plants.

By 2031, municipal solid waste is supposed to rise to 165 million tonnes and, if unprocessed, would require 1240 hectares of land for disposal.

Approximately 62 million tonnes of waste are generated annually in India, of which only 11.9 million are treated, and around half i.e., 31 million tonnes are dumped in landfill sites.

Web-Based Application on Integrated Waste Management System

The application was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change in May 2016. The purpose of the web-based application is to better manage the waste. The application can also track the movement of hazardous waste and will also help in ensuring its proper management.

Key Highlights:

1. 30000 industries out of 43000 industries dealing in hazardous waste have been mapped through this application 2. Enhanced transparency in the working of the Ministry and other Centre/State level regulatory bodies

3. Implement the concept of paperless/ green office; The purpose of the application:

1. Citizens can easily apply and get online permissions for import and export of certain categories of waste, which is for reuse or recycling or recovery or coprocessing and ultimately to conserve our primary resource 2. It will make work related to web-based processing, generation, and grant of various types of certification/ permissions to the entrepreneurs and industries easier 3. Provisions of online applications along with supporting documents/annexure have been provided 4. The application will keep a track of the number of authorization/ certificates granted under consent to establish, or consent to operate 5. The applicants can keep a track of their online application submitted by them and can also check the status of their application.

6. Generate database on waste generating/ processing industrial units under construction, or operation by consolidating the information regarding Consent to Establish, Consent to Operate and Authorization, import/export permission 7. Generate databases on different categories of wastes generated viz hazardous, biomedical, municipal, electronic, plastic waste, etc.

Preventive Measures For E-Waste

Preventive measures are like actions we take to stop e-waste from becoming a big problem in the first place.

These actions include reducing, reusing, and recycling electronic devices. It's like using your old phone for a longer time instead of getting a new one every year.

Preventive measures also include educating people about the importance of not buying more gadgets than they need and being responsible with their old electronics.

Easy Ways to Reduce Electronic Waste

1.Buy Long-Lasting Electronics: Choose electronic gadgets that are built to last and not easily break.

2.Fix or Upgrade Instead of Replacing: When your device has problems or is outdated, consider getting it repaired or improving its parts instead of getting a new one.

3.Consider Refurbished Electronics: Refurbished electronics are devices that have been made like new again. They're a good option and help reduce waste.

4.Recycle the Right Way: When you're done with a device, take it to a place that recycles electronics properly, so it doesn't harm the environment.

5.Give Away or Sell: If your device still works well, give it to someone who can use it or sell it to extend its life.

6.Don't Buy Unnecessary Extras: Avoid buying extra stuff for your gadgets that you don't really need. These extras can turn into waste.

7.Use Rechargeable Batteries: Use batteries that can be recharged instead of single-use ones. They last longer and are better for the environment.

8.Save Energy: Turn off or unplug your devices when you're not using them. It saves energy and makes your devices last longer.

9.Protect Your Electronics: Keep your devices safe from damage and bad weather.

Proper care can make them last longer.

10.Support Recycling Rules: Help make and follow rules that make sure electronics are recycled and made in an eco-friendly way.

Future outlook In India, the technology sector has been involved in managing electronic waste for a while. It started in the late 1990s and has grown a lot. The government has also looked to these tech experts for help since the early 2000s. Now, India is known worldwide for its tech and IT services.

The way India deals with electronic waste has improved a lot. More people now know how to throw away their trash and old electronics properly. This is thanks to the work of e-waste companies, nonprofit organizations (NGOs), and government leaders. This is helping to reduce waste.

For example, a company called Asus is doing something cool. They are offering a free service to pick up old electronic devices from people's homes. They're doing this to encourage people to be more environmentally responsible. They also have a similar service in their stores. They even have a contest on social media where you can win prizes for showing how you get rid of electronic waste the right way. Some organizations give you coupons for free electronic purchases when you recycle your old devices with them. So, managing electronic waste is becoming valuable and rewarding.

Predictions about e-waste A new report from the United Nations University-hosted Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative, published together with UN Environment, highlights future e-waste scenarios. Under a baseline scenario, the amount of e-waste will more than double by 2050, to reach approximately 111 million tonnes per year India has generated more than 3 Million tonnes of e-waste last year ranking third, after China which generated a little over 10 million tonnes and US which generated close to 7 million tonnes. In fact, it is estimated that India would produce more than 5 million tonnes of e-waste by the end of year 2021.

Forecast of e-waste quantities per region based on population and GDP growth

Conclusion Our paper has highlighted the critical issue of e-waste, which is the electronic stuff we throw away. E-waste can harm our health and the environment because it contains harmful materials. It's a problem that's growing, but we can do something about it.

The good news is that we can manage e-waste better. We can estimate how much e-waste we will have based on what we use. By making rules and guidelines, governments can help us handle e-waste safely. India, for example, has improved its e-waste management with these rules.

To make a real difference, we all need to take action. We should use our electronic devices for a longer time, fix them when they break, and recycle them properly when we're done. It's also essential to follow the rules for recycling and ecofriendly production.

By working together, we can reduce e-waste, protect our health, and save our planet. Let's remember that how we manage e-waste today will shape our future.

So, let's make responsible choices and build a cleaner, greener world for generations to come.

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[11.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste.