E-Waste Management: A Profit Making Industry
Hemant Gaule, Anchal Gupta, and Arvind Kumar Mungray*
Department of Chemical Engg. Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-
395007, India
Abstract
Over the past two decades, the volume of electrical and electronic waste has increased by less
than half a million units annually in the mid-1980s to over twenty million units worldwide by 2007.
People are upgrading their electronic devices more frequently than before. Not only is E-Waste
being generated at an alarming rate, but it is being handled improperly widely, most of it being
dumped or incinerated directly into the environment.
The waste contains many valuable substances, some in larger concentrations than their own
respective ores; but unfortunately these substances are being extracted by highly inappropriate
methods, which result in liberation of many hazardous compounds. E-Waste contains elements that
are poisonous carcinogens, and so improper disposal of the waste gives them a dangerous exposure
to the environment, since most of these are also quite volatile.
If appropriate means are employed to extract these substances, they can produce huge revenues.
In other words, recycling is perhaps the most lucrative of all the management options for E-Waste.
Creation of such a comprehensive recycling process will involve review of the entire life-cycle of
the electronic gadget, right from the materials and processes employed to manufacture it, to its
possible use after it’s rendered obsolete. For instance, the knowledge of who are the major producers
of E-Waste to where it ends up, how it ends up there and how can it be handled, preferably, recycled
after that.
Key words: E-Waste; computers; hazards; management; disposal
*(corresponding author) Tel.: +91-9904173019
E-mail address: akm@ched.svnit.ac.in; amungray@yahoo.com
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1. Introduction
E-waste is a popular, informal name for discarded and end-of-life electronic /
electrical products. Electronic waste includes computers, entertainment electronics,
mobile phones and other items that have been discarded by their original users. While
there is no generally accepted definition of electronic waste, in most cases electronic
waste consists of electronic products that were used for data processing,
telecommunications, or entertainment in private households and businesses that are now
considered obsolete, broken, or irreparable.
As new technologies and hardware replace the old ones, consumers get a wider
choice of, better and relatively cheaper range of electronic goods to buy from. This
generates huge amounts of E-Waste. The waste contains many potentially harmful
substances, which may cause numerous harms to the environment. Unfortunately, despite
of its hazardous content, the waste is treated in such a way that most of the hazardous
constituents get easily exposed to the environment. This is mainly because most of the
electronic circuits contain valuable elements like gold, platinum and copper, and that too
in larger concentrations than their own respective ores which are simply stripped away
from the waste and the residue is simply dumped or burned away. For many developed
countries, handling the amount of E-Waste that they generate would be costlier than
exporting it (sometimes illegally) to other developing/undeveloped countries, (like those
of the Indian subcontinent, and Kenya etc.), where a workforce willing to work for low
wages in such hazardous conditions is easily available. Moreover, most of this export is
illegal.
Despite its common classification as a waste, disposed electronics are a considerable
category of secondary resource due to their significant suitability for direct reuse (for
example, many fully functional computers and components are discarded during
upgrades), refurbishing, and material recycling of its constituent raw materials.
Reconceptualization of electronic waste as a resource thus preempts its potentially
hazardous qualities. Considering all these aspects, the idea of an industry is suggested
that efficiently collects and processes E-Waste will not only prevent the hazards that may
be caused by improper dumping of E-Waste, but will also produce a whole lot of raw
material and therefore, revenue. Creating such an industry will involve contributions of
the government, the manufacturer and the consumer. This paper reviews the hazards and
possible management options that may be used to cope up with E-Waste
1.1 Quantity of E-waste
European studies estimate that the volume of E-waste is increasing by 3% - 5% per
year, which is almost three times faster than the municipal waste stream is growing.
Today, electronic waste likely comprises more than 5% of all municipal solid waste;
that’s more than disposable diapers or beverage containers, and about the same amount as
all plastic packaging [1]. Taking computers for instance, newer software rendering the
old ones obsolete (software pushing), and cheaper, attractive hardware cause rapid
obsolescence of computers. In 1994, it was estimated that approximately 20 million
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personal computers (about 7 million tons) became obsolete. By 2004, this figure was to
increase to over 100 million personal computers. Cumulatively, about 500 million PCs
reached the end of their service lives between 1994 and 2003. 500 million PCs contain
approximately 2,872,000 tonnes of plastics, 718,000 tonnes of lead, 1363 tonnes of
cadmium and 287 tonnes of mercury [2]. This fast growing waste stream is accelerating
because the global market for PCs is far from saturation and the average lifespan of a PC
is decreasing rapidly for instance for CPUs from 4–6 years in 1997 to 2 years in 2005
[3].
As in the case of India, it was estimated that obsolete personal computers were
around 2.25 million units in 2005, which are expected to touch a figure of 8 million
obsolete units by the year 2010 at an average annual growth rate of approximately 51%
Considering an average weight of 27.18 kg for a desktop/personal computer
approximately 61,155 tonnes of obsolete computer waste would have been generated in
India in 2005, which would increase to about 217,440 tonnes by the year 2010 at the
projected growth rate [4].
Similarly, for US, it was estimated that 20 million computers became obsolete in
1998, and the overall E-waste volume was estimated at 5 to 7 million tonnes. The figures
are projected to be higher today and rapidly growing. A 1999 study conducted by
Stanford Resources, Inc. for the National Safety Council projected that in 2001, more
than 41 million personal computers would become obsolete in the U.S. Analysts estimate
that in California alone more than 6,000 computers become obsolete every day. In
Oregon and Washington, it is estimated that 1,600 computers become obsolete each day
[5].
To make matters worse, solid waste agencies and recyclers are anticipating a major
increase in the volume of computer and TV monitors discarded in the next 5 years. As
cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors currently in use will be replaced by smaller, and more
desirable liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, this could mean massive dumping of CRT
monitors at an even higher rate. This leap in technology is also expected to lead to a
significant increase in television disposal. So is the case with every other category of EWaste,
which indicates that it is very likely that the quantity of this waste will only
increase.
1.2 Composition of E-waste
Eectronic waste contains the following elements [6]:
· Elements in bulk: Tin, Copper, Silicon, Carbon, Iron and Aluminum,
· Elements in small amounts: Cadmium and Mercury,
· Elements in trace amounts: Germanium, Gallium, Barium, Nickel, Tantalum, Indium,
Vanadium, Terbium, Beryllium, Gold, Europium, Titanium, Ruthenium, Cobalt,
Palladium, Manganese, Silver, Antimony, Bismuth, Selenium, Niobium, Yttrium,
Rhodium, Platinum, Arsenic, Lithium, Boron, Americium
List of examples of devices containing these elements
3
Almost all electronics contain lead & tin (as solder) and copper (as wire & PCB
tracks), though the use of lead-free solder is now spreading rapidly [6]. Some of these
substances and the components where they are found are described in Table 1.
Recently the Swiss ordinance has been amended (June 2004) to match the EU
Directive’s definition of the ten categories listed in Table 2, Categories 1–4 account for
almost 95% of the E-waste generated (Fig. 1). According to the definitions in the
Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (January 2003) on
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment [7], (WEEE/E-waste) consists of the ten
categories listed in Table 2. This categorization seems to be in the process of becoming a
widely accepted standard. The Swiss Ordinance on the Return, the Taking Back and the
Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ORDEE) of 1998 differentiates
between the following categories of E-waste.
· Electronic appliances for entertainment;
· Appliances forming part of office, communication and information technology;
· Household appliances
· Electronic components of the (above) appliances
Fig. 2 categorizes the waste by the types of materials in it. Metals, as may be
expected, form the majority of it. A study by the European Topic Center on Resource and
E-Waste Management indicates that iron and steel form almost the half of the metals
present in E-Waste, though they’re not at hazardous as many other metals present in it.
Fig. 3 further shows the fraction of individual categories of materials present in E-Waste.
1.3 Sources of E-waste
Developed countries like US, a few West Asian and European countries, produce
enormous amounts of E-Waste every year. Most of this is exported to developing nations
like India, China, Pakistan, Malaysia etc. This is because those countries produce so
much E-Waste themselves, that exporting it would be much cheaper than managing it
themselves. Also, these developing nations have a workforce willing to dispose off the
hazardous waste for very low wages.
1.3.1 Generators of Electronic Waste: Electronic waste is generated by three major
sectors:
Individuals and small businesses: In India, this sectors accounts for about 24% of the
total E-Waste generation [9]. Electronic equipment and computers in particular, are often
discarded by households and small businesses, sometimes not because they are broken
but simply because new technology has left them obsolete or undesirable.
Large corporations, institutions, and government: Large users upgrade employee
computers regularly. For example, Microsoft, with over 50,000 employees worldwide
(some of whom have more than one computer) replaces each computer about every three
years. Factories and industries replace the older of their equipment with new ones,
causing more E-Waste and so on. Consequently, this sector contributes to about 74% of
the total waste generation in India alone [9].
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Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs): OEMs generate E-Waste when units
coming off the production line don’t meet quality standards, and must be disposed of. It
is estimated that around 1050 tonnes per year of waste comes form this sector [9].
1.4 Destination of E-Waste:
The waste is imported by over 35 countries, which include India, China, Pakistan,
Malaysia etc. Fig. 4 shows the global E-Waste traffic routes across Asia. The waste
generated by the consumers of electronic goods gets collected by scavengers or garbage
collectors, and usually gets deported to backyard stripping houses etc, where the
potentially valuable substances are separated from the waste and the residue, which may
still contain many hazardous (or useful) substances, is dumped or incinerated.
2. Hazards of E-Waste
When E-Waste is disposed of or recycled without any controls, there are predictable
negative impacts on the environment and human health. E-Waste contains more than
1000 different substances, many of which are toxic, such as lead, mercury, arsenic,
cadmium, selenium, hexa-valent chromium, and flame retardants that create dioxins
emissions when burned. Generally after being stripped off its valuable content, the
residue that’s left behind ends up being burned or thrown away in landfills. Burning the
waste exposes its harmful contents directly into the atmosphere, in other words,
endangering the plant and animal life living in that atmosphere, whereas, landfill
dumping may result in the elements being leached into the soil, and then into the
surface/ground water. This affects the flora and the fauna of that environment. The
substances liberated in the environment by E-Waste have the following affects on plant
and animal lives [10].
· Affect central and peripheral nervous system,
· May cause brain damage,
· Affect circulatory system,
· Show detrimental signs on the growth in plants,
· Affect the kidneys, reproductive and the endocrine system,
· Shows negative effect on brain development.
According to the European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management [7],
over time, the metal content has remained the dominant fraction, well over 50%, as
compared to pollutants and hazardous components which have seen a steady decline. EWaste
consists of a large number of components of various sizes and shapes, some of
which contain hazardous components. Major categories of hazardous materials and
components of E-Waste are shown in Table 3. Some of the elements liberated by EWaste
and their health effects are listed in Table 4.
3. E-Waste management
It is estimated that 75% of electronic items are stored due to uncertainty of how to
manage it. These electronic junks lie unattended in houses, offices, warehouses etc. and
normally mixed with household wastes, which are finally disposed off at landfills. This
necessitates implement able management measures. However, some already existing
5
modes of disposal cause significant amount of harm to the surrounding ecosystem. Some
of these and their consequent harms are listed below [10]:
Incineration: Municipal incineration is the largest source of dioxins, and heavy metal
contamination. E-Waste on incineration liberate huge quantities of metals, mostly heavy
metals in the slag, fly ash, flue gas and in the filter cake of an incinerator. For example,
more than 90% of Cadmium put to an incinerator is found in the fly ash and more than
70% of Mercury in the filter cake. Electro-scrap also contains Copper, which is a catalyst
for dioxin formation. Hence the incineration may result in generation of extremely toxic
polybrominated dioxins (PBBDs) and furans (PBDFs)
Landfills: Even highly efficient landfills show signs of leaking. Mercury and certain
PCBs from certain electronic devices may leach from landfills, into the soil and
groundwater Lead ions have been found to dissolve when mixed with acid waters, which
generally occur in landfills. Moreover, vaporization of metallic mercury, dimethyl
mercury may also occur from landfills. Uncontrollable fires are a frequent occurrence in
many landfills. When exposed to fires, metals and other chemical substances, such as
extremely toxic dioxins and furans are also emitted.
Recycling: Recycling E-Waste can be a big source of many valuable substances, but they
are worth only if they are extracted by proper means. Most of the methods used today for
dismantling and disposal of electronic waste are causing more contamination and hazards
to the ecosystem. Therefore a suitable alternative is required for these processes.
4. A Proposed Industry
This is where the idea of a major, complete recycling industry comes in, an industry
equipped with proper collection facility and plan, and better recycling techniques. It will
not only diminish the hazards of E-Waste, but also generate a whole lot of raw materials
and valuable substances, much cheaper than their original source, and consequently, a lot
of revenue. Considering the scale of such an industry, it becomes essential for the
government as well as the consumers and the industry to play a hand in its establishment.
Following are some of the roles they can contribute as in establishing such a firm [10].
4.1 Role of the government
a) The government should set up regulatory agencies in each district, which are
vested with the responsibility of co-coordinating appropriate collection and
transport of waste to the industry. This can be done by prohibiting illegal dumping
of E-Waste to ensure that nearly all of the waste is recycled.
b) The government must encourage research into the development and standard of
recycling.
c) If at all E-Waste is being imported, it should be ensured that it is for recycling
only, and that it does not end up being incinerated or dumped in a landfill.
d) Industries should be made to adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
which makes it obligatory for them to properly dispose the electronic equipment
manufactured by them.
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4.2 Role of the consumer
Often the consumer is unaware that the electronic equipment he/she uses contains so
many hazardous substances, and how easy it is for them to contaminate the environment.
Hence, the consumer usually throws it away with domestic waste. If consumers keenly
contribute in sending the waste right where it belongs, nearly all of the waste can be
recycled. This can be achieved by increasing awareness amongst the consumers,
regarding the hazardous of improper dumping of E-Waste and the advantages of
recycling it.
The consumer can also be of assistance in apt collection of E-Waste by opting to buy
electronics from organizations following EPR and/or the Take-Back Policy. This way the
consumer, as well as the producer of the electronics can have a fair share in E-Waste
recycling. This will also encourage other manufacturers to have a proper plan for used
electronics’ disposal.
4.3 Role of other industries
a) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Some countries are implementing
policies and programmers to prevent pollution and promote waste minimization.
Key among these approaches is the "Extended producer Responsibility" [1]. Its
objective is to make manufactures (financially) responsible for the entire lifecycle
of their products, especially when they become obsolete. The underlying
assumption is the company's interest in easier recycling and decomposition, and
as such resource use limitation, pollution prevention and waste avoidance
through re-use, re-manufacturing and efficient recycling. This policy can facilitate
almost complete collection of E-Waste. Many electronic equipment
manufacturers provide a “Take-Back” policy by which if the equipment has run
its life, or has permanently been defected, the manufacturer takes the equipment
back. This way a piece of electronics that might have ended up being disposed off
inappropriately, will be delivered to the manufacturer.
b) All personnel involved in handling E-Waste in industries including those at the
policy, management, control and operational levels, should be properly qualified
and trained.
c) Electronic equipment manufacturers should encourage their customers to play
their role in proper disposal of used electronics. If the manufacturer follows EPR,
it will be easier for the same to practice it by providing incentives to its costumers
to help the manufacturer out with collection of used electronics after they become
obsolete. This way, the consumers can be indirectly made to contribute willingly
to the recycling industry.
4.4 Life cycle of E-Waste.
To ensure proper and nearly complete collection of used electronic equipments after
they are rendered useless, it is important to study the processes which the equipment has
7
undergone. That is to say, the study of the life cycle of the equipment is equally relevant.
The Fig. 5 shows the life span of electronic equipment, taking into account that it may
have switched users during the course of its operational life. This course will have to be
considered for effective collection so that maximum or all of the E-Waste can be
recycled.
For instance, computer hardware would appear to have up to 3 distinct product lives:
the original life or first product life (when it is being used by the primary user) and up to
2 further lives depending on reuse. Fig. 5 depicts the flow of computer hardware units
from point-of-sale to the original purchaser and on to the reuse phases [11]. The duration
of the product’s first life is estimated to be between 2 and 4 years for corporate users and
between 2 and 5 years for domestic users. The life cycle of computer waste is defined as,
the period from when it is discarded by the primary user to when it goes for recycling or
is disposed of in a landfill.
4.5. E-Waste Mining; Raw material, not junk.
This is the name given to the process where valuable materials such as gold copper
iron and plastics are extracted from circuitry of A cell phone contains 5 to 10 times
higher gold content than a gold ore. Multiply this with 150,000 tonne of E-Waste
generated annually and the numbers are pretty lucrative. In a study conducted by Toxic
Link in 2007, it was estimated that the junk thrown away as E-Waste contains more gold,
aluminum and copper than found in the ores. In fact, stats show that one tonne of scrap
from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tonnes of
gold ore. This is not very surprising as E-Waste is often richer in other rare metals as
well, containing 10 to 50 times higher copper content than copper ore.
According to the same study, about 5 tonnes of E-Waste, which could come from
about 183 computers, gives a huge profit of Rs 1,78,308. The math is simple: taking a
very conservative estimate of the materials recovered, total value of the recoverable
materials from 183 computers will be Rs 2,88,108. The input cost of 183 computers
(from various market sources) is approx 183 x 600 (inclusive of logistics) = Rs 1,09,800.
This means a good profit margin of almost Rs 1.8 lacs for the recycler. Considering that
countries like India not only produce, but import E-Waste, this could be a huge source of
revenue [12]. Considering that the figures only for computers are so impressive, it is
evident that all the E-Waste combined will generate even more profit. This implicates
that a recycling industry or “E-Waste Mining” is a lucrative arena.
Such an industry will also offer the following advantages:
Such an industry will give way to Perfect Management of E-Waste.
Computers and cell phones, by using the same techniques that miners use to
process metal ores
As there will be virtually no landfilling or incineration, the hazards to the
environment will be avoided.
Waste disposal costs will be reduced for organizations handling their own EWaste.
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It will generate good quantity of raw materials for various other industries.
Moreover, the cost of this raw material will be much less than that obtained from
its original source.
Widely used metals like copper, platinum have to be dug out from their ores.
Acquiring them this way will not only be a cheaper, less time consuming mean,
but will also result in reduction of waste, and its hazards by reuse.
Plastics can be reused relatively many times. So recycling them from E-Waste
makes use of this advantage of plastics.
It will have better and safer working conditions relative to backyard stripping
corporations. This means protected means of dismantling and recycling of EWaste.
Such an industry will generate many employment opportunities for people from
many disciplines.
The process would broadly classify into the following basic steps;
1. Collection
2. Disassembly
3. Processing/Recovery
4.5.1 Collection
For proper and organized waste management, it is necessary to have a favourable
collection and transport system for the waste. Right from the point at which it can
officially be called waste, till the point where it has been sent for complete recycling. It is
hence a necessity to first recognize the sectors that generate E-Waste.
· Individuals and Small businesses . All the household electronic appliances plus
some of the commercial electronic appliances are discarded here. But the
contribution of this sector to the overall production is small.
· Large Businesses, Government Offices, and various institutes . This sector has the
biggest contribution to the gross generation of E-Waste. Almost every category of
E-Waste is generated by this sector and on a large scale. This includes educational
and medical institutes, offices etc.
· Original Equipment Manufacturer . If a piece of equipment is found irreparably
faulty at the production stage itself, it may be discarded as waste right then and
there. Considering the rate at which electrical and electronic equipments are being
manufactured today, this sector also becomes a major producer of E-Waste.
The waste from the above mentioned sectors is collected, initially on a smaller scale; one
particular area or sector at a time (Primary/ Direct Collection). Usually garbage
collectors and scavengers collect the waste directly from these sectors. Secondary
collection leads it to the main recycling industry. Hence the secondary collection needs to
9
be thorough and complete. Hence, the recycling industry needs to facilitate the secondary
collection, and if needs be, the government must encourage it.
At this stage, the collectors usually choose to transfer the waste to places or recyclers
where it is profitable for them. For example, for a country producing E-Waste in large
amounts, like USA, it is cheaper to export the waste to other countries. Or it is sent to
prisons or any place where the workforce is willing to handle the hazardous waste for
very low wages. Either way, the waste ends up in landfills or gets incinerated, and
consequently causes contamination. But this is after the hazardous substances have
affected the unprotected workers. This means that these prevalent means of disposal harm
not only the environment but also the ones who’ve worked on it.
It is, therefore, necessary to avoid dismantling of the waste by these means, but to
create safer methods of physically dismantling the waste for recycling. Also, even if the
waste is to be exported, it should be ensured that it is for proper recycling. At any stage,
if it is found that some equipment or a part of its components can be reused, with or
without some repair, it is sent for reuse as second hand equipment. The government,
therefore, needs to take care of provision of subsidy/other incentives for the recycling
industry, as apart from avoiding environmental hazards, it also creates numerous jobs.
Also, the government needs to encourage collectors for an efficient collection procedure.
4.5.2 Dismantling
This phase involves two major steps; first, breaking down the waste into similar
fragments and then separating them, like plastics, metals etc. Then the individual types of
materials are further bifurcated by their specific type, like different types of plastics,
metals etc. The separation may involve crushing them, for thorough separation. The
separated parts are then sent for their respective recycling processes. The E-Waste
components are broadly made up of the following materials:
· Material containing copper: Including printer and other motors, wires and
cables, CRT yokes, circuit boards, etc
· Steel: Including internal computer frames, power supply housings, printer parts,
washing machines, refrigerator, etc.
· Plastic: Including housings of computers, printers, faxes, phones, monitors,
keyboards, etc.
· Glass. Electric equipments like TVs, PCs, have components made of glass. The
glass is also physically removed from waste and recycled separately
· Copper: Extracted from transformer and CRT after their dismantling
· Circuit Boards: These come from many applications including computers,
phones, disc drives, printers, monitors, etc. Each of these processes has been
described below. Following describes the conventional way of recycling a
personal computer [15].
4.5.3 Processing
Dismantled waste can be easily separated according to the materials it is made of. Each
individual type of material can be recycled by a respective appropriate way. For instance,
10
for extracting metals from chips and circuit boards, the boards may be crushed and
treated with suitable chemicals. This way each separated material is processed with its
respective, appropriate technique.
11
0
Domestic
Recycling
Prisons Landfills,
incinerations
, etc
Non-profit
organizations
For-profit
organizations
Purely
Recyclable
Waste
Reusable
Equipment
Reusable
equipment
Refurbishers
Physical
Dismantlin
g
Safe
Disposal
Non-
Recyclable
Components
Storage
Large Corporations,
government and educational
institutes
Common pile
Exports
Individuals and Small
Business
Original equipment
manufacturers
Repair
Meta
ls
Circuit Boards,
Chips, etc
Wires,
Connectors, etc
Glass Metals
Plastic
Processing
Metal
Processing
Plastics
Plastic Casings
Glass
Meta Processing
ls
Plastics
Collection/Storage Dismantling Processing
Primary/Direct Collection
Secondary collection Optional Process/Route
Conclusion
The requirement and usage of electronic equipments is increasing day by day, as new,
cheaper and better technologies replace the old ones. This renders the old equipments
totally useless, and leaving huge amounts of electronic waste behind. However, this
waste still has valuable metals and substances that can be used. Consequently, the
dismantling and reuse of E-waste components has become quite a lucrative industry. But
a only a fraction of the total amount of E-Waste is found to be recycled, and the rest
discarded along with domestic waste. By discarding the rest of the waste, not only is the
environment being contaminated with hazardous substances, but also many reusable
valuable materials get are wasted.
The materials recovered from E-Waste are often in richer quantity than their original
sources. In addition to that, their recovery is much cheaper as well. Hence E-Waste can
be considered to be a rich yet cheap source of many valuable substances like plastics,
gold, copper etc. This implies that with better collection and processing techniques, an EWaste
recycling industry, set up with contributions from the government and the
consumers, can generate remarkable revenue, at the same time providing a sustainable EWaste
management technique.
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References
1. Environmental alert bulletin, (2005). www.unep.org
2. Puckett, J. and Smith, T., The Basel Action Network. Seattle7 Silicon Valley
Toxics Coalition, (2002).
3. Culver, J., The life cycle of a CPU, (2005).
http://www.cpushack.ne t/life-cycle-of-cpu.html .
4. Toxics Link. Scrapping the hi-tech myth: computer waste in India, (2003).
5. Exporting Harm, The High-Tech Trashing of Asia, (2002).
http://www.crra.com/ewaste/ttrash2/ttrash2/
6. A featured article on Electronic Waste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste
7. ETC/RWM. European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management
(Topic Centre of the European Environment Agency) part of the European
Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), (2003).
http://waste.eionet.eu.int/waste/6
8. Widmer, R., Oswald-Krapf, H., Sinha-Khetriwal, D., Schnellmann, M., and
Boni, H., Global perspectives on E-Waste. Environmental Impact Assessment
Review. 2, 436-458 (2005).
9. ENVIS Newsletter of the Centre for Environmental Education, 11 (6) (2005).
10. Ramachandra, T.V., and Saira Varghese, K., Envis Journal of Human
Settlements, (2004).
http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/paper/ewaste/ewaste.html
11. Ahluwalia, P.K., Nema, A.K., A Life Cycle Based Multi-objective
Optimization Model for the Management of Computer Waste, Resources
Conserv Recycl, (2007), in press.
12. A featured article on E-Waste, “E-Waste- Raw Material, Not Junk”, Kavita
Kukday, Times Of India (2007)
13. Microelectronics and computer technology corporation (MCC), (1996).
14. Empa. The E-waste guide, (2005) http://www.ewaste.ch.
15. A report on-Assessment of Electronic Wastes, by IRG Systems South Asia
Pvt. Ltd. for Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.
16.
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Table 1: Hazardous Contents of E-waste [6]
Substance Found in
Lead Solder, CRT Monitors (Lead in glass),
Lead-acid battery.
Tin Solder.
Copper Copper wires, Printed circuit board tracks.
Aluminium Nearly all electronic goods using more than
a few watts of power (heatsinks).
Iron Steel chassis, cases & fixings.
Silicon Glass, transistors, ICs, Printed circuit
boards.
Nickel & cadmium Nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries.
Lithium Lithium-ion battery.
Zinc Plating for steel parts.
Gold Connector plating, primarily in computer
equipment.
Americium Smoke alarms (radioactive source).
Germanium 1950s & 1960s transistorised electronics
(transistors).
Mercury Fluorescent tubes (numerous applications),
tilt switches (pinball games, mechanical
doorbells).
Sulphur Lead-acid battery.
Carbon Steel, plastics, resistors, in almost every
electronic equipment.
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Table 2: E-Waste Categories [8]
No. Category Label
1. Large household appliances Large HH
2. Small household appliances Small HH
3. IT and telecommunications equipment ICT
4. Consumer equipment CE
5. Lighting equipment Lighting
6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale
stationary industrial tools) E & E tools
E & E tools
7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment Toys
8. Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected
products)
Medical equipment
9. Monitoring and control instruments M & C
10. Automatic dispensers Dispensers
15
Table 3: Material used in a desktop computer and the efficiency of current recycling
processes [13].
16
Table 4: Products and Health Effects of E-Waste [10].
Source of E-Waste Constituent Health Effects
Name Content
(% of total
weight)
Recycling
Efficiency
%
Weight of
Material
(lb)
Use/Location
Plastics 22.9907 13.8 20 Includes organics, oxides other than silica
Lead 6.2988 3.8 5 Metal joining, radiation shield/CRT,
PWB
Aluminum 14.1723 8.5 80 Structural, conductivity/housing, CRT,
PWB, connectors
Germanium 0.0016 < 0.1 0 Semiconductor/PWB
Gallium 0.0013 < 0.1 0 Semiconductor/PWB
Iron 20.4712 12.3 80 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Tin 1.0078 0.6 70 Metal joining/PWB, CRT
Copper 6.9287 4.2 90 Conductivity/CRT, PWB, connectors
Barium 0.0315 < 0.1 0 In vacuum tube/CRT
Nickel 0.8503 0.51 80 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Zinc 2.2046 1.32 60 Battery, phosphor emitter/PWB, CRT
Tantalum 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Capacitors/PWB, power supply
Indium 0.0016 < 0.1 60 Transistor, rectifiers/PWB
Vanadium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Red phosphor emitter/CRT
Terbium 0 0 0 Green phosphor activator, dopant/CRT,
PWB
Beryllium 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Thermal conductivity/PWB, connectors
Gold 0.0016 < 0.1 99 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB,
connectors
Europium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Phosphor activator/PWB
Titanium 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Pigment, alloying agent/(aluminum)
housing
Ruthenium 0.0016 < 0.1 80 Resistive circuit/PWB
Cobalt 0.0157 < 0.1 85 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Palladium 0.0003 < 0.1 95 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB,
connectors
Manganese 0.0315 < 0.1 0 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Silver 0.0189 < 0.1 98 Conductivity/PWB, connectors
Antinomy 0.0094 < 0.1 0 Diodes/housing, PWB, CRT
Bismuth 0.0063 < 0.1 0 Wetting agent in thick film/PWB
Chromium 0.0063 < 0.1 0 Decorative, hardener/(steel) housing
Cadmium 0.0094 < 0.1 0 Battery, glu-green phosphor
emitter/housing, PWB, CRT
Selenium 0.0016 0.00096 70 Rectifiers/PWB
Niobium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 welding allow/housing
Yttrium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Red phosphor emitter/CRT
Rhodium 0 50 thick film conductor/PWB
Platinum 0 95 Thick film conductor/PWB
Mercury 0.0022 < 0.1 0 Batteries, switches/housing, PWB
Arsenic 0.0013 < 0.1 0 Doping agents in transistors/PWB
Silica 24.8803 15 0 Glass, solid state devices/CRT,PWB
17
Chip resistors and
semiconductors.
Cadmium (Cd) Toxic irreversible effects
on human health.
Accumulation in kidney
and liver.
Causes neural damage
Teratogenic.
Solder in printed circuit
boards, glass panels and
gaskets in computer
monitors.
Lead (Pb) Damage to central and
peripheral nervous
system and kidney
damage.
Affects brain
development of children
Relays and switches, printed
circuit boards.
Mercury (Hg) Chronic damage to the
brain
Respiratory and skin
disorders due to
bioaccumulation in fishes.
Plastic housing of electronic
equipments and circuit
boards.
Brominated flame retardants
(BFR)
Disrupts endocrine system
functions.
Front panels of CRTs Barium (Ba) Short term exposure causes:
Muscle weakness;
Damage in heart liver and
spleen
Motherboards Beryllium (Be) Carcinogenic (lung
cancer)
Inhalation of fumes and
dust. Causes chronic
beryllium disease or
beryllicosis.
Skin diseases such as
warts.
Cabling and computer
housing
Plastics including PVC Burning produces dioxins, it
causes:
Reproductive and
developmental problems;
Immune system damage;
Interference with
regulatory hormones.
Corrosion protection of
untreated and galvanized
steel plates, decorator or
hardner for steel housing
Hexavalent Chromium VI
(Cr)
Asthmatic Bronchitis
DNA damage
18
Large HH, 42.10%
ICT, 33.90%
Small HH, 4.70%
CE, 13.70%
Toys , 0.20% M&C, 0.10%
E&E Tools, 1.40%
Lighting, 1.40%
Medical, 1.90%
Dispensers, 0.70%
Fig. 1. Composition of WEEE for Western Europe [8]
19
Cables, 1.97%
Printed Circuit Boards,
1.71%
Others, 1.38%
Pollutants, 2.70%
Metals, 60.20%
Metal-Plastic Mixture,
4.97%
Screens (CRT and
LCD), 11.87%
Plastics, 15.21%
Fig. 2. Material Fraction in E-waste [14]
20
0.9
1
2
2.6
4.6
3.1
4.7
5.3
5.4
7
15.3
47.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Rubber
Other metals (Non-ferrous)
Concrete and ceramics
Wood and plywood
Other
Printed circuit boards
Aliminum
Flame retarded plastic
Glass
Copper
Non-flame retarded plastic
Iron and Steel
Components
Composition (Weight %)
Fig. 3. E-waste Composition [7].
21
Fig. 4 Asian E-Waste Traffic [1]
22
23
Residue
Fig. 5. Flow of E-waste During Its Life Cycle [11]
Product
Manufacturer
Third/ Landfill
Fourth User
Material
Recycle
Reuse Reuse
Life Cycle Of Waste
Second
User
Primary
User
Hemant Gaule, Anchal Gupta, and Arvind Kumar Mungray*
Department of Chemical Engg. Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-
395007, India
Abstract
Over the past two decades, the volume of electrical and electronic waste has increased by less
than half a million units annually in the mid-1980s to over twenty million units worldwide by 2007.
People are upgrading their electronic devices more frequently than before. Not only is E-Waste
being generated at an alarming rate, but it is being handled improperly widely, most of it being
dumped or incinerated directly into the environment.
The waste contains many valuable substances, some in larger concentrations than their own
respective ores; but unfortunately these substances are being extracted by highly inappropriate
methods, which result in liberation of many hazardous compounds. E-Waste contains elements that
are poisonous carcinogens, and so improper disposal of the waste gives them a dangerous exposure
to the environment, since most of these are also quite volatile.
If appropriate means are employed to extract these substances, they can produce huge revenues.
In other words, recycling is perhaps the most lucrative of all the management options for E-Waste.
Creation of such a comprehensive recycling process will involve review of the entire life-cycle of
the electronic gadget, right from the materials and processes employed to manufacture it, to its
possible use after it’s rendered obsolete. For instance, the knowledge of who are the major producers
of E-Waste to where it ends up, how it ends up there and how can it be handled, preferably, recycled
after that.
Key words: E-Waste; computers; hazards; management; disposal
*(corresponding author) Tel.: +91-9904173019
E-mail address: akm@ched.svnit.ac.in; amungray@yahoo.com
1
1. Introduction
E-waste is a popular, informal name for discarded and end-of-life electronic /
electrical products. Electronic waste includes computers, entertainment electronics,
mobile phones and other items that have been discarded by their original users. While
there is no generally accepted definition of electronic waste, in most cases electronic
waste consists of electronic products that were used for data processing,
telecommunications, or entertainment in private households and businesses that are now
considered obsolete, broken, or irreparable.
As new technologies and hardware replace the old ones, consumers get a wider
choice of, better and relatively cheaper range of electronic goods to buy from. This
generates huge amounts of E-Waste. The waste contains many potentially harmful
substances, which may cause numerous harms to the environment. Unfortunately, despite
of its hazardous content, the waste is treated in such a way that most of the hazardous
constituents get easily exposed to the environment. This is mainly because most of the
electronic circuits contain valuable elements like gold, platinum and copper, and that too
in larger concentrations than their own respective ores which are simply stripped away
from the waste and the residue is simply dumped or burned away. For many developed
countries, handling the amount of E-Waste that they generate would be costlier than
exporting it (sometimes illegally) to other developing/undeveloped countries, (like those
of the Indian subcontinent, and Kenya etc.), where a workforce willing to work for low
wages in such hazardous conditions is easily available. Moreover, most of this export is
illegal.
Despite its common classification as a waste, disposed electronics are a considerable
category of secondary resource due to their significant suitability for direct reuse (for
example, many fully functional computers and components are discarded during
upgrades), refurbishing, and material recycling of its constituent raw materials.
Reconceptualization of electronic waste as a resource thus preempts its potentially
hazardous qualities. Considering all these aspects, the idea of an industry is suggested
that efficiently collects and processes E-Waste will not only prevent the hazards that may
be caused by improper dumping of E-Waste, but will also produce a whole lot of raw
material and therefore, revenue. Creating such an industry will involve contributions of
the government, the manufacturer and the consumer. This paper reviews the hazards and
possible management options that may be used to cope up with E-Waste
1.1 Quantity of E-waste
European studies estimate that the volume of E-waste is increasing by 3% - 5% per
year, which is almost three times faster than the municipal waste stream is growing.
Today, electronic waste likely comprises more than 5% of all municipal solid waste;
that’s more than disposable diapers or beverage containers, and about the same amount as
all plastic packaging [1]. Taking computers for instance, newer software rendering the
old ones obsolete (software pushing), and cheaper, attractive hardware cause rapid
obsolescence of computers. In 1994, it was estimated that approximately 20 million
2
personal computers (about 7 million tons) became obsolete. By 2004, this figure was to
increase to over 100 million personal computers. Cumulatively, about 500 million PCs
reached the end of their service lives between 1994 and 2003. 500 million PCs contain
approximately 2,872,000 tonnes of plastics, 718,000 tonnes of lead, 1363 tonnes of
cadmium and 287 tonnes of mercury [2]. This fast growing waste stream is accelerating
because the global market for PCs is far from saturation and the average lifespan of a PC
is decreasing rapidly for instance for CPUs from 4–6 years in 1997 to 2 years in 2005
[3].
As in the case of India, it was estimated that obsolete personal computers were
around 2.25 million units in 2005, which are expected to touch a figure of 8 million
obsolete units by the year 2010 at an average annual growth rate of approximately 51%
Considering an average weight of 27.18 kg for a desktop/personal computer
approximately 61,155 tonnes of obsolete computer waste would have been generated in
India in 2005, which would increase to about 217,440 tonnes by the year 2010 at the
projected growth rate [4].
Similarly, for US, it was estimated that 20 million computers became obsolete in
1998, and the overall E-waste volume was estimated at 5 to 7 million tonnes. The figures
are projected to be higher today and rapidly growing. A 1999 study conducted by
Stanford Resources, Inc. for the National Safety Council projected that in 2001, more
than 41 million personal computers would become obsolete in the U.S. Analysts estimate
that in California alone more than 6,000 computers become obsolete every day. In
Oregon and Washington, it is estimated that 1,600 computers become obsolete each day
[5].
To make matters worse, solid waste agencies and recyclers are anticipating a major
increase in the volume of computer and TV monitors discarded in the next 5 years. As
cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors currently in use will be replaced by smaller, and more
desirable liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, this could mean massive dumping of CRT
monitors at an even higher rate. This leap in technology is also expected to lead to a
significant increase in television disposal. So is the case with every other category of EWaste,
which indicates that it is very likely that the quantity of this waste will only
increase.
1.2 Composition of E-waste
Eectronic waste contains the following elements [6]:
· Elements in bulk: Tin, Copper, Silicon, Carbon, Iron and Aluminum,
· Elements in small amounts: Cadmium and Mercury,
· Elements in trace amounts: Germanium, Gallium, Barium, Nickel, Tantalum, Indium,
Vanadium, Terbium, Beryllium, Gold, Europium, Titanium, Ruthenium, Cobalt,
Palladium, Manganese, Silver, Antimony, Bismuth, Selenium, Niobium, Yttrium,
Rhodium, Platinum, Arsenic, Lithium, Boron, Americium
List of examples of devices containing these elements
3
Almost all electronics contain lead & tin (as solder) and copper (as wire & PCB
tracks), though the use of lead-free solder is now spreading rapidly [6]. Some of these
substances and the components where they are found are described in Table 1.
Recently the Swiss ordinance has been amended (June 2004) to match the EU
Directive’s definition of the ten categories listed in Table 2, Categories 1–4 account for
almost 95% of the E-waste generated (Fig. 1). According to the definitions in the
Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (January 2003) on
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment [7], (WEEE/E-waste) consists of the ten
categories listed in Table 2. This categorization seems to be in the process of becoming a
widely accepted standard. The Swiss Ordinance on the Return, the Taking Back and the
Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ORDEE) of 1998 differentiates
between the following categories of E-waste.
· Electronic appliances for entertainment;
· Appliances forming part of office, communication and information technology;
· Household appliances
· Electronic components of the (above) appliances
Fig. 2 categorizes the waste by the types of materials in it. Metals, as may be
expected, form the majority of it. A study by the European Topic Center on Resource and
E-Waste Management indicates that iron and steel form almost the half of the metals
present in E-Waste, though they’re not at hazardous as many other metals present in it.
Fig. 3 further shows the fraction of individual categories of materials present in E-Waste.
1.3 Sources of E-waste
Developed countries like US, a few West Asian and European countries, produce
enormous amounts of E-Waste every year. Most of this is exported to developing nations
like India, China, Pakistan, Malaysia etc. This is because those countries produce so
much E-Waste themselves, that exporting it would be much cheaper than managing it
themselves. Also, these developing nations have a workforce willing to dispose off the
hazardous waste for very low wages.
1.3.1 Generators of Electronic Waste: Electronic waste is generated by three major
sectors:
Individuals and small businesses: In India, this sectors accounts for about 24% of the
total E-Waste generation [9]. Electronic equipment and computers in particular, are often
discarded by households and small businesses, sometimes not because they are broken
but simply because new technology has left them obsolete or undesirable.
Large corporations, institutions, and government: Large users upgrade employee
computers regularly. For example, Microsoft, with over 50,000 employees worldwide
(some of whom have more than one computer) replaces each computer about every three
years. Factories and industries replace the older of their equipment with new ones,
causing more E-Waste and so on. Consequently, this sector contributes to about 74% of
the total waste generation in India alone [9].
4
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs): OEMs generate E-Waste when units
coming off the production line don’t meet quality standards, and must be disposed of. It
is estimated that around 1050 tonnes per year of waste comes form this sector [9].
1.4 Destination of E-Waste:
The waste is imported by over 35 countries, which include India, China, Pakistan,
Malaysia etc. Fig. 4 shows the global E-Waste traffic routes across Asia. The waste
generated by the consumers of electronic goods gets collected by scavengers or garbage
collectors, and usually gets deported to backyard stripping houses etc, where the
potentially valuable substances are separated from the waste and the residue, which may
still contain many hazardous (or useful) substances, is dumped or incinerated.
2. Hazards of E-Waste
When E-Waste is disposed of or recycled without any controls, there are predictable
negative impacts on the environment and human health. E-Waste contains more than
1000 different substances, many of which are toxic, such as lead, mercury, arsenic,
cadmium, selenium, hexa-valent chromium, and flame retardants that create dioxins
emissions when burned. Generally after being stripped off its valuable content, the
residue that’s left behind ends up being burned or thrown away in landfills. Burning the
waste exposes its harmful contents directly into the atmosphere, in other words,
endangering the plant and animal life living in that atmosphere, whereas, landfill
dumping may result in the elements being leached into the soil, and then into the
surface/ground water. This affects the flora and the fauna of that environment. The
substances liberated in the environment by E-Waste have the following affects on plant
and animal lives [10].
· Affect central and peripheral nervous system,
· May cause brain damage,
· Affect circulatory system,
· Show detrimental signs on the growth in plants,
· Affect the kidneys, reproductive and the endocrine system,
· Shows negative effect on brain development.
According to the European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management [7],
over time, the metal content has remained the dominant fraction, well over 50%, as
compared to pollutants and hazardous components which have seen a steady decline. EWaste
consists of a large number of components of various sizes and shapes, some of
which contain hazardous components. Major categories of hazardous materials and
components of E-Waste are shown in Table 3. Some of the elements liberated by EWaste
and their health effects are listed in Table 4.
3. E-Waste management
It is estimated that 75% of electronic items are stored due to uncertainty of how to
manage it. These electronic junks lie unattended in houses, offices, warehouses etc. and
normally mixed with household wastes, which are finally disposed off at landfills. This
necessitates implement able management measures. However, some already existing
5
modes of disposal cause significant amount of harm to the surrounding ecosystem. Some
of these and their consequent harms are listed below [10]:
Incineration: Municipal incineration is the largest source of dioxins, and heavy metal
contamination. E-Waste on incineration liberate huge quantities of metals, mostly heavy
metals in the slag, fly ash, flue gas and in the filter cake of an incinerator. For example,
more than 90% of Cadmium put to an incinerator is found in the fly ash and more than
70% of Mercury in the filter cake. Electro-scrap also contains Copper, which is a catalyst
for dioxin formation. Hence the incineration may result in generation of extremely toxic
polybrominated dioxins (PBBDs) and furans (PBDFs)
Landfills: Even highly efficient landfills show signs of leaking. Mercury and certain
PCBs from certain electronic devices may leach from landfills, into the soil and
groundwater Lead ions have been found to dissolve when mixed with acid waters, which
generally occur in landfills. Moreover, vaporization of metallic mercury, dimethyl
mercury may also occur from landfills. Uncontrollable fires are a frequent occurrence in
many landfills. When exposed to fires, metals and other chemical substances, such as
extremely toxic dioxins and furans are also emitted.
Recycling: Recycling E-Waste can be a big source of many valuable substances, but they
are worth only if they are extracted by proper means. Most of the methods used today for
dismantling and disposal of electronic waste are causing more contamination and hazards
to the ecosystem. Therefore a suitable alternative is required for these processes.
4. A Proposed Industry
This is where the idea of a major, complete recycling industry comes in, an industry
equipped with proper collection facility and plan, and better recycling techniques. It will
not only diminish the hazards of E-Waste, but also generate a whole lot of raw materials
and valuable substances, much cheaper than their original source, and consequently, a lot
of revenue. Considering the scale of such an industry, it becomes essential for the
government as well as the consumers and the industry to play a hand in its establishment.
Following are some of the roles they can contribute as in establishing such a firm [10].
4.1 Role of the government
a) The government should set up regulatory agencies in each district, which are
vested with the responsibility of co-coordinating appropriate collection and
transport of waste to the industry. This can be done by prohibiting illegal dumping
of E-Waste to ensure that nearly all of the waste is recycled.
b) The government must encourage research into the development and standard of
recycling.
c) If at all E-Waste is being imported, it should be ensured that it is for recycling
only, and that it does not end up being incinerated or dumped in a landfill.
d) Industries should be made to adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
which makes it obligatory for them to properly dispose the electronic equipment
manufactured by them.
6
4.2 Role of the consumer
Often the consumer is unaware that the electronic equipment he/she uses contains so
many hazardous substances, and how easy it is for them to contaminate the environment.
Hence, the consumer usually throws it away with domestic waste. If consumers keenly
contribute in sending the waste right where it belongs, nearly all of the waste can be
recycled. This can be achieved by increasing awareness amongst the consumers,
regarding the hazardous of improper dumping of E-Waste and the advantages of
recycling it.
The consumer can also be of assistance in apt collection of E-Waste by opting to buy
electronics from organizations following EPR and/or the Take-Back Policy. This way the
consumer, as well as the producer of the electronics can have a fair share in E-Waste
recycling. This will also encourage other manufacturers to have a proper plan for used
electronics’ disposal.
4.3 Role of other industries
a) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Some countries are implementing
policies and programmers to prevent pollution and promote waste minimization.
Key among these approaches is the "Extended producer Responsibility" [1]. Its
objective is to make manufactures (financially) responsible for the entire lifecycle
of their products, especially when they become obsolete. The underlying
assumption is the company's interest in easier recycling and decomposition, and
as such resource use limitation, pollution prevention and waste avoidance
through re-use, re-manufacturing and efficient recycling. This policy can facilitate
almost complete collection of E-Waste. Many electronic equipment
manufacturers provide a “Take-Back” policy by which if the equipment has run
its life, or has permanently been defected, the manufacturer takes the equipment
back. This way a piece of electronics that might have ended up being disposed off
inappropriately, will be delivered to the manufacturer.
b) All personnel involved in handling E-Waste in industries including those at the
policy, management, control and operational levels, should be properly qualified
and trained.
c) Electronic equipment manufacturers should encourage their customers to play
their role in proper disposal of used electronics. If the manufacturer follows EPR,
it will be easier for the same to practice it by providing incentives to its costumers
to help the manufacturer out with collection of used electronics after they become
obsolete. This way, the consumers can be indirectly made to contribute willingly
to the recycling industry.
4.4 Life cycle of E-Waste.
To ensure proper and nearly complete collection of used electronic equipments after
they are rendered useless, it is important to study the processes which the equipment has
7
undergone. That is to say, the study of the life cycle of the equipment is equally relevant.
The Fig. 5 shows the life span of electronic equipment, taking into account that it may
have switched users during the course of its operational life. This course will have to be
considered for effective collection so that maximum or all of the E-Waste can be
recycled.
For instance, computer hardware would appear to have up to 3 distinct product lives:
the original life or first product life (when it is being used by the primary user) and up to
2 further lives depending on reuse. Fig. 5 depicts the flow of computer hardware units
from point-of-sale to the original purchaser and on to the reuse phases [11]. The duration
of the product’s first life is estimated to be between 2 and 4 years for corporate users and
between 2 and 5 years for domestic users. The life cycle of computer waste is defined as,
the period from when it is discarded by the primary user to when it goes for recycling or
is disposed of in a landfill.
4.5. E-Waste Mining; Raw material, not junk.
This is the name given to the process where valuable materials such as gold copper
iron and plastics are extracted from circuitry of A cell phone contains 5 to 10 times
higher gold content than a gold ore. Multiply this with 150,000 tonne of E-Waste
generated annually and the numbers are pretty lucrative. In a study conducted by Toxic
Link in 2007, it was estimated that the junk thrown away as E-Waste contains more gold,
aluminum and copper than found in the ores. In fact, stats show that one tonne of scrap
from discarded computers contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tonnes of
gold ore. This is not very surprising as E-Waste is often richer in other rare metals as
well, containing 10 to 50 times higher copper content than copper ore.
According to the same study, about 5 tonnes of E-Waste, which could come from
about 183 computers, gives a huge profit of Rs 1,78,308. The math is simple: taking a
very conservative estimate of the materials recovered, total value of the recoverable
materials from 183 computers will be Rs 2,88,108. The input cost of 183 computers
(from various market sources) is approx 183 x 600 (inclusive of logistics) = Rs 1,09,800.
This means a good profit margin of almost Rs 1.8 lacs for the recycler. Considering that
countries like India not only produce, but import E-Waste, this could be a huge source of
revenue [12]. Considering that the figures only for computers are so impressive, it is
evident that all the E-Waste combined will generate even more profit. This implicates
that a recycling industry or “E-Waste Mining” is a lucrative arena.
Such an industry will also offer the following advantages:
Such an industry will give way to Perfect Management of E-Waste.
Computers and cell phones, by using the same techniques that miners use to
process metal ores
As there will be virtually no landfilling or incineration, the hazards to the
environment will be avoided.
Waste disposal costs will be reduced for organizations handling their own EWaste.
8
It will generate good quantity of raw materials for various other industries.
Moreover, the cost of this raw material will be much less than that obtained from
its original source.
Widely used metals like copper, platinum have to be dug out from their ores.
Acquiring them this way will not only be a cheaper, less time consuming mean,
but will also result in reduction of waste, and its hazards by reuse.
Plastics can be reused relatively many times. So recycling them from E-Waste
makes use of this advantage of plastics.
It will have better and safer working conditions relative to backyard stripping
corporations. This means protected means of dismantling and recycling of EWaste.
Such an industry will generate many employment opportunities for people from
many disciplines.
The process would broadly classify into the following basic steps;
1. Collection
2. Disassembly
3. Processing/Recovery
4.5.1 Collection
For proper and organized waste management, it is necessary to have a favourable
collection and transport system for the waste. Right from the point at which it can
officially be called waste, till the point where it has been sent for complete recycling. It is
hence a necessity to first recognize the sectors that generate E-Waste.
· Individuals and Small businesses . All the household electronic appliances plus
some of the commercial electronic appliances are discarded here. But the
contribution of this sector to the overall production is small.
· Large Businesses, Government Offices, and various institutes . This sector has the
biggest contribution to the gross generation of E-Waste. Almost every category of
E-Waste is generated by this sector and on a large scale. This includes educational
and medical institutes, offices etc.
· Original Equipment Manufacturer . If a piece of equipment is found irreparably
faulty at the production stage itself, it may be discarded as waste right then and
there. Considering the rate at which electrical and electronic equipments are being
manufactured today, this sector also becomes a major producer of E-Waste.
The waste from the above mentioned sectors is collected, initially on a smaller scale; one
particular area or sector at a time (Primary/ Direct Collection). Usually garbage
collectors and scavengers collect the waste directly from these sectors. Secondary
collection leads it to the main recycling industry. Hence the secondary collection needs to
9
be thorough and complete. Hence, the recycling industry needs to facilitate the secondary
collection, and if needs be, the government must encourage it.
At this stage, the collectors usually choose to transfer the waste to places or recyclers
where it is profitable for them. For example, for a country producing E-Waste in large
amounts, like USA, it is cheaper to export the waste to other countries. Or it is sent to
prisons or any place where the workforce is willing to handle the hazardous waste for
very low wages. Either way, the waste ends up in landfills or gets incinerated, and
consequently causes contamination. But this is after the hazardous substances have
affected the unprotected workers. This means that these prevalent means of disposal harm
not only the environment but also the ones who’ve worked on it.
It is, therefore, necessary to avoid dismantling of the waste by these means, but to
create safer methods of physically dismantling the waste for recycling. Also, even if the
waste is to be exported, it should be ensured that it is for proper recycling. At any stage,
if it is found that some equipment or a part of its components can be reused, with or
without some repair, it is sent for reuse as second hand equipment. The government,
therefore, needs to take care of provision of subsidy/other incentives for the recycling
industry, as apart from avoiding environmental hazards, it also creates numerous jobs.
Also, the government needs to encourage collectors for an efficient collection procedure.
4.5.2 Dismantling
This phase involves two major steps; first, breaking down the waste into similar
fragments and then separating them, like plastics, metals etc. Then the individual types of
materials are further bifurcated by their specific type, like different types of plastics,
metals etc. The separation may involve crushing them, for thorough separation. The
separated parts are then sent for their respective recycling processes. The E-Waste
components are broadly made up of the following materials:
· Material containing copper: Including printer and other motors, wires and
cables, CRT yokes, circuit boards, etc
· Steel: Including internal computer frames, power supply housings, printer parts,
washing machines, refrigerator, etc.
· Plastic: Including housings of computers, printers, faxes, phones, monitors,
keyboards, etc.
· Glass. Electric equipments like TVs, PCs, have components made of glass. The
glass is also physically removed from waste and recycled separately
· Copper: Extracted from transformer and CRT after their dismantling
· Circuit Boards: These come from many applications including computers,
phones, disc drives, printers, monitors, etc. Each of these processes has been
described below. Following describes the conventional way of recycling a
personal computer [15].
4.5.3 Processing
Dismantled waste can be easily separated according to the materials it is made of. Each
individual type of material can be recycled by a respective appropriate way. For instance,
10
for extracting metals from chips and circuit boards, the boards may be crushed and
treated with suitable chemicals. This way each separated material is processed with its
respective, appropriate technique.
11
0
Domestic
Recycling
Prisons Landfills,
incinerations
, etc
Non-profit
organizations
For-profit
organizations
Purely
Recyclable
Waste
Reusable
Equipment
Reusable
equipment
Refurbishers
Physical
Dismantlin
g
Safe
Disposal
Non-
Recyclable
Components
Storage
Large Corporations,
government and educational
institutes
Common pile
Exports
Individuals and Small
Business
Original equipment
manufacturers
Repair
Meta
ls
Circuit Boards,
Chips, etc
Wires,
Connectors, etc
Glass Metals
Plastic
Processing
Metal
Processing
Plastics
Plastic Casings
Glass
Meta Processing
ls
Plastics
Collection/Storage Dismantling Processing
Primary/Direct Collection
Secondary collection Optional Process/Route
Conclusion
The requirement and usage of electronic equipments is increasing day by day, as new,
cheaper and better technologies replace the old ones. This renders the old equipments
totally useless, and leaving huge amounts of electronic waste behind. However, this
waste still has valuable metals and substances that can be used. Consequently, the
dismantling and reuse of E-waste components has become quite a lucrative industry. But
a only a fraction of the total amount of E-Waste is found to be recycled, and the rest
discarded along with domestic waste. By discarding the rest of the waste, not only is the
environment being contaminated with hazardous substances, but also many reusable
valuable materials get are wasted.
The materials recovered from E-Waste are often in richer quantity than their original
sources. In addition to that, their recovery is much cheaper as well. Hence E-Waste can
be considered to be a rich yet cheap source of many valuable substances like plastics,
gold, copper etc. This implies that with better collection and processing techniques, an EWaste
recycling industry, set up with contributions from the government and the
consumers, can generate remarkable revenue, at the same time providing a sustainable EWaste
management technique.
12
References
1. Environmental alert bulletin, (2005). www.unep.org
2. Puckett, J. and Smith, T., The Basel Action Network. Seattle7 Silicon Valley
Toxics Coalition, (2002).
3. Culver, J., The life cycle of a CPU, (2005).
http://www.cpushack.ne t/life-cycle-of-cpu.html .
4. Toxics Link. Scrapping the hi-tech myth: computer waste in India, (2003).
5. Exporting Harm, The High-Tech Trashing of Asia, (2002).
http://www.crra.com/ewaste/ttrash2/ttrash2/
6. A featured article on Electronic Waste.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste
7. ETC/RWM. European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management
(Topic Centre of the European Environment Agency) part of the European
Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET), (2003).
http://waste.eionet.eu.int/waste/6
8. Widmer, R., Oswald-Krapf, H., Sinha-Khetriwal, D., Schnellmann, M., and
Boni, H., Global perspectives on E-Waste. Environmental Impact Assessment
Review. 2, 436-458 (2005).
9. ENVIS Newsletter of the Centre for Environmental Education, 11 (6) (2005).
10. Ramachandra, T.V., and Saira Varghese, K., Envis Journal of Human
Settlements, (2004).
http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/paper/ewaste/ewaste.html
11. Ahluwalia, P.K., Nema, A.K., A Life Cycle Based Multi-objective
Optimization Model for the Management of Computer Waste, Resources
Conserv Recycl, (2007), in press.
12. A featured article on E-Waste, “E-Waste- Raw Material, Not Junk”, Kavita
Kukday, Times Of India (2007)
13. Microelectronics and computer technology corporation (MCC), (1996).
14. Empa. The E-waste guide, (2005) http://www.ewaste.ch.
15. A report on-Assessment of Electronic Wastes, by IRG Systems South Asia
Pvt. Ltd. for Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.
16.
13
Table 1: Hazardous Contents of E-waste [6]
Substance Found in
Lead Solder, CRT Monitors (Lead in glass),
Lead-acid battery.
Tin Solder.
Copper Copper wires, Printed circuit board tracks.
Aluminium Nearly all electronic goods using more than
a few watts of power (heatsinks).
Iron Steel chassis, cases & fixings.
Silicon Glass, transistors, ICs, Printed circuit
boards.
Nickel & cadmium Nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries.
Lithium Lithium-ion battery.
Zinc Plating for steel parts.
Gold Connector plating, primarily in computer
equipment.
Americium Smoke alarms (radioactive source).
Germanium 1950s & 1960s transistorised electronics
(transistors).
Mercury Fluorescent tubes (numerous applications),
tilt switches (pinball games, mechanical
doorbells).
Sulphur Lead-acid battery.
Carbon Steel, plastics, resistors, in almost every
electronic equipment.
14
Table 2: E-Waste Categories [8]
No. Category Label
1. Large household appliances Large HH
2. Small household appliances Small HH
3. IT and telecommunications equipment ICT
4. Consumer equipment CE
5. Lighting equipment Lighting
6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale
stationary industrial tools) E & E tools
E & E tools
7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment Toys
8. Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected
products)
Medical equipment
9. Monitoring and control instruments M & C
10. Automatic dispensers Dispensers
15
Table 3: Material used in a desktop computer and the efficiency of current recycling
processes [13].
16
Table 4: Products and Health Effects of E-Waste [10].
Source of E-Waste Constituent Health Effects
Name Content
(% of total
weight)
Recycling
Efficiency
%
Weight of
Material
(lb)
Use/Location
Plastics 22.9907 13.8 20 Includes organics, oxides other than silica
Lead 6.2988 3.8 5 Metal joining, radiation shield/CRT,
PWB
Aluminum 14.1723 8.5 80 Structural, conductivity/housing, CRT,
PWB, connectors
Germanium 0.0016 < 0.1 0 Semiconductor/PWB
Gallium 0.0013 < 0.1 0 Semiconductor/PWB
Iron 20.4712 12.3 80 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Tin 1.0078 0.6 70 Metal joining/PWB, CRT
Copper 6.9287 4.2 90 Conductivity/CRT, PWB, connectors
Barium 0.0315 < 0.1 0 In vacuum tube/CRT
Nickel 0.8503 0.51 80 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Zinc 2.2046 1.32 60 Battery, phosphor emitter/PWB, CRT
Tantalum 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Capacitors/PWB, power supply
Indium 0.0016 < 0.1 60 Transistor, rectifiers/PWB
Vanadium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Red phosphor emitter/CRT
Terbium 0 0 0 Green phosphor activator, dopant/CRT,
PWB
Beryllium 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Thermal conductivity/PWB, connectors
Gold 0.0016 < 0.1 99 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB,
connectors
Europium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Phosphor activator/PWB
Titanium 0.0157 < 0.1 0 Pigment, alloying agent/(aluminum)
housing
Ruthenium 0.0016 < 0.1 80 Resistive circuit/PWB
Cobalt 0.0157 < 0.1 85 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Palladium 0.0003 < 0.1 95 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB,
connectors
Manganese 0.0315 < 0.1 0 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing,
CRT, PWB
Silver 0.0189 < 0.1 98 Conductivity/PWB, connectors
Antinomy 0.0094 < 0.1 0 Diodes/housing, PWB, CRT
Bismuth 0.0063 < 0.1 0 Wetting agent in thick film/PWB
Chromium 0.0063 < 0.1 0 Decorative, hardener/(steel) housing
Cadmium 0.0094 < 0.1 0 Battery, glu-green phosphor
emitter/housing, PWB, CRT
Selenium 0.0016 0.00096 70 Rectifiers/PWB
Niobium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 welding allow/housing
Yttrium 0.0002 < 0.1 0 Red phosphor emitter/CRT
Rhodium 0 50 thick film conductor/PWB
Platinum 0 95 Thick film conductor/PWB
Mercury 0.0022 < 0.1 0 Batteries, switches/housing, PWB
Arsenic 0.0013 < 0.1 0 Doping agents in transistors/PWB
Silica 24.8803 15 0 Glass, solid state devices/CRT,PWB
17
Chip resistors and
semiconductors.
Cadmium (Cd) Toxic irreversible effects
on human health.
Accumulation in kidney
and liver.
Causes neural damage
Teratogenic.
Solder in printed circuit
boards, glass panels and
gaskets in computer
monitors.
Lead (Pb) Damage to central and
peripheral nervous
system and kidney
damage.
Affects brain
development of children
Relays and switches, printed
circuit boards.
Mercury (Hg) Chronic damage to the
brain
Respiratory and skin
disorders due to
bioaccumulation in fishes.
Plastic housing of electronic
equipments and circuit
boards.
Brominated flame retardants
(BFR)
Disrupts endocrine system
functions.
Front panels of CRTs Barium (Ba) Short term exposure causes:
Muscle weakness;
Damage in heart liver and
spleen
Motherboards Beryllium (Be) Carcinogenic (lung
cancer)
Inhalation of fumes and
dust. Causes chronic
beryllium disease or
beryllicosis.
Skin diseases such as
warts.
Cabling and computer
housing
Plastics including PVC Burning produces dioxins, it
causes:
Reproductive and
developmental problems;
Immune system damage;
Interference with
regulatory hormones.
Corrosion protection of
untreated and galvanized
steel plates, decorator or
hardner for steel housing
Hexavalent Chromium VI
(Cr)
Asthmatic Bronchitis
DNA damage
18
Large HH, 42.10%
ICT, 33.90%
Small HH, 4.70%
CE, 13.70%
Toys , 0.20% M&C, 0.10%
E&E Tools, 1.40%
Lighting, 1.40%
Medical, 1.90%
Dispensers, 0.70%
Fig. 1. Composition of WEEE for Western Europe [8]
19
Cables, 1.97%
Printed Circuit Boards,
1.71%
Others, 1.38%
Pollutants, 2.70%
Metals, 60.20%
Metal-Plastic Mixture,
4.97%
Screens (CRT and
LCD), 11.87%
Plastics, 15.21%
Fig. 2. Material Fraction in E-waste [14]
20
0.9
1
2
2.6
4.6
3.1
4.7
5.3
5.4
7
15.3
47.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Rubber
Other metals (Non-ferrous)
Concrete and ceramics
Wood and plywood
Other
Printed circuit boards
Aliminum
Flame retarded plastic
Glass
Copper
Non-flame retarded plastic
Iron and Steel
Components
Composition (Weight %)
Fig. 3. E-waste Composition [7].
21
Fig. 4 Asian E-Waste Traffic [1]
22
23
Residue
Fig. 5. Flow of E-waste During Its Life Cycle [11]
Product
Manufacturer
Third/ Landfill
Fourth User
Material
Recycle
Reuse Reuse
Life Cycle Of Waste
Second
User
Primary
User
