Sustainable Management of Electronic Waste (e-Waste)

Abstract

Electronic waste (e-Waste) is one of the fastest growing areas of the international waste stream increasing at a much higher rate than all other waste streams. Fast growing electronics industry due to rising demand of information and communication technology around the world coupled with rapid product obsolescence and lack of end-of-life management options have all led to the un-sustainable management of the waste stream. Computers made from over 1,000 materials, many of them are toxic, contribute significantly to the e-Waste stream which is estimated to be around 20-50 million tonnes annually. Design for environment, cleaner production, extended producer responsibility, standards and labelling, product stewardship, recycling and remanufacturing are some of practices adopted by various countries around the world to deal with the e-Waste stream. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of these practices and to investigate how they contribute to the sustainable management of e-Waste.