Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
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Federico Magalini
Abstract
Over the last decades the electronics industry and ICT Industry in particular has revolutionized the world: electrical and electronic products have become ubiquitous in today’s life around the planet. After use, those products are discarded, sometimes after re-use cycles in countries different from those where they were initially sold; becoming what is commonly called e-waste. Compared to other traditional waste streams, e-waste handling poses unique and complex challenges. e-Waste is usually regarded as a waste problem, which can cause environmental damage and severe human health consequences if not safely managed. e-Waste contains significant amounts of toxic and environmentally sensitive materials and is, thus, extremely hazardous to humans and the environment if not properly disposed of or recycled. On the other hand, e-waste is often seen as a potential source of income for individuals and entrepreneurs who aim to recover the valuable materials (metals in particular) contained in discarded equipment. Recently, for a growing number of people, in developing countries in particular, recycling and separation of e-waste has become their main source of income. In most cases, this is done informally, with no or hardly any health and safety standards, exposing workers and the surrounding neighborhoods to extensive health dangers as well as leading to substantial environmental pollution. Treatment processes of e-waste aim to remove the hazardous components and recover as much reusable material (e.g. metals, glass and plastics) as possible; achieving both objectives is most desired. The paper discuss societal implications of proper e-waste management and key elements to be considered in the policy design at country level.
References
1. Baldé CP, Wang F, Kuehr R, Huisman J. The global e-waste monitor – 2014. Bonn, Germany: United Nations University, IAS – SCYCLE, 2015.Suche in Google Scholar
2. Perkins DN, Brune-Drisse MN, Nxele T, Sly PD. E-Waste: a global hazard. Annals of Global Health 2015;80(4):286-95.10.1016/j.aogh.2014.10.001Suche in Google Scholar PubMed
3. Magalini F, Crock W, Kuehr R. EWA. Toolkit: practical guide to e-waste management system design. Bonn, Germany: United Nations University, IAS – SCYCLE, 2013.Suche in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
- A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
- A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
- Exposure to Metals
- Arsenic projects in SE Asia
- Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
- Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
- Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
- Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
- Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
- Mining
- Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
- The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
- Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
- Hazardous Waste
- Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
- Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
- Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
- Water
- Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
- Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
- Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
- Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
- What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
- Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
- Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
- Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
- Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
- Environmental Justice and Human Rights
- Creating healthy and just bioregions
- Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
- Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
- Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
- EcoSystem
- Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
- Exposure to e-waste
- E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
- Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
- E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
- E-waste interventions in Ghana
- CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
- Cancer
- Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
- Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review
- Children
- Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the South Pacific: how might it be impacting children?
- Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
- Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
- Emerging issues
- Bayesian networks in infectious disease eco-epidemiology
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- Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) personal exposure evaluation on mechanics and administrative officers at the motor vehicle testing center at Pulo Gadung, DKI Jakarta
- Life cycle assessment of dairy farms
