E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
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Inoka Suraweera
Abstract
E-waste is hazardous, complex and expensive to treat in an environmentally sound manner. The management of e-waste is considered a serious challenge in both developed and developing countries and Sri Lanka is no exception. Due to significant growth in the economy and investments and other reasons the consumption of electronic and electrical equipment in Sri Lanka has increased over the years resulting in significant generation of e-waste. Several initiatives such as introduction of hazardous waste management rules, ratification of the Basel Convention in 1992 and the introduction of a National Corporate E-waste Management Program have been undertaken in Sri Lanka to manage e-waste. Strengthening policy and legislation, introducing methods for upstream reduction of e-waste, building capacity of relevant officers, awareness raising among school children and the general public and development of an e-waste information system are vital. Research on e-waste needs to be developed in Sri Lanka. The health sector could play a leading role in the provision of occupational health and safety for e-waste workers, advocacy, capacity building of relevant staff and raising awareness among the general public about e-waste. Improper e-waste management practices carried out by informal sector workers need to be addressed urgently in Sri Lanka.
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©2016 by De Gruyter
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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
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- 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
- Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 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
