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China is among the countries facing the most serious pollution effects of e-waste. Many studies have focused on e-waste recycling laws and regulations, recycling technologies, and the pollution situation in China. However, there is a lack of case studies from the perspective of the residents' attitudes and opinions about e-waste recycling. Based on 474 families surveyed by questionnaire, this study, taking Zhuhai City as one example, investigated residents' behaviors and attitudes toward e-waste disposal, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for e-waste recycling. A majority (76.4%) of respondents realized that the improper treatment of e-waste would cause serious threats to the environment and human health. Only 38.2% of respondents were willing to pay for e-waste recycling. Most respondents believed that the fee should be borne by government and manufacturers. These results imply that income level and satisfaction with management will promote WTP significantly, whereas the recovery price is a negative influence on the respondents' WTP. The WTP values were positively correlated with environmental awareness and income at 5% and 10%, respectively. Finally, the estimated average monthly WTP value per household in Zhuhai City is 10.2 RMB ($1.6). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global electronic waste management is emerging as a critical issue, especially in developing countries. Collective societal effort and scientific innovation are required along with interdisciplinary approaches to the development of sustainable technologies for recycling precious metals. Bioprospecting of electronic waste is a promising approach to provide economic, environmental, and public health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental deterioration and health risk due to improper e-waste management has become a serious issue in India. The major portion of e-waste reaches an unorganized e-waste recycling sector and is then treated by using crude methods. This review article presents a brief highlight on e-waste management status, legislation, and technology uses in India. The present e-waste management needs to be more focused on environmentally sound management, by more active support from all the participants involved in the e-waste flow chain in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The used electronic product (UEP) has attracted the worldwide attentions because part of e-waste may be exported from developed countries to developing countries in the name of UEP. On the basis of large foreign trade data of electronic products (e-products), this study adopted the trade data approach (TDA) to quantify the potential exports of UEP in Macau, taking a case study of personal computers (PCs). The results show that the desktop mainframes, LCD monitors, and CRT monitors have more low-unit-value trades with higher trade volumes in the past 10 years, while the laptop and tablet PCs, as the newer technologies, owned the higher ratios of the high-unit-value trades. During the period of 2005-2015, the total mean exports for used laptop and tablet PCs, desktop mainframes, and LCD monitors were approximately 18,592, 79,957, and 43,177 units, respectively, while the possible export volume of used CRT monitors was higher, up to 430,098 units in 2000-2010. Noticed that these potential export volumes could be the lower bound because not all used PCs may be shipped using the PC trade code. For all the four kinds of used PCs, the majority (61.6-98.82%) of the export volumes have gone to Hong Kong, followed by Mainland China and Taiwan. Since 2011, there was no CRT monitor export; however, the other kinds of used PC exports will still exist in Macau in the future. The outcomes are helpful to understand and manage the current export situations of used products in Macau, and can also provide a reference for other countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has recently attracted worldwide attention because of high metal concentrations in them. Evolution of toxic and precious metals utilized in WEEE can not only reflect the adventure of eco-design, but can also guide the final recycling option. Pb, As, Cu, Au, Sn and Ag were determined in 10 composite samples of printed circuit boards of cathode ray tube televisions (TV–PCBs) that were produced between 1980 and 2005. The obtained results indicated that average metal concentrations in all TV–PCBs were – Cu: 10.6 ± 4.1%, Sn: 4.21 ± 0.90%, Pb: 3.15 ± 0.54%, Ag: 0.0215 ± 0.0068%, Au: 0.0068 ± 0.0049% and As: 0.0007 ± 0.0004%. No remarkable difference was found in compositions of Pb and Sn over the years, suggesting that there were no major modifications of Sn/Pb solder used in joining the circuitry system. The average composition of Cu fluctuated between 5.10% in 1980 and 12.8% in the mid-1990s and decreased afterwards. The decreases in Ag and Cu compositions could possibly be associated with thinner layers of these metals in newer model products. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing concerns on resource depletion and environmental pollution have largely obliged electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) should be tackled in an environmentally sound manner. Recycling process development is regarded as the most effective and fundamental to solve the e-waste problem. Based on global achievements related to e-waste recycling in the past 15 years, we first propose a theory to design an e-waste recycling process, including measuring e-waste recyclability and selection of recycling process. And we summarize the indicators and tools in terms of resource dimension, environmental dimension, and economic dimension, to examine the e-waste recycling process. Using the sophisticated experience and adequate information of e-waste management, spent lithium-ion batteries and waste printed circuit boards are chosen as case studies to implement and verify the proposed method. All the potential theory and obtained results in this work can contribute to future e-waste management toward best available techniques and best environmental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) volume is increasing, worldwide. In 2011, the Chinese government issued new regulations on WEEE recycling and disposal, establishing a WEEE treatment subsidy funded by a levy on producers of electrical and electronic equipment. In order to evaluate WEEE recycling treatment costs and revenue possibilities under the new regulations, and to propose suggestions for cost-effective WEEE management, a comprehensive revenue-expenditure model (REM), were established for this study, including 7 types of costs, 4 types of fees, and one type of revenue. Since TV sets dominated the volume of WEEE treated from 2013 to 2014, with a contribution rate of 87.3%, TV sets were taken as a representative case. Results showed that the treatment cost varied from 46.4 RMB/unit to 82.5 RMB/unit, with a treatment quantity of 130,000 units to 1,200,000 units per year in China. Collection cost accounted for the largest portion (about 70.0%), while taxes and fees (about 11.0 %) and labor cost (about 7.0 %) contributed less. The average costs for disposal, sales, and taxes had no influence on treatment quantity (TQ). TQ might have an adverse effect on average labor and management costs; while average collection and purchase fees, and financing costs, would vary with purchase price, and the average sales fees and taxes would vary with the sales of dismantled materials and other recycled products. Recycling enterprises could reduce their costs by setting up online and offline collection platforms, cooperating with individual collectors, creating door-to-door collection channels, improving production efficiency and reducing administrative expenditures. The government could provide economic incentives—such as subsidies, low-cost loans, tax cuts and credits—and could also raise public awareness of waste management and environmental protection, in order to capture some of the WEEE currently discarded into the general waste stream. Foreign companies with advanced WEEE utilization technology could invest or participate in this area, producing profits for themselves while helping to develop and implement environmentally friendly and energy-saving technologies applicable to the Chinese market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of recycling metal to embrace the sustainability challenge, this work proposes a geochemically-analogous process of metal recovery through mechanochemistry for the first time, to avoid the limitations of on-going methods and to establish an innovative technology philosophy. This work systematically investigates this geochemically-analogous process, to keep it green and to generalize it further. Copper recovery from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs), a typical copper-rich waste, is chosen as a case study in this work. Nearly 98% of the copper in the WPCBs can be recycled in the optimized conditions and 82.3% of the sulfur can be reused, by means of the process. Based on the experimental result, this paper purports a closed-loop route of copper recovery which follows the green chemistry principles (high yield, high atom economy and no secondary pollution). This route can be generalized into other second-hand resources that are rich in copper. Some other metals (e.g. lead) that are commonly present as corresponding sulfides in nature can be taken into consideration in this geochemically-analogous process as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (e-waste) is the most rapidly growing waste stream in the world, and the majority of the residues are openly disposed of in developing countries. Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) make up the major portion of e-waste, and their informal recycling can cause environmental pollution and health risks. Furthermore, the conventional disposal and recycling techniques-mechanical treatments used to recover valuable metals, including copper-are not sustainable in the long term. Chemical leaching is rapid and efficient but causes secondary pollution. Bioleaching is a promising approach, eco-friendly and economically feasible, but it is slower process. This review considers the recycling potential of microbes and suggests an integrated bioleaching approach for Cu extraction and recovery from WPCBs. The proposed recycling system should be more effective, efficient and both technically and economically feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste), is an emerging and fast growing waste stream in the world. Among all the e-waste, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) are significantly recyclable in principle, but in practice, recycling is often inefficient because of limits imposed by hazardous behavior, recycling technologies, and the composition of glass. These topics were studied in this paper based on their characteristics and concluded the recycling challenges and most recent developed recycling technologies that could improve recycling rates. As a global society, we are currently far away from a closed-loop material system because the demand for CRT glass closed-loop recycling is extremely limited. However, much improvement is possible through recent developed recycling technologies but the challenge for the future is to transfer these environmentally friendly and energy-saving technologies into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal recycling of waste (including e-waste) is an emerging source of environmental pollution in India. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and heavy metals, among other substances, are a major health concern for workers engaged in waste disposal and processing, and for residents living near these facilities, and are also a detriment to the natural environment. The main objective of this review article was to evaluate the status of these impacts. The review found that, huge quantity of e-waste/waste generated, only a small amount is treated formally; the remainder is processed through the informal sector. We also evaluated the exposure pathways, both direct and indirect, and the human body load markers (e.g., serum, blood, breast milk, urine, and hair), and assessed the evidence for the association between these markers and e-waste exposure. Our results indicated that the open dumping and informal e-waste recycling systems should be replaced by the best available technology and environmental practices, with proper monitoring and regular awareness programs for workers and residents. Further and more detailed investigation in this area is also recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to comparative examining and analysis of electronic and electric waste (e-waste) between developing and developed countries. In fact, most of the developing countries are suffering from informal recycling, because of enormous number of unemployed people engaged in the collection and recycling at family workshop. They are working in different level of community for collection of refused electronic products directly from consumer, followed by sell it to refurbishers and recyclers. These are completely recycled through “backyard recycling” or primitive or crude methods includes open burning to extract metals, acid leaching for precious metals at family level workshop. These activities are running due to lacking of legislation, treatment standards, environmental protection measures, recycling infrastructure and awareness. Due to absence of updated data of WEEE generation in India with respect of other two countries China, USA and Europe, it cannot possible to make effective control system. The study is based on literature survey by using different database science direct, google scholar with several keywords such as key words e-waste or electronic waste or WEEE recycling or management in India, China, USA and Europe etc. The obtained output from this comprehensive work will make a strong contribution to scientific knowledge and valuable for scientists and policy-makers to solve the e-waste problems towards best available techniques and best environmental practices in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, there has been much effort to promote the management of e-waste in China. Policies have been affected to prohibit imports and to control pollution. Research has been conducted in laboratories and on large-scale industrial operations. A subsidy system to support sound e-waste recycling has been put in place. However, the handling of e-waste is still a concern in China and the issue remains unresolved. There has been relatively little work to follow up this issue or to interpret continuing problems from the perspective of sustainable development. This paper first provides a brief overview of conventional and emerging environmental pollution in Chinese 'famous' e-waste dismantling areas, including Guiyu in Guangdong and Wenling in Zhejiang. Environmentalists have repeatedly proven that these areas are significantly polluted. Importing and backyard recycling are decreasing but are ongoing. Most importantly, no work is being done to treat or remediate the contaminated environmental media. The situation is exacerbated by the rising tide of e-waste generated by domestic update of various electronics. This study, therefore, employs a Sales Obsolescence Model approach to predict the generation of e-waste. When accounting for weight, approximately 8 million tons of e-waste will be generated domestically in 2015, of which around 50 % is ferrous metals, followed by miscellaneous plastic (30 %), copper metal and cables (8 %), aluminum (5 %), and others (7 %). Of this, 3.6 % will come from scrap PCBs and 0.2 % from lead CRT glass. While more and more end-of-life electronics have been collected and treated by formal or licensed recyclers in China in terms of our analysis, many of them only have dismantling and separation activities. Hazardous e-wastes, including those from PCBs, CRT glass, and brominated flame retardant (BFR) plastics, have become problematic and probably flow to small or backyard recyclers without environmentally sound management. Traditional technologies are still being used to recover precious metals-such as cyanide method of gold hydrometallurgy-from e-waste. While recovery rates of precious metals from e-waste are above 50 %, it has encountered some challenges from environmental considerations. Worse, many critical metals contained in e-waste are lost because the recovery rates are less than 1 %. On the other hand, this implies that there is opportunity to develop the urban mine of the critical metals from e-waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) recycling industries in China have been through several phases from spontaneous informal family workshops to qualified enterprises with treatment fund. This study attempts to analyse the development potential of the e-waste recycling industry in China from the perspective of both time and scale potential. An estimation and forecast of e-waste quantities in China shows that, the total e-waste amount reached approximately 5.5 million tonnes in 2013, with 83% of air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions sand computers. The total quantity is expected to reach ca. 11.7 million tonnes in 2020 and 20 million tonnes in 2040, which indicates a large increase potential. Moreover, the demand for recycling processing facilities, the optimal service radius of e-waste recycling enterprises and estimation of the profitability potential of the e-waste recycling industry were analysed. Results show that, based on the e-waste collection demand, e-waste recycling enterprises therefore have a huge development potential in terms of both quantity and processing capacity, with 144 and 167 e-waste recycling facilities needed, respectively, by 2020 and 2040. In the case that e-waste recycling enterprises set up their own collection points to reduce the collection cost, the optimal collection service radius is estimated to be in the range of 173 km to 239 km. With an e-waste treatment fund subsidy, the e-waste recycling industry has a small economic profit, for example ca. US$2.5/unit for television. The annual profit for the e-waste recycling industry overall was about 90 million dollars in 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 20 years, the booming consumer electronics (CE) industry has been rapidly changing the economic and social landscape. This phenomenon is partly raised by the development of ecodesign, which is dedicated to improving the environmental performance of CE, throughout its life cycle. The theory and application of ecodesign have both been improved and expanded, owing largely to the development of more environmentally friendly materials, newly emerging technology, and legislation mandating better handling of CE—both in manufacturing and in waste treatment. Yet many challenges and opportunities remain, including the pressure that the huge CE market exerts on resources; new materials and technology such as carbon nanomaterial and the Internet of Things; the need to balance business profit with environmental impacts and benefits; and a significant shift of focus in the processing of electronic waste—from dismantling for recycling to disassembly for remanufacturing. This critical review article can help create sustainable development strategies from a local solution to global opportunities that will elevate ecodesign or design for environment to a new level in new materials selecting, CE industry development, integrated e-waste management, and legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are commonly added to electronic products for flame-retardation effects, and are attracting more and more attentions due to their potential toxicity, durability and bioaccumulation. This study conducts a sysmtematic review to understand the human exposure to PBDEs from e-waste recycling, especially exploring the exposure pathways and human burden of PBDEs as well as investigating the temporal trend of PBDEs exposure worldwide. The results show that the particular foods (contaminated fish, poultry, meat and breast milk) ingestion, indoor dust ingestion and indoor air inhalation may be key factors leading to human health risks of PBDEs exposure in e-waste recycling regions. Residents and some vulnerable groups (occupational workers and children) in e-waste recycling areas may face higher exposure levels and health risks. PBDE exposure is closely related to exposure level, exposure duration, e-waste recycling methods, and dietary customs. High levels of PBDEs are found in human tissues (breast milk, hair, blood (serum), placenta and other tissues) in e-waste areas, at far higher levels than in other areas. Existing data indicate that PBDE exposure levels do not present any apparent downward trend, and will possibly cause serious human diseases. More epidemiological studies are still needed to provide a solid basis for health risk assessment. Image 1 • It systematically reviewed the global PBDEs exposure pathways and physical burden from e-waste. • Particular foods and dust may be key factors leading to health risks. • Vulnerable groups (occupational workers and children) could face higher exposure levels. • PBDEs exposure trend is decreasing with very slow rate, especially in China. • Researches from developing countries (Vietnam, India, Thailand, Nigeria and Ghana) should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large quantities of e-waste are presently being generated in Macau, but since recycling facilities and laws on e-waste still need to be developed, most e-waste cannot currently be properly treated. Moreover, little is known about residents'' behaviors, attitudes, and their willingness to pay (WTP) for recycling e-waste. These issues are discussed in this study, based on a questionnaire survey on household electronic product usage. In 2010, “Life span completed” was the primary reason respondents abandoned their electronic products, accounting for about 37.97% of responses; the main disposal methods of e-waste in Macau were “Retailers retrieve from consumer” and “Sale to a recycling corporation.” While having little understanding of e-waste disposal issues, most residents were still willing to hand their e-waste into the government for centralized collection. In addition, the respondents gave “telephone reservation” as their preferred collection method. Finally, the residents'' WTP in Macau was estimated by the logistic regression method. It was found that education level, age and household income were the significant factors affecting residents'' WTP. The monthly mean WTP was 20.03MOP (2.50 US dollar) per household, and the annual WTP was approximately 40,185,067 MOP (5,023,133 US dollar) for all of Macau. The results of our study can help managers develop more effective environmental management policies for e-waste disposal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The derived waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, or e-waste) has become a global issue in the areas of environmental pollution, resource recycling, and sustainable industry. China is not only the largest producer and consumer of EEE, but also the country seriously polluted from illegal e-waste importation and informal recycling. In the past decade, China demonstrated a whole process of e-waste adventure: from serious pollution in the start to regulation controlling in the present. Here, we specifically examine the past adventure of e-waste management related to legislation system, and seek to outline the lessons and gaps. The proposed corresponding suggestions of policy could contribute to future China's e-waste management and provide a valuable reference for other countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) has become a global problem, due to its potential environmental pollution and human health risk, and its containing valuable resources (e.g., metals, plastics). Recycling for e-waste will be a necessity, not only to address the shortage of mineral resources for electronics industry, but also to decline environmental pollution and human health risk. To systematically solve the e-waste problem, more attention of e-waste management should transfer from macroscopic to microscopic scales. E-waste processing technology should be significantly improved to diminish and even avoid toxic substance entering into downstream of material. The regulation or policy related to new production of hazardous substances in recycled materials should also be carried out on the agenda. All the findings can hopefully improve WEEE legislation for regulated countries and non-regulated countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Stockholm Convention listed polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) as persistent organic pollutants and banned their addition, alternative halogen flame retardants (AHFRs) have been substituted for PBDEs. This study systematically investigates the change trends of PBDEs and AHFRs from typical e-waste plastics and dust, as well as clarifying human exposure risks of PBDEs in formal and informal e-waste recycling enterprises, repair store and residential building. The results show that the PBDEs levels in five typical types of e-waste vary in the range of 1.08 × 10−3-30.8 μg/g, meeting the requirements of RoHS regulation. Compared with the residential buildings (1.49–1.68 μg/g), PBDEs in the dust from the formal and informal e-waste recycling enterprises are much higher, ranging from 4.70 to 536 μg/g. BDE-209 is the main congener in most e-waste plastic and dust samples. Meanwhile, AHFRs have become the important composition (3.5–61.5%) in e-waste plastics, while its contribution is lower in dust, implying the higher enrichment efficiency of PBDEs. For PBDEs exposure, the dust intake risk of PBDEs is much higher than skin contact for the workers, and the highest hazard quotient (HQ) value (1.40 × 10−1) and cancer risk (CR) value (1.21 × 10−7) both imply safe exposure levels. [Display omitted] • It firstly systemically explores the change trends and health risks of PBDEs. • PBDEs show a decreasing trend and have been gradually substituted for AHFRs. • The enrichment efficiency of PBDEs is higher than AHFRs in dust. • PBDEs exposure in Macau are much higher than that in Foshan. • Hazard quotient and cancer risk both imply safe exposure levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]