E-waste: The contemporary Threat

to Environment

Sherafghan

1
 E-waste
(e-waste) refers to electronic products that have
finished their useful life, which include;

E-waste represents one of the fastest growing waste

types in developed regions.
According to the US EPA (2006), the term electronic waste
2
The composition of WEEE by w eight. Source: EEA 3
Potential environmental contaminants associated
with E-waste
The chemical composition of E-waste varies depending
on the age and type of the discarded item.

. E-waste is composed of a mixture of metals,

particularly Cu, Al, and Fe, attached to, covered
with, or mixed with various types of plastics and
ceramics (Hoffmann,1992).
A discarded personal computer with a CRT monitor
typically weighs 25 kg and consists of:
metal (43.7%)
plastics (23.3%)
electronic components (17.3%)
and glass (15%)

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 Heavy Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment(WEEE)items

Virtually. all E-waste contains some valuable components or

base materials, especially Cu. These are environmentally
important, because they provide an incentive for recycling, whic
occurs predominantly in poor countries, and may result in a
human health risk or environmental pollution.

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per year, is similar to the above calculation of the E-waste produced in
rich countries. Again, the total global E-waste production will be
considerably higher because some of the data are six years old. Similarly,
the mass of WEEE produced will be higher because it includes heavy
.
electrical items, such as refrigerators and air conditioning units.
Adjusting the calculated figure of 13.9 million tonnes per year for
the 20% growth in the World's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the
last five years, gives 16.8 million tonnes. Given that computers form
the bulk of E-waste and that most E-waste is produced in rich
countries (Cobbing, 2008), it is probable that the actual global E-waste
production is 2025 million tonnes per year, at the lower end of the
United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP's) estimation of 20
50 million tonnes per year (UNEP, 2006).

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E-waste : human health hazard

7
The current and future global production of E-waste

In 2006, the world's production of E-waste was

estimated at 2050 million tonnes per year (UNEP, 2006),

Cobbing (2008) calculated that computers, mobile telephones

. and television sets would contribute 5.5 million tonnes to the E-
waste stream in 2010, rising to 9.8 million tonnes in 2015.

In rich countries, E-waste may constitute some 8%

by volume of municipal waste (Widmer et al., 2005).

The contribution of an item to the annual E-waste production, E

(kg/year) depends on the mass of the item, M (kg), the number of
units in service, N, and its average lifespan, L (years)
E =MN/ L . Eq. (1).

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The current and future global production of
E-waste

. which have an average lifespan of three years

(Betts, 2008a), comprise a greater proportion of
WEEE than refrigerators and ovens, which have
lifespans of 1012 years.

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Some WEEE items along with their mass and expected lifetimes

10
 global E-waste production

Switzerland
Calculatingproduces
global E-waste
9 kg per
production
personrequires
per year
information
(Sinha-Khetriwal
on the numberetof
al.,
items
2005).
in service.
. Europeans
These dataproduce
are generally
E-waste
available
at a rate
in rich
of 14
countries
kg per
so E-waste production
person
can per
be calculated using Eq.
E =MN/
year L .2004).
(Goosey, Eq. (1).
The United States produced some 2.63 million
tonnes
in 2005 (Cobbing, 2008)
 (continued)

China produced 2.5 million tonnes

(Liu et al., 2006).
.
E-waste production data for poorer countries are less
readily available. India and Thailand are estimated to
have, respectively, produced just 0.33 and 0.1 million
tonnes of E-waste in 2007
(Cobbing, 2008).

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TRANSBOUNDARY
MOVEMENT OF
E-WASTE

Data sources : The World Bank,

World Development Indicators
2004, The Electronic Wast Guide,
Basel Action Network, Silicon
Valley Toxic Coalition, Toxic Link
India, SCOPE (Pakistan),
Greenpeace China, 2002..

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 Recycling
E-waste recycling involves the disassembly and
destruction of the equipment to recover new
materials (Cui and Zhang, 2008).
.
Recycling can recover 95% of the useful materials from
computer and 45% of materials from cathode ray tube
monitors (Ladou and Lovegrove, 2008).
In rich countries, such as Japan, high tech recycling
operations function well with little environmental impact
(Aizawa et al., 2008).

Modern techniques can recover high-Pb glass from

discarded CRT with minimal environmental impact (Andreola
et al., 2007).

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 Continued

Recycling always has a lower ecological impact

than
landfilling of incinerated E-waste (Hischier et al.,
.
2005).
Mechanical separation of components is the first step in E-
waste recycling. Components may be separated for reuse or
metallurgical processing (He et al., 2006).

This process can be automated or carried

out by hand. In poor countries, there is a risk that children
may be employed to separate E-waste components (Ladou
and Lovegrove, 2008).

An open flame is often used to free components

(Manomaivibool, 2009), which may result in exposure to
volatilised contaminants. 15
Fluxes of contaminants associated with E-waste from producers to receivers and
ultimately to humans

16
17
 Environment contamination E-waste

Waters and aquatic systems

.
Air

Soils and terrestrial environments

Humans

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 Scenario In Pakistan

a major destination for e-waste, receiving large volumes

from the EU, Australia, and the US, with transshipment often
. through Hong Kong or Singapore.
has ratified the Basel Convention, and has produced its
own relevant legislation.

Pakistan's Environmental Protection Act of 1997 prohibits

the import of hazardous waste.

The National Environment Policy of 2005 and Import

Policy Order of 2009 further define and restrict hazardous
materials.
Despite this policy framework, a large recycling industry
imports what is commonly but inaccurately labeled as
second-hand equipments. 19
 Electronic Waste in Pakistan

In Pakistan, the computers and other obsolete

electronic goods are imported under the pretext
. of 'second-hand equipment.

A small percentage of the items imported are

usable. In practice, after removing the working
machines and usable parts, the bulk of the
consignment is sent to the
recycling industry

Hundreds of workers, including teenage

children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling the
electronic scrap and extracting valuable
components 20
 E-waste has Environmental repercussions of
the various highly toxic elements like lead,
.
cadmium, barium, mercury and chromium which
are released during the dismantling of these used
computers.

There is no proper system to recycle and

dispose e-waste in Pakistan, which is a serious
issue.

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 Challenges

Lack of Awareness regarding E-Wastes

Inadequate regulatory measures, inadequate

.
strategies and weak implementation of law

Lack of Technical Expertise in this area

Lack of coordination among different

Stakeholders and Ministries /Departments

Lack of system to regulate the import of refurbished

computers

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 The E-waste issue so far has received little
attention from government and non-government
. environmental bodies

Inadequate funding available for the

implementation of the various provisions of the
Basel Convention.

Proper inventories of Hazardous Waste

including E-waste are not available.

Research work has not been done in this area

so far
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 Actions Required to Cope with the Challenges

Institutional Framework for the implementation of Basel

Convention need to be strengthened forthwith.

Regulatory measures including development of National

. Implementation Plan and strategies of the Convention need
to
be prepared and implemented.

Public awareness is another area of prime importance

need to
be focused by the Ministry and the other relevant
Stakeholders.

So far no strategy has been devised to tackle e-waste in

Pakistan

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 E-Waste Problem

to establish more effective strategies/legislations

for E-Waste management in Pakistan.

. check the suitability of second-hand/refurbished

electronics.

determine the detrimental impact of E-waste

processing on public health and environment.

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 China, India and Pakistan are all parties to the
Basel Convention, which means that more
. enforcement is needed to control filtration of E-
waste from one country to other.

A special fund should be set up by developed

countries to educate workers in the industry and
law enforcing agencies regarding the hazards
from E-waste

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Conclusions

E-waste is omnipresent. It is characterised by its unusual

chemical composition and the difficulties associated with
determining its mass and flux at both local and global
scales.
.Contamination associated with E-waste has already
caused considerable environmental degradation in poor
countries and negatively affected the health of the people
who live there.

Cleansing of such large contaminated sites is probably

unfeasible, since they have been heavily contaminated
with numerous contaminants, many of which are poorly
studied.

However, the negative effects of the contaminants at these

sites may be reduced using standard remediation.

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 There is limited knowledge on the ecological
effects, human health risks and remediation
. options for some E-waste contaminants, such
as Li and Sb, since they are not
normally environmental pollutants.

Rich countries have self-interest in mitigating

the negative environmental effects of E-waste
because it will negatively affect the quality and
quantity of food and manufactured
goods that are imported from poor countries

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Current Research work

Based on these facts and findings, the current research

will be focusing the quantification
And characterization of toxic elements released from the
E-waste hotspot in Pakistan
objectives

To identify and report the hotspots of E-

waste in Pakistan
To find abundance, composition, and
levels of the toxic elements in the E-
waste,
To highlight ecological risk associated with
the E waste to create awareness
regarding electronic hazards in general
population in Pakistan
.

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