99
E-waste from developed countries like the United States and Europe (redistributed
by Singapore or Taiwan) because it is a very cheap site for E-waste recycling.
Karachi receives the major portion of E-waste imported to Pakistan (89.39% in total
estimated) followed by Lahore (Imran et al. 2017).
To avoid the entrance of E-waste in Pakistan, the government prohibited E-waste
imports. It is also a signatory to the Basel Convention and has its own relevant
legislation regarding E-waste imports: the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act
(1997), Pakistan National Environment Policy (2005) and Pakistan Import Policy
Order (2016). However, they are still being imported as second-hand items or illegally. The illegal import is also estimated in an annual average of 95.4 kilotonnes,
constituted mostly by computers and related products (Imran et al. 2017).
There is no registered recycling facility in the country. Precarious recycling practices like physical dismantling, open burning, acid bathing and use of blowtorches
are performed in open air and in small workshops. Hundreds of workers including
teenage children work in dismantling and extraction of valuable materials.
Consequently, damaging practices have been used for recycling E-waste, but
governmental and non-governmental organizations have not been dedicated to
solving this problem (Iqbal et al. 2015). Imran et al. (2017) also emphasize that the
recycling work is manually realized without protective equipment.
To improve this scenario, Iqbal et al. (2015) suggest the enforcement of the existent laws, such as the Basel Convention, as a first action followed by the enactment
of specific national E-waste legislation. However, Imran et al. (2017) state that the
existing legislation is not sufficient for the challenge imposed. They suggest the
necessity to establish controls in imports, environmental management (handling,
storing, sorting and transporting of discarded items), controls for illegal imports and
adequate E-waste workers health conditions to better support manufacturers,
employees and other stakeholders.
5.4.2 Results Discussion
After analysing the main characteristics of E-waste management in developing
countries, it was possible to categorize some barriers that avoid the efficiency in this
process, cited by the articles analysed, which are presented in Table 5.3.
In our study, the most prominent barriers are those related to management and
political issues. Some other researches related to barriers to adoption of reverse
logistics were published in the last years.
Baldé et al. (2017) highlight the lack of reliable E-waste data at the country level,
which we can verify in this research. The Global E-waste Monitor 2017 found that
only 41 countries in the world collect international statistics on E-waste.
Abdulrahman et al. (2014) studied the barriers of reverse logistics in China and
found four categories: (i) management; (ii) financial; (iii) policy and (iv) infrastructure. In addition, Prakash and Barua (2015) performed a study of barriers in India,
related to E-waste reverse logistics. The authors found barriers similar to what we
5 Recycling Challenges for Electronic Consumer Products to E-Waste: A Developing…
E-waste from developed countries like the United States and Europe (redistributed
by Singapore or Taiwan) because it is a very cheap site for E-waste recycling.
Karachi receives the major portion of E-waste imported to Pakistan (89.39% in total
estimated) followed by Lahore (Imran et al. 2017).
To avoid the entrance of E-waste in Pakistan, the government prohibited E-waste
imports. It is also a signatory to the Basel Convention and has its own relevant
legislation regarding E-waste imports: the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act
(1997), Pakistan National Environment Policy (2005) and Pakistan Import Policy
Order (2016). However, they are still being imported as second-hand items or illegally. The illegal import is also estimated in an annual average of 95.4 kilotonnes,
constituted mostly by computers and related products (Imran et al. 2017).
There is no registered recycling facility in the country. Precarious recycling practices like physical dismantling, open burning, acid bathing and use of blowtorches
are performed in open air and in small workshops. Hundreds of workers including
teenage children work in dismantling and extraction of valuable materials.
Consequently, damaging practices have been used for recycling E-waste, but
governmental and non-governmental organizations have not been dedicated to
solving this problem (Iqbal et al. 2015). Imran et al. (2017) also emphasize that the
recycling work is manually realized without protective equipment.
To improve this scenario, Iqbal et al. (2015) suggest the enforcement of the existent laws, such as the Basel Convention, as a first action followed by the enactment
of specific national E-waste legislation. However, Imran et al. (2017) state that the
existing legislation is not sufficient for the challenge imposed. They suggest the
necessity to establish controls in imports, environmental management (handling,
storing, sorting and transporting of discarded items), controls for illegal imports and
adequate E-waste workers health conditions to better support manufacturers,
employees and other stakeholders.
5.4.2 Results Discussion
After analysing the main characteristics of E-waste management in developing
countries, it was possible to categorize some barriers that avoid the efficiency in this
process, cited by the articles analysed, which are presented in Table 5.3.
In our study, the most prominent barriers are those related to management and
political issues. Some other researches related to barriers to adoption of reverse
logistics were published in the last years.
Baldé et al. (2017) highlight the lack of reliable E-waste data at the country level,
which we can verify in this research. The Global E-waste Monitor 2017 found that
only 41 countries in the world collect international statistics on E-waste.
Abdulrahman et al. (2014) studied the barriers of reverse logistics in China and
found four categories: (i) management; (ii) financial; (iii) policy and (iv) infrastructure. In addition, Prakash and Barua (2015) performed a study of barriers in India,
related to E-waste reverse logistics. The authors found barriers similar to what we
5 Recycling Challenges for Electronic Consumer Products to E-Waste: A Developing…