83
A sensible aspect that impacts E-waste management is the economic value of the
materials found in waste electrical and electronic equipment, such as valuable
metals as copper, gold and silver, as well as critical materials as tungsten, niobium
and cobalt. Thus, it must be considered the hazardous potential in its handling – a
real question to be faced by stakeholders and government when the workforce
infrastructure is poorly automated.
However, in the early 1990s, many organizations have been conceived to deal
with E-waste secondary products, since the waste electrical and electronic equipment
(E-waste) and Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances directives have been
published. This type of organizations is focused on the circular business model and
has the challenge of accomplishing sustainability in a stricto sensu way. Thus, over
the last two decades, huge countries were established to recover strategic and critical
elements from E-waste, and it may be the most up-to-date case in waste management
history. Regarding ‘sustainability’, Awasthi et al. (2018) state that it is an ideal and
a moral compromise requiring a social commitment in waste management,
especially in developing countries where the waste pickers are acting instead of
specific machinery.
Recycling tools for waste management, in general, seem to be provided according to demand and technical resources available, and closing loop is the implementation of a best practice long-term orientation. However, to invest in primitive
E-waste recycling is a hazardous alternative for health and environment quality
(Jiang et al. 2017).
Some critical barriers to E-waste management must be faced by stakeholders to
meet sustainable requirements. In this context, the aim of this chapter is to analyse
the main recycling challenges related to E-waste management in developing
countries. For this purpose, the main barriers to E-waste reverse logistics adoption
in developing countries were also discussed, and some solutions were indicated.
As main findings of this research, we can point out the categorization of the barriers into financial/economics, environmental, market related, legal, policy related,
management, knowledge related and technical and technological related. Finally, as
main contributions of this chapter are the compilation of information related to
recycling challenges of E-waste in developing countries, and the identification of
some solutions and actions to overcome these barriers is also performed, which can
be useful for practitioners and researchers.
5.2 Theoretical Background
5.2.1 Reverse Logistics of e-waste
The definition of reverse logistics comprises different approaches presented in regulations, standards or technical studies around the world. The proposal of the
American Reverse Logistics Executive Council (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke 1998)
5 Recycling Challenges for Electronic Consumer Products to E-Waste: A Developing…
A sensible aspect that impacts E-waste management is the economic value of the
materials found in waste electrical and electronic equipment, such as valuable
metals as copper, gold and silver, as well as critical materials as tungsten, niobium
and cobalt. Thus, it must be considered the hazardous potential in its handling – a
real question to be faced by stakeholders and government when the workforce
infrastructure is poorly automated.
However, in the early 1990s, many organizations have been conceived to deal
with E-waste secondary products, since the waste electrical and electronic equipment
(E-waste) and Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances directives have been
published. This type of organizations is focused on the circular business model and
has the challenge of accomplishing sustainability in a stricto sensu way. Thus, over
the last two decades, huge countries were established to recover strategic and critical
elements from E-waste, and it may be the most up-to-date case in waste management
history. Regarding ‘sustainability’, Awasthi et al. (2018) state that it is an ideal and
a moral compromise requiring a social commitment in waste management,
especially in developing countries where the waste pickers are acting instead of
specific machinery.
Recycling tools for waste management, in general, seem to be provided according to demand and technical resources available, and closing loop is the implementation of a best practice long-term orientation. However, to invest in primitive
E-waste recycling is a hazardous alternative for health and environment quality
(Jiang et al. 2017).
Some critical barriers to E-waste management must be faced by stakeholders to
meet sustainable requirements. In this context, the aim of this chapter is to analyse
the main recycling challenges related to E-waste management in developing
countries. For this purpose, the main barriers to E-waste reverse logistics adoption
in developing countries were also discussed, and some solutions were indicated.
As main findings of this research, we can point out the categorization of the barriers into financial/economics, environmental, market related, legal, policy related,
management, knowledge related and technical and technological related. Finally, as
main contributions of this chapter are the compilation of information related to
recycling challenges of E-waste in developing countries, and the identification of
some solutions and actions to overcome these barriers is also performed, which can
be useful for practitioners and researchers.
5.2 Theoretical Background
5.2.1 Reverse Logistics of e-waste
The definition of reverse logistics comprises different approaches presented in regulations, standards or technical studies around the world. The proposal of the
American Reverse Logistics Executive Council (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke 1998)
5 Recycling Challenges for Electronic Consumer Products to E-Waste: A Developing…