Harshit Vishvakarma 1, Dr. Saurabh Agrawal 2 12 Delhi Technological University, Mechanical, Production & Industrial Engineering Department,

Transcription

1 Performance Parameters of E-waste Management in Indian Industries Harshit Vishvakarma 1, Dr. Saurabh Agrawal 2 12 Delhi Technological University, Mechanical, Production & Industrial Engineering Department, Delhi , India Abstract: The electronic waste also known as e-waste is nothing but unwanted electronic and electrical equipment. E-waste is increasing immensely due to the towering growth in the field of information and communication technology and promptly increasing obsolescence of products and rapidly changing choices of consumers. E-waste in itself is not a problem, problem comes with its disposal. This ever-increasing waste has very complex characteristics and requires an equally complex set of efficient technology and processes to deal with it. E-waste management has become an important issue for almost every country and growing concern for the environment, legislation and social responsibility. The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that affects the e-waste management in effective and efficient manner. An approach is made towards assessing the present situation of e-waste management. Considering the technical, social, organizational aspects, with the present regulations and guidelines. It is also important to consider the economic aspects, if the management system has to be made financially viable and sustainable along with socially acceptable. Keywords:e-waste, environmental perspective, financial perspective, ICT, performance parameters. 1.Introduction The revolution brought in twentieth century by the information and communication technology (ICT) has led to enormous changes in the way organization of our lives, economies and institutes are done. Enormous development has been bought by these changes in modern time and enhanced the quality of our lives (Verma and Agarwal, 2014).A vast increase in use and production of information and communication technology (ICT) devices for bridging the gap between the digitally divided people, is also putting a worry towards the growth of e-waste worldwide. E-waste management is required as a number of health problems and substantial environmental damage may be caused by e-waste components, when methods applied for recovery are crude and unscientific (Ramkrishna and Sampasaha, 2015). According to Ramkrishna (2015), E-waste is waste electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part or rejects from their manufacturing and repair process, which are intended to be discarded and dependent on electrical currents or electro-magnetic fields to be fully functional. India ranks 2 nd in the chart for e-waste generation in Asia next to China. Thousand of e-waste is illegally imported to our country which accounts for heavy e-waste generation in India. People have developed business and making money out of disposing e-waste components in an unconventional manner (Sivakumaran et al.,). According to ASSOCHAM report, 18.5 lakhs metric tonnes (MT) of e-waste is produced by India, Mumbai topping the list followed by Delhi and Bangalore, which is very likely to reach to 30 lakhs MT per year by In order to handle e-waste in a sustainable manner, it is extremely important to determine factors for e-waste management which are uncompromising in nature and equally rational as well. Upon extensive literature review, factors are recognized on the basis of different perspectives viz. Strategical, Operational, Financial, Environmental, and Social. 2. Literature review An extensive literature review was done to understand the e-waste management processes on the basis of different perspectives, which are described in following subsections. 2.1 Operational perspective Verma and Agarwal. (2014) talked about the formal and informal sector. Formal sector is where the people employed for the collection and disposal of the e-waste are government authorised which do the e-waste management in environment friendly way. Informal sector is where collection and disposal of e-waste are done by unauthorised persons. They break the e-waste in improper way, keeping the useful part and dumping or burning the remaining waste, which is quite harmful to the environment. Informal sector recycles about 95% of the total e-waste volume and rest 5% is recycled by formal sector. 2.2 Strategical perspective A UGC Recommended Journal Page 9

2 Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India is the nodal agency for policy, planning, promoting and coordinating the programs for e-waste management. talks about implementing the 3R concept for e-waste disposal. 3R includes Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Take back system, according to Srivastava and Sharma (2015), Take back system is a system of collecting back or taking back the used electronic items for recycling and reuse purpose. Lack of collection centres and cost of collection drives the take back system. 2.3 Environmental perspective Vats and Singh (2014) talks about the hazardous elements that e-waste comprises of, viz. lead, cadmium, chromium, hexavalent chromium etc. According to a Rajya sabha report (2011), appropriate rules have been framed under the governments endeavor of environmentally sound e-waste management. Management, handling and transboundary movement rules, as envisioned by the Basel convention. As per these rules a person whoever desires to recycle or reprocess the hazardous waste is required to register with central pollution control board (CPCB), and CPCB should be satisfied with the applicant s environmentally sound recycling capabilities. Ministry of environment and forests deals with the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and for permission to be granted for transit of hazardous wastes through any part of India. With the publication of the guidelines for environmentally sound management of e-waste in march 2008 the concept of Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) has been introduced. According to Rajya sabha research unit, EPR is a strategy for environment protection by making the producer responsible for the entire lifecycle of the product. The producer s responsibility is extended to the post-consumer stage of the lifecycle of the product. 2.4 Financial perspective Likewise, one among the components that influence legitimateelectronic waste management is powerless city accounts, limit and scope. The conveyance of metropolitan administrations in electronic waste management is every now and again influenced by poor funds and absence of appropriate motivators system to guarantee that generators pay for the genuine cost of transfer. The improvement of stable cost-recuperation component has additionally been influenced by restricted administrative limit that counteracts managed enthusiasm by private or self-governing substances in the arrangement of administrations. There isn't sufficient an incentive in most e- waste to take care of the expenses of overseeing it capably and along these lines money related impetuses are essential and required.recycling cost is high and recycling rate is low, for instance 41 smartphones contain 1 gram of gold. And products are becoming swiftly obsolete because of the purchasing power and rapidly changing choices of the people. 2.5 Social perspective Given that one of the difficulties of overseeing electronic waste is absence of open mindfulness on safe transfer of end of life electronic products, sources demonstrate that, there is need toaware people in general on the impacts of these items. In another point of view, purchasers see their loss as an asset that can create wage, in this way the unwillingness of customers to give out their finish of life products for nothing.this perception is further enhanced by the value attached to products by the consumers; there is an inclination to store end of life electric and electronic hardware's particularly cell phones at home regardless of whether these items are old instead of arranging them. The buyers' hesitance to pay for reusing and transfer administrations strengthens the thought that nothing goes to waste and that junk is cash. 3. Identified factors for effective e-waste management On the basis of our study the identified performance parameters that influence the effective E-Waste management are: Table 1: Parameters influencing e-waste management S Factors.No identified 1. Formal & informal sector Explanation 95% of informal sector is active in recycling. There is no proper data about the consumption of ICT equipment, e-waste generated and managed through existing channels. Moreover, some stakeholders like the informal sector are not considered when in developing countries, they form a substantive part of the Reference Verma and Agarwal, (2014) Tiwari and Gauba, (2014) Rajya Sabha (research unit), (2011) A UGC Recommended Journal Page 10

3 recycling process. According to ASSOCHAM report, only 1.5 per cent of total e-waste is recycled by formal recycling sector in an environmentally friendly way. 2. Lack of collection centres Formal sector involved is very small. Scientific collection of e-waste is important for environmentally sound e-waste management system. There comes the concept of collection centre that can be individual or jointly organized. In the collection centre, the collected e-waste is received and stored for dismantling or recycling. Rajya Sabha (research unit) report, (2011) 3. Collection cost Collection cost is high as the activities involved in collection of E-waste is time consuming. 4. Transboundary system Transboundary movement of hazardous waste. Developed countries find it profitable to send e- waste for reuse/ recycling to developing nations because of economic disparities e.g. cost of recycling of a computer in US is $ 20 whereas in India it is $2. So the import of e-waste to India has got enough chance to jump high. Developed countries dump their E-Waste in developing countries. Transboundary movement put a restriction on the movement of hazardous E-Waste materials. 5. Recycling cost Cost of recycling is high, for instance 41 smartphones contain 1gm of gold. And in the world of electronics the recycling program dictates by the one who pays. Nobody is willing to pay for dumping of E-waste. 6. Recycling rates Low recycling rates, the process of recycling is time taking and recycled products produced per unit time is less. For every 1 million smartphones recycled, 35,274 lbs of copper, 772 lbs of silver, 75 lbs of gold, and 33 lbs of palladium can be recovered. Chatterjee, (2009) Mwathi, (2014) Mwathi, (2014) Ghansela S, (2013) Saoji A, (2012) Srivastava and Sharma, (2015) Pradhan T, (2013) Vats and Singh, (2014) ASSOCHAM (2014) Report, 7. Process technology 8. Raw material availability The technology incorporated is less efficient. Enhancing the strategies through the operation and support forms which upgrades the utilization of the crude materials being utilized and thus diminishes the potential for materials to be lost through holes and spills. The method likewise incorporates representative preparing covering each part of procedural taking care of practices for squander minimization. Raw material available for formal sector is less. There are not too many collection centres available in India. And because return value is not as expected both the manufacturer and the businessmen are not at all interested in establishing the collection centres. The mechanism of transportation involved in transporting materials becomes combustion because of the so many legal issues associated. Chatterjee, (2009) Borthakur A et.al, (2012) Priyadarshini et.al, (2012) Verma D et.al, (2014) A UGC Recommended Journal Page 11

4 9. Public awareness 10. Stakeholder s participation 11. Legal framework 12. Health and hazards Zero or nil awareness about the hazards of E-waste among the people Defining responsibilities of prime stake holders at the level of government, supply chain, consumers of ICT equipment and entities for disposal of e-waste. EPR is introduced. Placing responsibility of e-waste management on the producers of the electrical and electronic equipment by introducing the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) by e-waste collection, recycling and raising awareness. EPR is one main feature of the rules, where the producers manage EEE after its end of life by financing and organizing a system to comply with EPR. SPCB and CPCB s management and handling rules, E-waste management rules 2016 Task force working group were formed including members from ministries, regulatory agencies and industry representatives. The businessmen in India are allowed to import waste scrapes against a license. Import of such waste scrapes are allowed if the materials imported are used as raw materials for other component making. Waste importers exploit the gaps in the import laws and continue to import electronic wastes in the name of metal scrapes. Large environmental and health hazards associated because of various hazardous elements present in e- waste. E-waste is highly complex to handle because of its composition. It is comprised of different segments some of which contain harmful substances that adversely affect human wellbeing and condition if not took care and improper recycling and disposal methods are deployed. 76 per cent workers in informal recycling operations in India suffer from respiratory ailments like asthma, bronchitis, choking, coughing, irritation, breathing difficulties and tremors among others. Rajya sabha report, (2011) Ram Krishna and Sampasaha, (2015) Rajya sabha report, (2011) Gaidajis G et.al, (2010) E- waste management rules, (2016) Srivastava and Sharma, (2014) Harivardhini S et.al, (2015) Saoji A, (2012) 4. Conclusion It is fact that e-waste generation is increasing very fast due to obsolescence of the electrical and electronic equipments(eees) and changing lifestyle of the people.thus arising a daunting challenge of e-waste management. About 95% of e-waste is handled by informal sector and not managed in an environmental friendly manner. Individuals either store the out of date hardware in their home or pitch it to the neighborhood gatherers for money related advantages. The legislation regarding e-waste has been introduced lately and also authorities are facing problems with their implementation. Directly there is no authoritative restricting structure for e-waste management. On the basis of different perspectiveswith regard to the management of e-waste, there are quite a few performance parameters that affects effective management of e-waste, which have been identified as follows: Operational perspective includes; formal and informal sector, process technology, raw material availability. Strategical perspective includes; Lack of collection centers, legal framework. Environmental perspective includes; Transboundary system, stakeholder s participation (EPR). Financial perspective includes; recycling rates, recycling cost, collection cost. Social perspective includes; public awareness, health and hazards. This study therefore has established that a holistic approach is required to view the challenges for the effective e- waste management. There are no adequate finances allocated for e-waste management, there is lack of efficient A UGC Recommended Journal Page 12

5 and effective technology which could help recycle, there is zero willingness to pay for the disposal of e-waste. Therefore this study adds to the body of knowledge that, technology, availability of financial resources, people awareness and regulatory framework influence effective e-waste management. 5. References [1]. Verma D., Agarwal S., (2014) E-waste management in India: Problems and Legislations, InternationalJournal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research, Vol.3 pp [2]. Chatterjee, S and Kumar, K., (2009) Effective electronic waste management and recycling process involving formal and non-formal sector. International Journal of Physical Sciences, Vol. 4, pp. 13. [3].Sivakumaran RP, Shanmugasundaram G and Dr.Anandkumar KM., 2015 e-waste recycling issues in india International Journal of Latest Trends in Engineering and Technology Vol.8, pp [4].Tiwari D and Gauba N, 2014 E-waste management: An emerging Challenge to Manage and recover valuable resources, International Journal of Environmental Research and Development, Vol. 4, pp [5]. Pradhan T, 2013 E-waste generation and management in India, Recent Research in Science and Technology, pp [6]. Srivastava R and Sharma D, 2015 Factors Affecting E-Waste Management: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Approach, In the proceeding of 5th International Conference on Communication Systems and Network Technologies. [7].Ghansela S, 2013, Green Strategy for Reducing E-Waste, International journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, Vol.3, No.6, pp [8]. Gupta R and Virender K, 2011 Electronic waste: A case study, Research Journal of Chemical Sciences, Vol 1, pp [9].Priyadharshini S, Haganesh B, Dr. Meenamabal T, 2012 Overview of E-waste management Practice and their legislation in India, International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, vol. 1, pp 1-6. [10].Yoheeswaran E, 2013 E-waste management in India, Global Research Analysis, Vol. 2, pp [11]. Vats MC., Singh S., (2014) Status of E-waste in India- A Review, International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, Vol.3, pp [12].Borthakur A., Singh P., 2012 Electronic waste in India: Problem and policies, International Journal of Environment Science, vol.3, pp [13]. Kumar R., Shah D J., 2014 Current Status of Recycling of Waste Printed Circuit Boards in India, Journal of Environmental Protection. pp [14].Saoji A., 2012 E-waste Management: An emerging environmental and health issue in India, National Journal of Medical Research, Vol.2, pp [15].Nainsi., 2012 E-waste management in India, Journal of Information System and Communication, vol.3, pp [16]. Pascale A, Sosa A and Bares C., 2016, E-waste Informal Recycling: An emerging Source of Lead Exposure in South America, Vol.82, pp [17]. Debnath B, Choudhuri RR and Ghosh SK., 2015, E-waste management: A Potential Route to Green Computing, International conference on Solid Waste Management, Vol.3, pp [18].Gaidajis G, Ankelakoglou K and Aktsoglou D., 2010, E-waste Environmental Problems and Current Management, Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, Vol.3, pp [19]. Gupta J P, Babu S., 1998, A new Hazardous Waste Index, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Vol.67, pp 1-7. [20]. Carolyn C N., 2005, E-waste and the consumer: Improving options to reduce, reuse and recycle, International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, pp [21]. Sinha-Khetriwal D, Kraeuchi P and Schwaninger M., 2005, A comparison of electronic waste recycling in Switzerland and in India, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, pp [22]. Sabha Rajya, E-Waste in India, Research Unit (LARRDIS) Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi., [23].ASSOCHAM., Electronic Waste Management in India an associated Chambers of Commerce of India.,2014. [24]. Central Pollution Control Board. Salient Feautures of the E-Waste (management) Rules Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, [25].Harivardhini S, Chakrabati A., 2015, E-Waste dismantling: profitable at the cost of occupational hazard, IEEE conference on technologies for sustainability, pp [26].Shinkuma T, Huong NTM., 2009, The flow of E-Waste material in the Asiaqn region and a reconsideration of International trade policies on E-Waste, Environmental Impact Assesment, vol.29, pp A UGC Recommended Journal Page 13