Production and Management of E-Waste

This article discusses the production and management of e-waste in China and the United States. It provides information on the amount of e-waste produced by these countries and the reasons behind it. The article also suggests strategies to efficiently limit the amount of e-waste that is produced. It further discusses the e-waste management strategies implemented by the State Council of China and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, it highlights the efforts of various organizations under the United Nations to reduce e-waste production on a global scale.

Running head: PRODUCTON AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
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1PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
How much e-waste do these countries produce?
Electronic waste, abbreviated as ‘e-waste’, comprises of the electrical or electronic appliances and
devices which have been disposed. These include discarded keyboards, scanners, monitors, cables,
mice, video cameras, clocks, flashlights, lamps, phones, calculators, circuit boards and DVD or CD
players (Kumar, Holuszko and Espinosa 2017). As evident from the given figure (Figure 1), the
countries who are primarily leading in their production of e-waste are China (7.2 million metric
tonnes) and the United States (6.3 million metric tonnes). Some of the major reasons which have
contributed to such a high production of e-waste in countries like China include: a rapid economical
growth across the nation and a gradual increase in the demand for using electronic appliances across
the population (Fu et al. 2018). Indeed, the rapid increase in the demand and usage of e-waste
across households in China, from 20, 000 to almost 10, 000, through the years 1985 to 2014, is
evident in the given figures (Figure 2) and hence, reflects the association between population growth
and e-waste generation in the nation as reported by the China Household Electric Appliance
Research Institute (Hao 2017).
China is also a major importer of e-waste from various nations worldwide, hence contributing to its
large e-waste production, comprising of domestic as well as international sources. A major
contributor to these imports is interestingly, the United States, which has been estimated to export
10 to 50% of its e-waste to nations which are undergoing rapid economically development (Tansel
2017).
Figure 2: Quantities of domestic electronic appliances owned by households in China (Source: (Hao 2017)
Figure 1: Showing the top 10 countries by the amount of e=waste generated in 2016

2PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
How can we efficiently limit the amount of e-waste that is produced?
One of strategies with which China managed its large production of discarded and used electronics,
as denoted by the United Nations University, is the ‘Home Appliance Old for New Rebate Program’
(Figure 3). As per this strategy, discounts in the purchase of new electronic appliances were provided
to households to discarded their used devices to collectors who have been allocated by the
government. These collectors then transfer the collected waste to recycling centres, again licensed
by the government, who would then treat the same in an environmentally sustainable. This led to
the treatment of approximately 80% of the 61.3 million appliances which had been procured from
Chinese households within the year 2011 (Powell 2019).
To further combat the production of e-waste, the State Council of China has implemented the need
for a system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which was required by the Ministry of
Environmental Protection to legal implement. Based on this system, manufacturers of electrical
appliances in China must use designs which are environmental friendly and recycle or utilise e-waste
during manufacturing as well as provide reports to the government on the environmentally
sustainable practices which they have used (Lu et al. 2015).
E-waste management in the United States included the Reuse of Electronic Equipment and the
Responsible Recycling Practices and the e-stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling, which
resulted in restrictions on e-waste exports and the need for testing recycling strategies for the
presence of any hazards such as the risk of production of heavy metals like mercury (Bridgens et al.
2019). There is still a need to implement more robust e-waste management strategies in the United
States considering that land filling continues to be one of the most prevalently used techniques as
evidenced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 2015) (Figure 4).
Figure 3: Flowchart of China’s ‘Home Appliance Old for New Rebate Program’ (Source: Powell 2019)

3PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
Likewise, for the purpose of overall reduction of e-waste production on a global scale, several
organizations under the United Nations, have begun to work collaboratively, namely the Global
Environment Facility, the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development – hence forming the E-Waste Coalition. As per a report produced by the E-Waste
Coalition and the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), efforts are underway to
achieve reduction of e-waste production to 120 million tonnes a year within 2050, via strategies
such as extraction and reuse of heavy metals from e-waste, manufacturing appliances with a durable
and sustainable design, implementation of exchange programs for utilised electronics and
replacement of ownership of appliances with leasing and rental plans (United Nations Environment
Programme 2019).
Figure 4: E-Waste management strategies in the United States (Source: EPA 2015)

4PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OF E-WASTE
References
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