Impact of E Waste Management in China Guiyu

Running head: GEOGRAPHY
IMPACT OF E WASTE MANAGEMENT IN CHINA GUIYU
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2GEOGRAPHY
Abstract
Several countries have been observed to use different policies to control their e waste
accumulation in order to keep their surrounding environment free from pollution. Guiyu town
in China is composed of rural community with concentrated recycling activities, which are
surrounded by a farming land. The population is also high at this place including about
1,50,000 people as migrant workers. The Department of Environment (DOE) of Malaysia has
issues which licenses to the 18 full recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery to the facilities
that converts different kinds to electronic wastes into source materials. Recycling of E waste
has been found to be existing since 1990 and the largest amount of e-waste has been found to
be recycled at this place. From the analysis, it can be observed that different policy changes
has been found to occur in China Guiyu considering the transportation and recycling of e-
waste. Malaysia has been found to manage their e-waste according to the reports of 2014.
The government of Malaysia has been found to be aware of the impacts of e-waste on the
surrounding environment and thus has developed various policies to ensure effective, safe
and economically beneficial management of e-waste. On an estimation, 80% of the children
has been found to suffer from the process of lead poisoning and the average rate of
miscarriages in Guiyu has been found to be significantly higher than most of the countries
(Yu 2019). The workers have also been found in avoiding the use of gloves while dismantling
electronic devices and in turn get exposed to the toxins and metals such as lead and
chromium. The rate of pollution and environmental contamination increases when the amount
of toxin has leached into the ground water. This land then becomes unsuitable for the growth
of food. Various lands where rice was once grown in a village are now barren lands due to
the leaching of toxicants from electronic wastes leaching into the ground water. 12.5% of the
e-waste has been found to be actually recycled of which a large potion has been found to

3GEOGRAPHY
originate from the US. A high proportion of the e-waste has been found originate from the
United States which amounts for 9.4 million tons of waste each year (Shah, Rasheed and
Anjum 2019). Electronic equipment and waste electric has been found to be associated with
the key aspect of solid waste management throughout the landfill disposals not suggested due
to the heavy metals and toxic chemicals in it. This research paper accurately analysed various
policies undertaken by the government in China Guiyu and other countries in Malaysia to
control their e-waste disposal by management and recycling them. This is the overall gist of
this research study.
Table of Content

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s
Chapter 1....................................................................................................................................5
Introduction............................................................................................................................5
Background........................................................................................................................5
Purpose...............................................................................................................................6
Rationale............................................................................................................................7
Aim.....................................................................................................................................8
Objectives...........................................................................................................................8
Research Questions............................................................................................................8
Chapter 2....................................................................................................................................9
Literature Review...................................................................................................................9
Impact on the quality of human life...................................................................................9
Policy changes in China Guiyu........................................................................................13
Policy changes in other countries.....................................................................................18
Chapter 3..................................................................................................................................20
Methodology........................................................................................................................21
Research Design...............................................................................................................21
Sample population............................................................................................................21
Collection of data.............................................................................................................21
Chapter 4..................................................................................................................................34
Data analysis........................................................................................................................35

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Results..................................................................................................................................35
Discussion............................................................................................................................41
Chapter 5..................................................................................................................................45
Conclusion and Recommendation........................................................................................45
Conclusion........................................................................................................................45
Recommendation..............................................................................................................48
References................................................................................................................................49

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Chapter 1
Introduction
Background
E-waste (electronic waste) has been described as the discarded electronic devices or
electrical appliances. Components including electronic scraps such as motherboards of CPU
(central processing units) consist of various harmful elements such as lead, beryllium,
cadmium and brominated flame-retardants. Americium, lead, Mercury, Cadmium,
Hexavalent chromium, Sulfur, BFRs (brominated flame retardants), PFOA
(Perfluorooctanoic acid) and PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) has been found to fall in the category
of hazardous components of e-waste (Borthakur and Govind 2017). Both recycling and
disposal has significant risks to the worker health and the surrounding communities. Several
countries such as Europe and Malaysia has been found to effectively control the excessive
disposal and management of e-waste. In the Guangdong Province of China, electronic was
has been observed to make up for 90% of the total electronic waste throughput the world
(Kim 2017).The e-waste composition identified by this study was 30% plastic , 8% copper
cables and metals, 5% aluminium and 7% other metals. Various hazardous e-wastes has been
found to be including PCBs, brominated flame retardant and CRT glass. Various traditional
technologies has been identified which are still used to recover heavy metals (Duan et al.
2016). These technologies are still being used to recover metals from gold hydrometallurgy
from electronic wastes. From the reports of 2005, it can be stated that there were sixty
thousand e-waste workers who travelled sixty kilometers every day with more than 100
truckloads. Constant processing of e-wastes in a particular area has been found to be coupled
with a lot of toxic effects on the surrounding environments. Guiyu has been termed as the
electronic graveyard of the world because of a heavy prevalence of electronic wastes in the

7GEOGRAPHY
world. According to various reports, it can be stated that much of the wastes are imported
from other developed countries. For example, it has been seen that the European Union has
sanctioned to dispose their electronic wastes in other developing countries. However, there
are various countries that aggressively ignored this policy of waste disposal.
Purpose
This section will discuss the requirement of this research study discussing about the
impact of e-waste. The purpose of this research is to analyse the impact of e-waste disposal in
China and other countries throughout the world. This will in turn analyses various policies
which are in effect for the disposal of e-waste in other countries including Malaysia. Several
countries have been observed to use different policies to control their e waste accumulation in
order to keep their surrounding environment free from pollution. Guiyu town in China is
composed of rural community with concentrated recycling activities, which are surrounded
by a farming land. The population is also high at this place including about 1,50,000 people
as migrant workers. The Department of Environment (DOE) of Malaysia has issues which
licenses to the 18 full recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery to the facilities that converts
different kinds to electronic wastes into source materials. This point makes the e-waste
disposal policy of Malaysia more effective than the policy of China Guiyu. According to the
Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 of Malaysia, it can be stated
that e-wastes are classified under the SW110 code when the specified e-waste comes from
lead acid batteries or heavy metal containing batteries or fluorescent lamps. These are also
coded from SW103 and SW109 respectively. After the classification of e-waste treatment, the
regulation has been carried out on a licensed on site facility treatment which leads to the
disposal of e-waste that is to be performed under the prescribed premises, Kualiti Alam Sdn.
Recycling of E waste has been found to be existing since 1990 and the largest amount of e-
waste has been found to be recycled at this place. Several policy changes has been found to

8GEOGRAPHY
occur in China Guiyu considering the transportation and recycling of e-waste. Malaysia has
been found to manage their e-waste according to the reports of 2014. The government of
Malaysia has been found to be aware of the impacts of e-waste on the surrounding
environment and thus has developed various policies to ensure effective, safe and
economically beneficial management of e-waste. This research paper will analyze various
policies undertaken by the government in China Guiyu and other countries in Malaysia to
control their e-waste disposal by management and recycling them. This paper will also
discuss the various impacts of e waste on environment, social and healthcare, financial
factors and the quality of human life.
Rationale
This section will discuss the reasons of choosing this topic as for this research study.
According to the policy changes in Giyu for the year 2015, transportation of electronic wastes
and plastics has been prohibited and violators will be investigated followed the material
confiscation. By the beginning of Dec1, 2015 any e waste treating and the manufacturing of
plastics outside the industrial park has been stopped. Violation of the previously stated policy
has led to the total power cut of the associated area. Policies of 2018 focused on the recycling
of E waste in the industrial park has been prohibited. According to the risk assessment
reports, the exposed site records of Guiyu shows that out of 240 air samples, (30 days x 4
seasons x 2 years) has shown a high level of lead, cadmium, chromium and manganese
concentrations. Biological markers were also spotted in the maternal blood associated with
the presence of lead, cadmium, chromium and manganese. Maternal urine and the blood of
umbilical cord has also show the presence of these harmful heavy metals associated with the
overexposure of human beings to e-waste. Thus, it can be observed that the impact of e-waste
has progressed to the blood of people living in that region. Various birth outcomes has also
been identified to be associated with e waste exposures in Guiyu. These factors are still birth,

9GEOGRAPHY
birth weight, gestational length, birth length, SGA, circumference of head and the anogenital
distance. Thus, it can be stated that all the factors including environment, quality of human
life and financial problems has been found to associated with the over exposure of e-waste in
Guiyu.
Aim
The aim of this research is to understand the impact of e waste in China Guiyu and to
analyse the policies that are applicable across this country and various countries including
Malaysia for the management and disposal of e-waste. This is the overall aim of this research
study and the objectives will be used to fulfill the aim of this research study.
Objectives
The main objectives of this research study are:
1. To collect information about the policy changes applicable for the management and
disposal of e-waste in China Guiyu.
2. To collect information about the policy changes applicable for the management and
disposal of e-waste in Malaysia and other countries.
3. To analyse the impact of e-waste on environmental, health, social and financial factors of
China Guiyu and other associated countries including Malaysia.
Research Questions
The research questions of this study are:
RQ1: What are the policies that are applicable for management and disposal of e-waste in
China Guiyu.

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RQ2: What are the policies that are applicable for management and disposal of e-waste in
Malaysia and other countries.
RQ3: What is the impact of e-waste on environmental, health, social and financial factors of
China Guiyu and other associated countries including Malaysia.
Chapter 2
This chapter will discuss the literature review section of this research study based on
the e-waste management and disposal in China Guiyu.
Literature Review
This section will discuss the use of survey books, scholar articles and various other
sources, which are relevant to the impact of e waste on China Guiyu, and the various policy
changes in China Guiyu responsible for effective management and disposal of e-waste. This
section will also discuss all the previous researches done on e-waste disposal and
management on other countries apart from China Guiyu.
Impact on the quality of human life
According to Kim et al. (2019) the concentrations of metal has been found to be high
in the blood of pregnant women and neonates associated with the informal recycling of
electronic wastes. Electronic wastes has been found to be the fastest growing solid waste
stream on a worldwide basis. This condition has been found to end up in mostly in the
developing countries than the developed countries. China Guiyu in the southeast region has
been found to be the most infamous e-waste recycling town, which has been recycling e-
wastes since mid-1990s. The components of E-wastes has been found to contain various
harmful chemicals including chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and manganese (Mn).
From the reports of 2011-12, e-waste recycling has been found to be associated with REACH

11GEOGRAPHY
(Recycling Exposures and Community Health) which enrolls 634 pregnant women who are
living in Guiyu and Harojiang as the control site in Shantou, China. The participants of this
study included pregnant women who completed a questionnaire and gave cord blood,
maternal blood and maternal urine that are analyzed for lead, cadmium, chromium and
manganese. These concentrations were significantly higher for Guiyu than Haojiang proving
the fact that Guiyu is exposed to higher maternal blood contaminations associated with e-
waste disposal in Guiyu. Maternal blood has been found to be associated with these harmful
heavy metals because of the fact that the population is on a direct exposure to e-waste. The
geometric mean of heavy metal concentration in maternal blood has been found to be higher
for the population in Guiyu than in the other associated countries. Even the maternal urine
has been found to be exposed to Cd and Mn ratio of concentrations, which are significantly
higher in Guiyu as compared to Haojiang. Thus, it can be stated that pregnant women in
Guiyu are at a great risk for an increased exposure to the heavy metals.
According to Zeng et al. (2016) children of Guiyu are affected by severe impairments
associated with heavy metals inside an e-waste recycling area. This paper summarized the
data from Guiyu associated with heavy metal exposure levels in children. The exposure
pathways of the heavy metals produced from e-wastes are narrated in this study. Various
adverse effects on the health of children in Guiyu are reviewed in this research study.
Recycling of E-waste has became the global environmental health concern because the
pernicious chemicals has been found to escape into the environment due to nonstandard and
informal recycling of e-wastes including manual dismantling, burning the electronic wastes in
an open environment which recovers heavy metals and open dumping of the fractions which
are residual. Some of the heavy metals which are derived from electronic wastes are e-waste
lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel, mercury, arsenic, copper, zinc, aluminum and
cobalt differs from the chemical composition, reactive properties, metabolism followed by

12GEOGRAPHY
excretion and biological transmission pathways. Previous studies has been found to discuss
the fact that heavy metals exposure has adverse effects on the health of children which
includes lower birth weight, reduced lung function, low anogential distance, Apgar scores
which are low and the high prevalence of hyperactivity disorders associated with higher DNA
and chromosomal damage. Influence of heavy metals has been found to be affected by the
number of diverse organs and systems, which results in both chronic and acute effects. The
acute effects has been found to include minor respiratory irritations associated with chronic
cardiovascular, nervous, urinary and reproductive disorders with an aggravation of pre-
existing disease and symptoms. The effects of children’s health and safety has been briefly
discussed in this paper in context to the disposal and management of e-waste in China Guiyu.
According to Kim (2017) informal electronic waste recycling associated with the
concentrations of heavy metals in pregnant women and neonates and their associations with
adverse outcomes of birth was high in Guiyu, China. CBS has been found to run a 60 minutes
episode which entitled the recycling of electronic waste. E-waste was identified as the fastest
growing stream of solid worldwide according to the UNEP (United Nations Environmental
Programme) which was estimated to reach a value of one million tons by the end of 2018.
Valuable metals has been found to be recycled and resold in spite of containing harmful
chemicals such as lead, cadmium, chromium VI and manganese. This process is known as
informal waste recycling which especially affects the pregnant women and children. This
process of informal waste recycling has led to widespread of contamination and adverse
health effects in children and women. The above stated condition has led to the reduction in
the quality of human life. Not only this process of informal waste recycling is causing a large
amount of problems to the environment (soil, water and air pollution) but also it has been
found to cause sever health disorders in the human population. The most vulnerable human
population consist of pregnant women and new born. This is because of the fact that the

13GEOGRAPHY
concentration of heavy metals has been found to be higher in pregnant women and neonates
since they are directly connected to their mother’s body by a contaminated umbilical cord.
Data for this study was collected from the E-waste Recycling and Community Health (e-
REACH) study, which was measured by the concentration levels of Pb, Cd, Cr and Mn
associated with pregnant women enrolled at Guiyu delivery and Haojiang delivery care, units.
Thus, it can be stated that since pregnant women and neonates are connected to these
healthcare settings, therefore the research was conducted in delivery care unit.
According to Li et al. (2019) brominated and organophosphate flame-retardants has
been found to encompass, the sediments transect which encompasses the Guiyu, China e-
waste recycling zone. Lian River sediments has been found to contain OPE and BFR levels
which are among the highest reported levels. E-waste from Guiyu has been found to be
dominant FR source to Lian River. Most of the associated e-wastes are Penta-BDE, TBBA,
BTBPE and TPP dominated. The Guiyu FR profiles has been found to be mirrored in the
downstream sediments suggesting the migrations. Some of the sediments are found to be
associated with the unacceptable ecological risks. The process of e-waste recycling has been
using crude techniques for characterization of hazardous materials which includes the flame
retardants (FRs) associated with the environment. However, this paper fail to document the
downstream migrations and associated risk of e-waste disposals in Lian River. OPE has been
found to exceed the concentrations of BFR in most of the sediments despite great water
solubility. These are the overall impacts on the human life and environment of e-waste
disposal and recycling in China Guiyu.
Informal waste management in China Guiyu
The process of informal recycling of wastes has been found to be associated to China
Guiyu because of the association of unskilled and ill-equipped manual labour. Thus, this

14GEOGRAPHY
condition has led to the use of crude and informal practices associated with e-waste causing
serious environmental damage and significantly permanent health risks in the disposal sites.
The Chinese government has been found to be the international community that has started to
take action against the regulation of e-waste management. Majority of the e-waste recycling
centers in China has been illegally established inside the informal sectors. This sector is made
up of a small-scaled system including a family that runs backyards recycling sector. These
sectors are generally run by the peddlers who are travelling for door to door in offering the
marginal fees for the disposal of obsolete appliances. The process of informal recycling has
been found to consist of unskilled, manual and inherent labour that are also mobile. The
process of informal recycling operations has been found to occur in suburban areas where
there is a lack of effective control and enforcement. The primary concern surrounding the
informal sector is that majority of the dealers and peddlers lack access and knowledge to get
adequate technologies and equipment for the safe disposal of e-waste. Various studies has
been found to measure the highly potential health risks from informal heavy metal e-waste
recycling in Guiyu. However, this process has been observed as a profitable market, which is
a great advantage for China. Most of the informal recycling regions of China has been found
to be limited to the south-eastern coastal region of China. Most of these programs has been
found control the informal sector associated with the strengthening of formal e-waste
challenges.
Policy changes in China Guiyu
The main basis of E-waste recycling policy change has been found to be associate
with the widespread environmental contaminations in the chosen community. Metals, organic
compounds and flame-retardants, PAHs and dioxins has been found to compose the policy
change base in China Guiyu associated with e-waste disposal. On concerning the
developmental toxicity in children and long-term health effects in adults and children, fetal

15GEOGRAPHY
growth restrictions has been found to be associated with preterm birth. Lung function
development issues, neurobehavioral developmental issues, cancer development and DNA
damages associated with the child has been found to be the most significant disorders related
to E-waste exposure in China Guiyu. The policies has been found to establish fortune from e-
waste recycling by decreasing the heavy rise in e-waste tonnage in China Guiyu. The policies
also used technological possibilities in order to safely recycle the e wastes in order to reduce
the contaminations. The establishments of policies became a primary requirement since there
was a need to understand the fact that, environmental health is one of the most significant
factors associated with the problems of e-waste disposals in China Guiyu. The people of that
place were also found to have an overall low awareness of e-waste toxicants before their
training. There was also an inadequate exposure monitoring and health effect research was
also lacking for these regions. Overcrowded communities also became a major reason for the
establishment of the policies. The Chinese government has been found to include regulatory
policies and pilot projects, which are associated with the recycling and management of e-
waste. However, it was found that these projects failed to collect various information about
the e-waste disposal and management in China Guiyu. Thus, the Chinese Government has
developed alternative policies for the management and disposal of electronic wastes. The
firsts policy has been found to deals and challenges associated with the disposal of electronic
wastes throughout the country. This policy was very much effective since it returns a certain
deposit as an incentive to the customers on disposing their e-waste in a safe process. The
second policy was also found to be very much effective since the inclusion of e-waste
channel mixes both informal and formal sectors with the informal sectors handling the reuse
and collection associated with the formal sectors, which are responsible for the dismantling,
and recycling. The formal sector has been found to be responsible for the dismantling and
recycling of e-wastes. According to the reports of 2018, it has been observed that

16GEOGRAPHY
consideration of policies for electronic industries are also the outcome of domestic economy
at the recovery stage. Researchers has identified the fact that there was a loss of established e-
waste collection system and most of the e-wastes are sold to small workshops and peddlers
who pays high prices than the other plants. The people of that place were also found to have
an overall low awareness of e-waste toxicants before their training. There was also an
inadequate exposure monitoring and health effect research was also lacking for these regions.
E-waste has been found to be discarded and electrical products and components are one of
the major sources of solid wastes throughout the world. An act more than banning the illegal
e-waste imports is needed to save Guiyu from the dangers associated with the disposal of e-
waste. The table below shows the list of polices developed by the Chinese government in
order to safely manage and dispose e-wastes in Guiyu.
Name of the policy Effectiveness
of the policy
Effective
date
Purpose of the policy
Technical Policy for the
Prevention and Control of
Environmental Pollution by
Discarded Appliances and
Electronic Products
(Directive)
Moderately
effective.
27/04/200
6
The main purpose of this project
was to aim at the control and
prevention of environmental
pollution caused by e-waste
reduction and reclamation,
treatment of hazard-waste and
principle polluter-pays.
Administrative Measures for
the Prevention and Control
of Environmental Pollution
from Electronic Waste.
Very much
effective
01/02/200
8
Operator registration associated
with the disassembly of e-waste,
disposal and utilization and
setting up of the air pollution
criteria to achieve national

17GEOGRAPHY
standards associated with
punishable fines of RMB
300.000 to the polluters.
Management Methods for
the Control of Pollution
from Electrical and
Electronic Products
Effective 01/03/200
7
This policy deals with technical
measures, which identifies the
names of hazardous and toxic
substance with their content
levels. Maintenance of a strict
control on purchasing channels
for pollution monitoring from
the electronic information
associated with products.
Administrative Measures for
the Recovery of Renewable
Resources
Effective 01/-5/2007 Addressing of e-waste as the
significant and renewable
resource which enterprises the
renewable resource recovery and
requires business libraries.
Besides these administrative measures and policies, Chinese cities such as Wuxi,
Beijing and Tianjin has built a large-scale regulated e-waste treatment plants from 2002. All
these plants are very much large scale and are intended to handle the disposal of e-waste by
using environmental friendly and advanced technologies however producing fewer benefits
other than expected which could not secure e-waste production. The components of E-wastes
has been found to contain various harmful chemicals including chromium (Cr), cadmium
(Cd), lead (Pb) and manganese (Mn). From the reports of 2011-12, e-waste recycling has

18GEOGRAPHY
been found to be associated with REACH (Recycling Exposures and Community Health)
which enrolls 634 pregnant women who are living in Guiyu and Harojiang as the control site
in Shantou, China. The participants of this study included pregnant women who completed a
questionnaire and gave cord blood, maternal blood and maternal urine that are analyzed for
lead, cadmium, chromium and manganese. Researchers has identified the fact that there was a
loss of established e-waste collection system and most of the e-wastes are sold to small
workshops and peddlers who pays high prices than the other plants. The people of that place
were also found to have an overall low awareness of e-waste toxicants before their training.
There was also an inadequate exposure monitoring and health effect research was also
lacking for these regions. Overcrowded communities also became a major reason for the
establishment of the policies. The Chinese government has been found to include regulatory
policies and pilot projects, which are associated with the recycling and management of e-
waste. According to the observations, a draft regulation for the recovery of e-waste dating of
2002 was delayed associated with the dispute result of disputes over key topics of
responsibility distribution. Environmental rights has been found to be an important
consideration to address the National Human Action Plan of China (2009-2010) which was
issued on 13 April 2009. This plan stated that supervision and management of dangerous
wastes will be further strengthened in order to reduce the environment associated risks. The
e-waste problem associated with the deterioration has been found to be poorly implemented.
As the disassembly of e-waste will always give rise to pollution associated with energy
consumption and the volume reduction is a long-term answer. This factor has also been
included in proper management of e-waste recovery and disposal that becomes very much
important in future. These are the overall policy changes associated with e-waste disposal and
management in China Guiyu. The next section will discuss the similar policies undertaken by
other countries to control their e-waste disposal.

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Policy changes in other countries
In Malaysia, it has been found that hazardous waste management program (1989( has
led to the management of e-waste disposal and management from rapid development of
industrial activities. The process of effective policy implementation and strategies has been
found to be the a primary requirement for the minimization of health and environmental risks
which are caused by complex and hazardous wastes. The Environmental Quality (Scheduled
Wastes) Regulations 2005 has been found to be listed in the e-waste category. There are
various regulations which stipulates that the person has allowed the disposal of any e-waste
inside the landfills where e-wastes are recycled and finally recovered in the licensed
premises. The Department of Environment (DOE) of Malaysia has issues which licenses to
the 18 full recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery to the facilities that converts different
kinds to electronic wastes into source materials. This point makes the e-waste disposal policy
of Malaysia more effective than the policy of China Guiyu. According to the Environmental
Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 of Malaysia, it can be stated that e-wastes are
classified under the SW110 code when the specified e-waste comes from lead acid batteries
or heavy metal containing batteries or fluorescent lamps. These are also coded from SW103
and SW109 respectively. After the classification of e-waste treatment, the regulation has been
carried out on a licensed on site facility treatment which leads to the disposal of e-waste that
is to be performed under the prescribed premises, Kualiti Alam Sdn. Various parties of the
country has been found to exercise their right to prohibit the hazardous e-waste import of
disposal from other parties according to Article 13. The parties shall prohibit or not permit
the export of hazardous waste and various other wastes to the parties that prohibits the import
of such waste. The basal convention associate with the control of Transboundary Movements
of Hazardous Wastes associated with their disposal of hazardous waste belongs to the
categories of Annex I (waste categories to be controlled). Both Annex III (hazardous waste

20GEOGRAPHY
list and characteristics) and Annex III (hazardous characteristic list). SW103 was found to be
associated with the waste batteries, which contains cadmium and nickel, or mercury and
lithium. SW019 was found to be associated with the wastes containing only mercury and its
compounds. SW110 has been identified as the electronic assemblies and electrical wastes,
which contains the components as accumulators, glass from cathode ray tubes and other
activated glass associated with polychlorinated biphenyl-capacitors, cadmium, lead, mercury,
nickel, copper, chromium, silver, polychlorinated biphenyls and manganese. According to the
statistical reports, in 2009 there were 134,035.70 metric ton, 163,339.80 metric ton in 2010,
152,722.04 metric ton in 2011 and 78,278.05 ton in 2012 were present in Malaysia. Thus, kit
can be stated that the policy changes led to the decrease in e-waste disposal amount in
Malaysia starting from 2009 to 2012. This amount corresponds to the industrial e-waste
produced. Considering the household amount of e-waste released and disposed, there was not
much significant decrease the amount disposed. According to the reports of e-waste recovery
from the Malaysian facilities, a total capacity to handle more than twenty four thousand
metric tons of e-waste per month followed by one hundred and twenty eight partial recovery
associated with medium sized operators which are engaged in manual or physical segregation
of further processing of e-waste has been recovered from precious metals. Eighteen full
recovery facilities has been found to process e-wastes in order to recover the precious metals.
Various challenges has been found to be related to the management of e-waste in Malaysia,
which is associated with the capacity of building household e-waste in an environmentally
sound manner. Challenges has been found to be associated with the collection, segregation
and transportation of household e-waste and collection of free household e-waste.
Management of informal sectors is also an important problem associated with e-waste
disposal and management. The main goals of the policy were development of legislation and
policies, collection systems at the local levels, monitoring the recycling of targets, setting up

21GEOGRAPHY
of the collection system and collection points, establishment of recycling facilities,
compliance with recycling of the targets, involvement of collection systems, recycling of
household e-wastes.
E-waste management Rules of 2016 in Europe has led to 70% disposal of all the e-
waste generated in Europe. Forty one countries were reported to be compiling national
statistics on e-waste to measure e-waste as an important step which addresses the e-waste
challenges because the statistics helps in the evaluation of developments over time. Malaysia
has been also reported for improper disposal of electrical wastes and hazardous materials
including metals like lead and mercury, which are found in computers and various other E-
wastes which are buried in the landfills apart from toxins which proceed to the underground
by leaching. This causes further damage to the environment and thus leads to the
development of policies in order to manage e-wastes. House hold e waste has been identified
as the major source of e-waste disposal in Malaysia. This is because of the fact that Malaysia
is well known for electronic sports (e-sports) which is associated with online computer
gaming. This factor leads to a regular disposal of e-wastes in the form of computer hardware
such as gaming controllers, mouse and keyboard which makes up for a bulk amount of e-
waste in the associated country. However, this problem has also been found to be existing in
China. Keeping all the above factors in considerations it can be said that Malaysian e-waste
disposal policies are better than that of China Guiyu.
Chapter 3
This chapter will discuss the methodology of this research study which involves the
research design, population of sample taken for the study and the data collection procedure.

22GEOGRAPHY
Methodology
This section can be defined as the specific technique or procedure required to identify,
select, process and finally analyze the information about the topic. This section allows a
reader to critically evaluate the overall validity and reliability of a study. Methodology
section of a research study is responsible to provide evidences for data collection and
analysis.
Research Design
This design is a framework of research techniques and methods which are chosen by a
researcher. This design allows a researcher to hone the research methods which are suitable
for the topic subject and will help the progress of further studies based on this topic towards
success. There are five main types of research designs- experimental, correlational, survey,
sub experimental and systematic literature review. This study will be a qualitative study
following the use of systematic literature review as the study design.
Sample population
The study sample population of this research study includes the population of China
Guiyu and Malaysia. These two populations has been selected for this research study because
of the fact that e-waste management and disposal has been observed as the major problem of
these two countries.
Collection of data
Research study Research
Design
Type of data
collection
Findings
Kim, S., Xu, X., Zhang, Y.,
Zheng, X., Liu, R., Dietrich,
K., Reponen, T., Ho, S.M.,
Survey Mix method
data
collection.
Electronic wastes has been
observed as the fastest
growing solid streams on a

23GEOGRAPHY
Xie, C., Sucharew, H. and
Huo, X., 2019. Metal
concentrations in pregnant
women and neonates from
informal electronic waste
recycling. Journal of
exposure science &
environmental
epidemiology, 29(3), pp.406-
415.
Country: China, Guiyu
worldwide scale, which
mostly ends up in the
developing countries. Guiyu
has been found as the most
infamous e-waste recycling
town which has been
recycling since e-wastes
since mid 1990s. Electronic
wastes has been found to
contain various harmful
chemicals which includes
lead, cadmium, chromium
and manganese. Women has
been selected as the
participants for the survey,
which was used to analyse
the concentration of heavy
metals in their blood.
Maternal blood has been
found to contain lead,
chromium and cadmium
concentrations which were
significantly higher than the
control group. In the
population of Guiyu, the

24GEOGRAPHY
geometric mean of lead
concentration in blood was
two times greater than the
control group taken from
Haojiang community. Thus,
it can be concluded that a
higher prevalence of
problems associated with
informal e-waste disposal
and management in China
Guiyu. This is because of the
fact that all the
concentrations of heavy
metals identified from e-
wastes are higher in maternal
blood obtained from the
pregnant women participants
of Guiyu. This is the overall
conclusion of this research
study associated with e-waste
disposal and management in
China Guiyu.
Zeng, X., Xu, X., Boezen,
H.M. and Huo, X., 2016.
Children with health
Questionnaire Mix method
data
collection
The exposure pathways of
the heavy metals produced
from e-wastes are narrated in

25GEOGRAPHY
impairments by heavy metals
in an e-waste recycling
area. Chemosphere, 148,
pp.408-415.
Country: China, Guiyu
this study. Various adverse
effects on the health of
children in Guiyu are
reviewed in this research
study. Recycling of E-waste
has became the global
environmental health
concern because the
pernicious chemicals has
been found to escape into the
environment due to
nonstandard and informal
recycling of e-wastes
including manual
dismantling, burning the
electronic wastes in an open
environment which recovers
heavy metals and open
dumping of the fractions
which are residual. Some of
the heavy metals which are
derived from electronic
wastes are e-waste lead,
cadmium, chromium,
manganese, nickel, mercury,

26GEOGRAPHY
arsenic, copper, zinc,
aluminum and cobalt differs
from the chemical
composition, reactive
properties, metabolism
followed by excretion and
biological transmission
pathways.
Kim, S.S., 2017. Informal
Electronic Waste Recycling:
Metal Concentrations in
Pregnant Women and
Neonates and Associations
with Adverse Birth Outcomes
in Guiyu, China(Doctoral
dissertation, University of
Cincinnati).
Country: China, Guiyu
Systematic
literature
review
Qualitative
data
E-waste was identified as the
fastest growing stream of
solid worldwide according to
the UNEP (United Nations
Environmental Programme)
which was estimated to reach
a value of one million tons
by the end of 2018. Valuable
metals has been found to be
recycled and resold in spite
of containing harmful
chemicals such as lead,
cadmium, chromium VI and
manganese. This process is
known as informal waste
recycling which especially
affects the pregnant women

27GEOGRAPHY
and children. This process of
informal waste recycling has
led to widespread of
contamination and adverse
health effects in children and
women.
Li, H., La Guardia, M.J., Liu,
H., Hale, R.C., Mainor, T.M.,
Harvey, E., Sheng, G. and Fu,
J., 2019. Brominated and
organophosphate flame
retardants along a sediment
transect encompassing the
Guiyu, China e-waste
recycling zone. Science of the
Total Environment, 646,
pp.58-67.
Country: China, Guiyu
Experimental
study
Quantitative
primary data
collection.
E-waste from Guiyu has
been found to be dominant
FR source to Lian River.
Most of the associated e-
wastes are Penta-BDE,
TBBA, BTBPE and TPP
dominated. The Guiyu FR
profiles has been found to be
mirrored in the downstream
sediments suggesting the
migrations. Some of the
sediments are found to be
associated with the
unacceptable ecological
risks. The process of e-waste
recycling has been using
crude techniques for
characterization of hazardous
materials which includes the

28GEOGRAPHY
flame retardants (FRs)
associated with the
environment.
Duan, H., Hu, J., Tan, Q.,
Liu, L., Wang, Y. and Li, J.,
2016. Systematic
characterization of generation
and management of e-waste
in China. Environmental
Science and Pollution
Research, 23(2), pp.1929-
1943.
Country: China, Guiyu
Qualitative,
Sales
obsolescence
model
approach.
Primary
qualitative
data
collection.
Strong efforts has been put
over the e-waste
management in China,
Guiyu. Various policies has
been found to be affected for
the prohibition of imports
and pollution control linked
with e-waste disposal. A
subsidy system has been
identified to support the
recycling process of e-waste
associated with large scale
industrial operations. This
study introduced the readers
with the overview of
conventional and emerging
pollution of environment in
China Guiyu. However, it
was also identified that there
is an ongoing decrease of
importation and backyard
recycling of e-wastes in

29GEOGRAPHY
China Guiyu. The e-waste
composition identified by
this study was 30% plastic ,
8% copper cables and metals,
5% aluminium and 7% other
metals. Various hazardous e-
wastes has been found to be
including PCBs, brominated
flame retardant and CRT
glass. Various traditional
technologies has been
identified which are still used
to recover heavy metals.
These technologies are still
being used to recover metals
from gold hydrometallurgy
from electronic wastes.
However, the recovery rate
was found out to be less than
1% for the e-waste disposed
in China Guiyu. These are
the overall findings of this
research study based on
electronic wastes of China
Guiyu.

30GEOGRAPHY
Song, X., Lu, B. and Wu, W.,
2019. Environmental
Management of E-waste in
China. In Electronic Waste
Management and Treatment
Technology (pp. 285-310).
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Country: China, Guiyu
Summary
study
Secondary
qualitative
method of
data
collection.
The electronic waste amount
in China Guiyu has been
found to be growing
dramatically. The main
Chinese government has
been found to be growing
continuously after issuing a
series of regulations and laws
which are established as the
subsidy fund system on the
basis of EPR (extended
producer responsibility)
principles. The main amount
of E-waste has been found to
be formally treated and grow
steadily. The main layout of
formal sector has been found
to be completed in providing
the increased the recycling
capacity. This paper
provided a comprehensive
summary of E-waste
generation recycling
capacity. The main
imbalance in between the

31GEOGRAPHY
subsidy and fund levy has
also been found not to be
solved. Thus, it can be stated
that the problem associated
with fund and subsidy is the
main reason for informal e-
waste disposal in China
Guiyu. These are the overall
findings of this research
study.
Yong, Y.S., Lim, Y.A. and
Ilankoon, I.M.S.K., 2019. An
analysis of electronic waste
management strategies and
recycling operations in
Malaysia: Challenges and
future prospects. Journal of
cleaner production, 224,
pp.151-166.
Country : Malaysia
Systematic
literature
review
Secondary
qualitative
data
collection
method.
Household wastes has been
identified as the major
problems associated with e-
waste disposal in Malaysia.
Jayaraman, K., Vejayon, S.,
Raman, S. and Mostafiz, I.,
2019. The proposed e-waste
management model from the
conviction of individual
Systematic
literature
review
Secondary
qualitative
data
collection
method.
Malaysia has its own e-waste
management program for
proper e-waste disposal and
management.

32GEOGRAPHY
laptop disposal practices-An
empirical study in
Malaysia. Journal of cleaner
production, 208, pp.688-696.
Country : Malaysia
Kang, K.D., Kang, H.,
Ilankoon, I.M.S.K. and
Chong, C.Y., 2020.
Electronic waste collection
systems using Internet of
Things (IoT): Household
electronic waste management
in Malaysia. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 252,
p.119801.
Country : Malaysia
Systematic
literature
review
Secondary
qualitative
data
collection
method.
Electronic equipment and
waste electric has been found
to be associated with the key
aspect of solid waste
management throughout the
landfill disposals not
suggested due to the heavy
metals and toxic chemicals in
it. The presence of valuable
metals has been found to be
precious and base metals
such as copper and gold
which highlighted the
importance of effective waste
management strategies. The
practice of modern
household e-waste
management has been found
to include an extended
practice of modern

33GEOGRAPHY
household management of e-
wastes. To assist the
sustainability of smarter city
concepts, the household e-
wastes needs to be managed
efficiently. A mobile
application has been
developed in order to guide
the general population with
proper disposal and
management of e-waste in
Malaysia. Smart city
development plan has been
found to be successful for the
household e-waste
management in Malaysia.
These are the overall
findings obtained from this
research study.
Ismail, M.A., Lamsali, H. and
Lee, C.T., 2018. Trends and
issues of electronic waste and
mobile phone waste: A
review of Malaysia context.
Country : Malaysia
Systematic
literature
review
Secondary
qualitative
data
collection
method.
Mobile phone waste is one of
the major problems
associated with the e-wastes
of Malaysia.

34GEOGRAPHY
Moh, Y., 2017. Solid waste
management transformation
and future challenges of
source separation and
recycling practice in
Malaysia. Resources,
Conservation and
Recycling, 116, pp.1-14.
Country : Malaysia
Systematic
literature
review
Secondary
qualitative
data
collection
method.
Proper solid was (e-waste)
disposal and management
has been found to be carried
out in Malaysia
corresponding to the policies.

35GEOGRAPHY
Chapter 4
This chapter will be discussed in the next page consisting of tables and graphical analysis.

Running head: GEOGRAPHY
Data analysis
The collected data in the form of findings will be analysed in QDA miner lite after coding them. Two analyses will be performed in order
to check the association of e-waste factors with China Guiyu and the comparison of policies of Malaysia and China Guiyu in order to measure
the effectiveness of the policies.
Results
Factors associated with e-waste in Guiyu-
Categ
ory
Code Description Co
unt
%
Cod
es
Cas
es
%
Case
s
Electr
onic
waste
Heavy
metals
Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and other metals which are harmful for the
human blood. Electronic wastes has been observed as the fastest
growing solid streams on a worldwide scale, which mostly ends up in
the developing countries. Guiyu has been found as the most infamous e-
waste recycling town which has been recycling since e-wastes since mid
1990s. Electronic wastes has been found to contain various harmful
chemicals which includes lead, cadmium, chromium and manganese.
Women has been selected as the participants for the survey, which was
used to analyse the concentration of heavy metals in their blood. The
exposure pathways of the heavy metals produced from e-wastes are
narrated in this study. Various adverse effects on the health of children
in Guiyu are reviewed in this research study. Recycling of E-waste has
became the global environmental health concern because the pernicious
chemicals has been found to escape into the environment due to
nonstandard and informal recycling of e-wastes including manual
dismantling, burning the electronic wastes in an open environment
which recovers heavy metals and open dumping of the fractions which
are residual. Some of the heavy metals which are derived from
electronic wastes are e-waste lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese,
nickel, mercury, arsenic, copper, zinc, aluminum and cobalt differs from
the chemical composition, reactive properties, metabolism followed by
2 22.2
0%
1 100.0
0%

37GEOGRAPHY
excretion and biological transmission pathways. Hexavalent chromium,
Sulfur, BFRs (brominated flame retardants), PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic
acid) and PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) has been found to fall in the
category of hazardous components of e-waste. From the discussion
section, it has been identified that, both recycling and disposal has
significant risks to the worker health and the surrounding communities.
Several countries such as Europe and Malaysia has been found to
effectively control the excessive disposal and management of e-waste.
From the percentages observed in the data summary table, it has been
found that in the Guangdong Province of China, electronic was has been
observed to make up for 90% of the total electronic waste throughput
the world. The data collected from the pieces of literature has shown
that, the e-waste composition identified by this study was 30% plastic ,
8% copper cables and metals, 5% aluminium and 7% other metals.
Various hazardous e-wastes has been found to be including PCBs,
brominated flame retardant and CRT glass. Various authors also
discussed the fact that different traditional technologies has been
identified which are still used to recover heavy metals. These
technologies are still being used to recover metals from gold
hydrometallurgy from electronic wastes. From the reports of 2005, it can
be stated that there were sixty thousand e-waste workers who travelled
sixty kilometers every day with more than 100 truckloads. Constant
processing of e-wastes in a particular area has been found to be coupled
with a lot of toxic effects on the surrounding environments. Guiyu has
been termed as the electronic graveyard of the world because of a heavy
prevalence of electronic wastes in the world. According to various
reports, it can be stated that much of the wastes are imported from other
developed countries. From the policy changes, it has been seen that the
European Union has sanctioned to dispose their electronic wastes in
other developing countries. However, there are various countries that
aggressively ignored this policy of waste disposal. This section
accurately discussed the requirement of this research study discussing
about the impact of e-waste. This research study clearly addressed the
purpose of this research study. The purpose of this research was to
analyse the impact of e-waste disposal in China and other countries
throughout the world. This process in turn analysed various policies
which are in effect for the disposal of e-waste in other countries
including Malaysia. According ot the findings, it can be observed that
several countries have been observed to use different policies to control
their e waste accumulation in order to keep their surrounding
environment free from pollution.
Electr
onic
River
contamin
Contamination of the water obtained from River Lian in China Guiyu 1 11.1
0%
1 100.0
0%

38GEOGRAPHY
waste ation
Electr
onic
waste
Blood of
pregnant
women
This is because of the fact that all the concentrations of heavy metals
identified from e-wastes are higher in maternal blood obtained from the
pregnant women participants of Guiyu. The data collected from the pieces of
literature has shown that, the e-waste composition identified by this study
was 30% plastic , 8% copper cables and metals, 5% aluminium and 7% other
metals. Various hazardous e-wastes has been found to be including PCBs,
brominated flame retardant and CRT glass. Various authors also discussed
the fact that different traditional technologies has been identified which are
still used to recover heavy metals. These technologies are still being used to
recover metals from gold hydrometallurgy from electronic wastes. From the
reports of 2005, it can be stated that there were sixty thousand e-waste
workers who travelled sixty kilometers every day with more than 100
truckloads. Constant processing of e-wastes in a particular area has been
found to be coupled with a lot of toxic effects on the surrounding
environments. Guiyu has been termed as the electronic graveyard of the
world because of a heavy prevalence of electronic wastes in the world.
According to various reports, it can be stated that much of the wastes are
imported from other developed countries. From the policy changes, it has
been seen that the European Union has sanctioned to dispose their electronic
wastes in other developing countries. However, there are various countries
that aggressively ignored this policy of waste disposal. This section
accurately discussed the requirement of this research study discussing about
the impact of e-waste.
2 22.2
0%
1 100.0
0%
Electr
onic
waste
Blood
neonates
1 11.1
0%
1 100.0
0%
Electr
onic
waste
Policies The main Chinese government has been found to be growing continuously
after issuing a series of regulations and laws which are established as the
subsidy fund system on the basis of EPR (extended producer responsibility)
principles. The main amount of E-waste has been found to be formally
treated and grow steadily. The main layout of formal sector has been found
to be completed in providing the increased the recycling capacity. This paper
provided a comprehensive summary of E-waste generation recycling
capacity.
1 11.1
0%
1 100.0
0%
Electr
onic
waste
Growing
waste
1 11.1
0%
1 100.0
0%
Electr
onic
waste
Househol
d wastes
The practice of modern household e-waste management has been found to
include an extended practice of modern household management of e-wastes.
To assist the sustainability of smarter city concepts, the household e-wastes
needs to be managed efficiently. A mobile application has been developed in
order to guide the general population with proper disposal and management
of e-waste in Malaysia. Smart city development plan has been found to be
successful for the household e-waste management in Malaysia. These are the
overall findings obtained from this research study.
1 11.1
0%
1 100.0
0%

39GEOGRAPHY
Fig 1: Table showing the factors associated with the
E-waste percentages of China Guiyu
Source: QDA data miner lite
Fig 2: Analysis of the factors associated with e-waste
in Guiyu
Source: QDA data miner lite
E-waste policy comparison in China Guiyu and Malaysia (other countries)-

40GEOGRAPHY
Category Code Description Cou
nt
%
Cod
es
Ca
ses
%
Case
s
Policy for
e-waste
managem
ent
(effective
ness)
China
Guiyu
The policies has been found to establish fortune from e-waste recycling by
decreasing the heavy rise in e-waste tonnage in China Guiyu. The policies
also used technological possibilities in order to safely recycle the e wastes in
order to reduce the contaminations. The establishments of policies became a
primary requirement since there was a need to understand the fact that,
environmental health is one of the most significant factors associated with the
problems of e-waste disposals in China Guiyu. The people of that place were
also found to have an overall low awareness of e-waste toxicants before their
training. This policy was very much effective since it returns a certain deposit
as an incentive to the customers on disposing their e-waste in a safe process.
The second policy was also found to be very much effective since the
inclusion of e-waste channel mixes both informal and formal sectors with the
informal sectors handling the reuse and collection associated with the formal
sectors, which are responsible for the dismantling, and recycling. The formal
sector has been found to be responsible for the dismantling and recycling of
e-wastes. According to the reports of 2018, it has been observed that
consideration of policies for electronic industries are also the outcome of
domestic economy at the recovery stage. National Human Action Plan of
China (2009-2010) which was issued on 13 April 2009. This plan stated that
supervision and management of dangerous wastes will be further
strengthened in order to reduce the environment associated risks.
3 37.5
0%
1 100.0
0%
Policy for
e-waste
managem
ent
(effective
ness)
Mala
ysia
In Malaysia, it has been found that hazardous waste management program
(1989( has led to the management of e-waste disposal and management from
rapid development of industrial activities. The process of effective policy
implementation and strategies has been found to be the a primary requirement
for the minimization of health and environmental risks which are caused by
complex and hazardous wastes. The Environmental Quality (Scheduled
Wastes) Regulations 2005 has been found to be listed in the e-waste category.
There are various regulations which stipulates that the person has allowed
the disposal of any e-waste inside the landfills where e-wastes are recycled
and finally recovered in the licensed premises. The Department of
Environment (DOE) of Malaysia has issues which licenses to the 18 full
recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery to the facilities that converts
different kinds to electronic wastes into source materials. This point makes
the e-waste disposal policy of Malaysia more effective than the policy of
China Guiyu. According to the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes)
Regulations 2005 of Malaysia, it can be stated that e-wastes are classified
under the SW110 code when the specified e-waste comes from lead acid
batteries or heavy metal containing batteries or fluorescent lamps. These are
also coded from SW103 and SW109 respectively. The parties shall prohibit
or not permit the export of hazardous waste and various other wastes to the
parties that prohibits the import of such waste. The basal convention
associate with the control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
4 50.0
0%
1 100.0
0%

41GEOGRAPHY
Wastes associated with their disposal of hazardous waste belongs to the
categories of Annex I (waste categories to be controlled). Both Annex III
(hazardous waste list and characteristics) and Annex III (hazardous
characteristic list). SW103 was found to be associated with the waste
batteries, which contains cadmium and nickel, or mercury and lithium.
SW019 was found to be associated with the wastes containing only mercury
and its compounds. SW110 has been identified as the electronic assemblies
and electrical wastes, which contains the components as accumulators, glass
from cathode ray tubes and other activated glass associated with
polychlorinated biphenyl-capacitors, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, copper,
chromium, silver, polychlorinated biphenyls and manganese. Malaysian
facilities, a total capacity to handle more than twenty four thousand metric
tons of e-waste per month followed by one hundred and twenty eight partial
recovery associated with medium sized operators which are engaged in
manual or physical segregation of further processing of e-waste has been
recovered from precious metals. Eighteen full recovery facilities has been
found to process e-wastes in order to recover the precious metals. Various
challenges has been found to be related to the management of e-waste in
Malaysia, which is associated with the capacity of building household e-
waste in an environmentally sound manner. Challenges has been found to be
associated with the collection, segregation and transportation of household e-
waste and collection of free household e-waste. Management of informal
sectors is also an important problem associated with e-waste disposal and
management. The main goals of the policy were development of legislation
and policies, collection systems at the local levels, monitoring the recycling
of targets, setting up of the collection system and collection points,
establishment of recycling facilities, compliance with recycling of the targets,
involvement of collection systems, recycling of household e-wastes.
Policy for
e-waste
managem
ent
(effective
ness)
Other
count
ries
E-waste management Rules of 2016 in Europe has led to 70% disposal of all
the e-waste generated in Europe. Forty one countries were reported to be
compiling national statistics on e-waste to measure e-waste as an important
step which addresses the e-waste challenges because the statistics helps in the
evaluation of developments over time. Malaysia has been also reported for
improper disposal of electrical wastes and hazardous materials including
metals like lead and mercury, which are found in computers and various other
E-wastes which are buried in the landfills apart from toxins which proceed to
the underground by leaching. This causes further damage to the environment
and thus leads to the development of policies in order to manage e-wastes.
House hold e waste has been identified as the major source of e-waste
disposal in Malaysia. This is because of the fact that Malaysia is well known
for electronic sports (e-sports) which is associated with online computer
gaming. This factor leads to a regular disposal of e-wastes in the form of
computer hardware such as gaming controllers, mouse and keyboard which
makes up for a bulk amount of e-waste in the associated country. However,
this problem has also been found to be existing in China. Keeping all the
above factors in considerations it can be said that Malaysian e-waste disposal
1 12.5
0%
1 100.0
0%

42GEOGRAPHY
policies are better than that of China Guiyu.
Fig 3: Policy comparison in China Guiyu and Malaysia
Source: QDA miner lite

43GEOGRAPHY
Fig 4: Graphical analysis of figure 3
Source: QDA miner lite

Running head: GEOGRAPHY
Discussion
Guiyu has been found to be the largest e-waste dumping countries in the world and
also a hub in the global e-waste trade (Liu et al. 2018). This E-waste has been found to be
valued because of its precious metal contents such as copper and gold. The contamination of
prohibitive costs and environmental laws has been found to be recycling under the
cumbersome in developed countries (Yekeen et al. 2016). These countries has been found to
incentivize exports to the sites as Guiyu which is affected by the ill effects of E-wastes.
People have been observed to work in breaking apart and melting e-wastes in pans and pots.
The toxic smoke which billowed out from the improvised aluminium chimneys has been
found to cover the city in a blanked of harmful fumes. Changes have been observed in the
year 2013 when the local government has approved a plan in order to construct a 1.5 billion
Yuan industrial park to encourage a more environmental friendly recycling process (Jiang et
al. 2019). Various processes of non-mechanical recycling methods has been found to be
banned outside the park that creates the effective monopoly in most of the recycling forms.
Restrictions to the e-waste import practices were enacted along with crackdowns which broke
rules. This waste was then predominated in the domestically generated wastes. However, now
it has been found that this is a transformed city which bears some scars of the past. Most of
the recycling organisations has left the city centre and only some of the workshops are left
out in the city. No sign of toxic waste has been found to have accumulated in other countries.
Inside the park, people have been found to mechanically disassemble the waste associated
with simple tools including hammers, wire cutters, screwdrivers and pliers. The people have
been found to use protective gloves, mouth masks and protective goggles in order to protect
themselves from the ill effects of the e-wastes (Kim 2017).

45GEOGRAPHY
From figure 1, it can be observed that presence of heavy metals are the most
significant causes of e-waste contamination in China Guiyu. However, the same condition
has been observed for Malaysian e-waste. Contamination of heavy metals from e-wastes has
been found to be recycled at Guiyu located in South-eastern China. Copper concentrations of
surface water has been found to be 2.4 to 130 times higher than the background
concentration. The highest amount of heavy metal present in e-wastes are Nickel, Cadmium,
Lead, Mercury and Arsenic (Kumar, Holuszko and Espinosa 2017). This list has been stated
in a descending order. Lianjiang River has been found to originate from Guiyu to an estuary
at Haiman Bay. The concentrations of copper at the surface of water has been reported to be
2.4 to 131 times higher than the reference background concentrations which are followed in
the descending order by Ni, Cd, Pb, Hg and As. The overall China’s Environmental Quality
Standard has been found to be associated with harmful elements. Freshwater samples have
been found infamous for the involvement in primitive processing of e-wastes recycling and
processing activities. Isotopic compositions of lead have been found to be dissolved in lead
which is confirmed more than one non-indigenous lead (Aich et al. 2017). This factor has
been located in high concentrations in the graphical analysis done in figure 2. A temporal
distribution of the isotopic composition of lead has been found to compose of a large amount
in Lianjiang and Nanyang River (Huang et al. 2018). China has been reported to consist of
primitive e-waste processing activities that has been carried out from a long time. According
to various research studies, it has been found that the concentration of cadmium is 10.3
mg/kg, copper is 17.0 to 4540 mg/kg, Nickel of 12.4 to 543 mg/kg, lead of 28.6 to 590 mg/kg
and zinc of 521.3 to 324 mg/kg (Lin et al. 2017). Lianjang River has shown a high ration of
lead contamination than other rivers of China. After a genuine concern has been found to be
associated with the potential transport of sediments that are contaminated downstream and
enhances the mobility and solubility of trace metals (Kumar, Holuszko and Espinosa 2017).

46GEOGRAPHY
China Guiyu has the largest e-waste site of the world and is found to be located in the south-
western part of China. E-waste has been found to compose mainly of cell phones, printers,
computers, keyboards and various other devices (Awasthi et al. 2018). The e-waste sites of
China has been found to employ more than 150000 people who work for more than 16 hours
per day in order to disassemble the electronic wastes. Problems with e-wastes in Guiyu has
been found to be increasing because of the fact that the recycling efforts and policies are
significantly primitive and as a result toxic substances are leached into the ground. On an
estimation, 80% of the children has been found to suffer from the process of lead poisoning
and the average rate of miscarriages in Guiyu has been found to be significantly higher than
most of the countries (Yu 2019). The workers have also been found in avoiding the use of
gloves while dismantling electronic devices and in turn get exposed to the toxins and metals
such as lead and chromium. The rate of pollution and environmental contamination increases
when the amount of toxin has leached into the ground water. This land then becomes
unsuitable for the growth of food. Various lands where rice was once grown in a village are
now barren lands due to the leaching of toxicants from electronic wastes leaching into the
ground water. 12.5% of the e-waste has been found to be actually recycled of which a large
potion has been found to originate from the US. A high proportion of the e-waste has been
found originate from the United States which amounts for 9.4 million tons of waste each year
(Shah, Rasheed and Anjum 2019). Electronic equipment and waste electric has been found to
be associated with the key aspect of solid waste management throughout the landfill disposals
not suggested due to the heavy metals and toxic chemicals in it. The presence of valuable
metals has been found to be precious and base metals such as copper and gold which
highlighted the importance of effective waste management strategies (Huo et al. 2019). The
practice of modern household e-waste management has been found to include an extended
practice of modern household management of e-wastes. To assist the sustainability of smarter

47GEOGRAPHY
city concepts, the household e-wastes needs to be managed efficiently. A mobile application
has been developed in order to guide the general population with proper disposal and
management of e-waste in Malaysia (Kirby 2019). Smart city development plan has been
found to be successful for the household e-waste management in Malaysia. These are the
overall findings obtained from this research study. Mobile phone waste is one of the major
problems associated with the e-wastes of Malaysia. Proper solid was (e-waste) disposal and
management has been found to be carried out in Malaysia corresponding to the policies.
Electronic wastes has been observed as the fastest growing solid streams on a worldwide
scale, which mostly ends up in the developing countries. Guiyu has been found as the most
infamous e-waste recycling town which has been recycling since e-wastes since mid 1990s.
Electronic wastes has been found to contain various harmful chemicals which includes lead,
cadmium, chromium and manganese. Women has been selected as the participants for the
survey, which was used to analyse the concentration of heavy metals in their blood. Maternal
blood has been found to contain lead, chromium and cadmium concentrations which were
significantly higher than the control group. In the population of Guiyu, the geometric mean of
lead concentration in blood was two times greater than the control group taken from Haojiang
community (Ackah 2017). Thus, it can be concluded that a higher prevalence of problems
associated with informal e-waste disposal and management in China Guiyu. This is because
of the fact that all the concentrations of heavy metals identified from e-wastes are higher in
maternal blood obtained from the pregnant women participants of Guiyu. This is the overall
conclusion of this research study associated with e-waste disposal and management in China
Guiyu. The exposure pathways of the heavy metals produced from e-wastes are narrated in
this study. Various adverse effects on the health of children in Guiyu are reviewed in this
research study. Recycling of E-waste has became the global environmental health concern
because the pernicious chemicals has been found to escape into the environment due to

48GEOGRAPHY
nonstandard and informal recycling of e-wastes including manual dismantling, burning the
electronic wastes in an open environment which recovers heavy metals and open dumping of
the fractions which are residual (Gupta and Agrawal, 2019). Some of the heavy metals which
are derived from electronic wastes are e-waste lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel,
mercury, arsenic, copper, zinc, aluminium and cobalt differs from the chemical composition,
reactive properties, metabolism followed by excretion and biological transmission pathways.
In Malaysia, the policies have been found to be more effective than that of Guiyu in
controlling their e-waste disposal rates. This factor has been found to be clearly visible from
the graphical analysis of figure 4. The bar of Malaysian policy is the highest in the graph
follow4ed by China which shows that Malaysian policies are better than that of Guiyu in
controlling the e-waste disposals.
Chapter 5
Conclusion and Recommendation
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it has been found that e-waste (electronic waste) has been
described as the discarded electronic devices or electrical appliances. According to all the
literatures analysed, components including electronic scraps such as motherboards of CPU
(central processing units) consist of various harmful elements such as lead, beryllium,
cadmium and brominated flame-retardants. Americium, lead, Mercury, Cadmium,
Hexavalent chromium, Sulfur, BFRs (brominated flame retardants), PFOA
(Perfluorooctanoic acid) and PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) has been found to fall in the category
of hazardous components of e-waste. From the discussion section, it has been identified that,
both recycling and disposal has significant risks to the worker health and the surrounding
communities. Several countries such as Europe and Malaysia has been found to effectively

49GEOGRAPHY
control the excessive disposal and management of e-waste. From the percentages observed in
the data summary table, it has been found that in the Guangdong Province of China,
electronic was has been observed to make up for 90% of the total electronic waste throughput
the world. The data collected from the pieces of literature has shown that, the e-waste
composition identified by this study was 30% plastic , 8% copper cables and metals, 5%
aluminium and 7% other metals. Various hazardous e-wastes has been found to be including
PCBs, brominated flame retardant and CRT glass. Various authors also discussed the fact that
different traditional technologies has been identified which are still used to recover heavy
metals. These technologies are still being used to recover metals from gold hydrometallurgy
from electronic wastes. From the reports of 2005, it can be stated that there were sixty
thousand e-waste workers who travelled sixty kilometers every day with more than 100
truckloads. Constant processing of e-wastes in a particular area has been found to be coupled
with a lot of toxic effects on the surrounding environments. Guiyu has been termed as the
electronic graveyard of the world because of a heavy prevalence of electronic wastes in the
world. According to various reports, it can be stated that much of the wastes are imported
from other developed countries. From the policy changes, it has been seen that the European
Union has sanctioned to dispose their electronic wastes in other developing countries.
However, there are various countries that aggressively ignored this policy of waste disposal.
This section accurately discussed the requirement of this research study discussing about the
impact of e-waste. This research study clearly addressed the purpose of this research study.
The purpose of this research was to analyse the impact of e-waste disposal in China and other
countries throughout the world. This process in turn analysed various policies which are in
effect for the disposal of e-waste in other countries including Malaysia. According ot the
findings, it can be observed that several countries have been observed to use different policies
to control their e waste accumulation in order to keep their surrounding environment free

50GEOGRAPHY
from pollution. From the data findings and analysis, it has been found that Guiyu town in
China is composed of rural community with concentrated recycling activities, which are
surrounded by a farming land. The population is also high at this place including about
1,50,000 people as migrant workers. The Department of Environment (DOE) of Malaysia has
issues which licenses to the 18 full recovery facilities and 128 partial recovery to the facilities
that converts different kinds to electronic wastes into source materials. This point makes the
e-waste disposal policy of Malaysia more effective than the policy of China Guiyu.
According to the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 of Malaysia,
it can be stated that e-wastes are classified under the SW110 code when the specified e-waste
comes from lead acid batteries or heavy metal containing batteries or fluorescent lamps.
These are also coded from SW103 and SW109 respectively. After the classification of e-
waste treatment, the regulation has been carried out on a licensed on site facility treatment
which leads to the disposal of e-waste that is to be performed under the prescribed premises,
Kualiti Alam Sdn. Recycling of E waste has been found to be existing since 1990 and the
largest amount of e-waste has been found to be recycled at this place. From the analysis, it
can be observed that different policy changes has been found to occur in China Guiyu
considering the transportation and recycling of e-waste. Malaysia has been found to manage
their e-waste according to the reports of 2014. The government of Malaysia has been found to
be aware of the impacts of e-waste on the surrounding environment and thus has developed
various policies to ensure effective, safe and economically beneficial management of e-waste.
On a concluding note it can be stated that, this research paper accurately analysed various
policies undertaken by the government in China Guiyu and other countries in Malaysia to
control their e-waste disposal by management and recycling them. Thus, it can be stated that
this paper clearly discussed various impacts of e waste on environment, social and healthcare,
financial factors and the quality of human life. The next section will discuss some

51GEOGRAPHY
recommendations needed for the improvement in the policies of China Guiyu associated with
e-waste management and disposal.
Recommendation
From the above discussions it has been observed that heavy metal concentrations have
been increasing in the e-waste disposals of both China Guiyu and Malaysia. The polices
needs to be changed in order to handle the situation. Various countries have been found to
dispose of their e-wastes into other countries. This factor needs to be stopped in order to
prevent the over disposal of e-wastes into one country. China Guiyu has been identified as
one of the top most countries in the list of informal e-waste disposal. E-waste from various
countries has been found to be disposed in China from Europe and the United States thus
increasing the amount of e-wastes. Polices needs to be developed which will ensure the fact
that all the countries dispose of their e-wastes into their own barren lands. These lands should
always be located far away from the city. Malaysian policies are still better than the polices
of China. These are the overall recommendations which will be needed in order to improve
the conditions of China Guiyu.

52GEOGRAPHY
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