E-Waste Management: Policies for Sustainable Waste Management

This report examines the critical issue of e-waste management in West Africa, highlighting the environmental and health risks associated with improper disposal of electronic waste. It emphasizes the need for sustainable practices, including recycling and waste reduction, to mitigate these risks. The report discusses the importance of developing and implementing effective policies to address the increasing generation of e-waste, referencing the significant amounts generated in countries like Nigeria and Ghana. It outlines the challenges faced, such as the involvement of local communities in unsafe dismantling processes and the presence of toxic heavy metals. The report proposes a framework for managing e-waste through the application of the three 'R's – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, and suggests the use of product life cycle assessment, multi-criteria analysis, material flow analysis, and extended producer responsibility. It concludes by advocating for the development of policies based on the recyclability of electronic components to minimize waste generation and promote a circular economy. The report also mentions existing organizations like AppCycles and Ewaste Roundtable Association, which are actively involved in promoting proper waste disposal.

Policies to Strengthen E – Waste Management for
Sustainable Waste Management in West Africa
Sustainable Management of ‘E-waste’

Introduction
• The E-Waste or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment(WEEE) is a kind of waste
which cannot be taken for granted nor can be put upon a single entity as a cause for it
• E – Waste or WEEE are the broken parts or the parts which are obsolete and not useful
for any purpose. These cause severe damage to health and ecosystem of the earth
(Baldé and et.al, 2017).
• The product design and consumer need diversifies the waste generation by leaps and
bounds
• Yearly 1000’s of tonnes of WEEE are being generated as a result of customer varied
needs and design developments in each country
• Sweden is trying for ‘0’ Waste Generation by the end of 2021
• The total ‘0’ is not possible in near future for many countries but we can manage them
using sustainable practices

Audience
• Producers
• Consumers
E waste or the electronic waste
or WEEE is not entirely fault of
neither Consumers nor
producers. This has to be
understood by all as its effecting
our whole ecosystem and there
by effecting many lives.

AIM
• If this WEEE is managed properly by recycling of the useful
components and landfill scavenging for them there will be a huge
reduce in E Waste (Kumar and et.al, 2017).
• Further they can be managed by the products LIFE CYCLE ASSESMENT,
MULTI CRITERIA ANALYSIS, MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS & EXTENDED
PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY effectively.

IMPORTANCE
• WEEE is not being managed
properly and as a result there
are lives at stake and
ecosystem is being
permanently damaged.
• Nigeria alone generated
290000 tonnes of WEEE in
2017 according to unep.org
(Ikhlayel, 2018).
• Ghana imports 40000 MT of
WEEE each year according to
large.Stanford.edu.

Problem is…
• Aquatic life, Human Health is at a
severe risk because of this WEEE
dumping in the African countries
• Collection and dismantling of usable
parts are being handled by local
people in 100000 numbers and
without any safety measures as this
is done in unorganized sectors
• The toxic heavy metals cause severe
health problems and the worse part
is these diseases are even effecting
the upcoming generations

Policy helps in
• Reducing the E- Waste
• Reusing the E – Waste
• Recycling the E- Waste
• It also helps in minimizing
the rouge disposal of E – Waste (Patil and
Ramakrishna, 2020).

Difference in Policies
• This brief gives a sustainable way to manage the existing wastes
• It provides a better involvement from consumers to dispose their
waste ethically
• There are already many organizations namely AppCycles, Ewaste
Roundtable Association which involve youth to the workshops
presenting them with ideas and uses of proper diposal of wastes
(WEEE)

Presentation
• The Recyclability of various electronic
components is the most important data
which is to be used to draft this policy
• Using this data the waste production can be
managed and thereby having lesser waste
to process
• Recyclability can be divided into 3 zones
Easy to Recycle (Sahajwalla and Gaikwad,
2018)
• Moderate to Recycle and Difficult to recycle
• AC, Printers comes in Moderate
Recyclability
• PC will be a bit easy to Recycling

CONCLUSION
• Waste Management is itself a very hard one to sustain and E- Waste is
much more difficult as it involves many directions to have a control
on.
• By giving a brief on the sustainable management of E waste generated
using the data of ease of recycling there can be many policies
developed to contain or minimize the generation
• Three ‘R’s can be used effectively in Waste Sustainability Management

RECOMMENDATIONS
 Baldé and et.al, 2017. The global e-waste monitor 2017: Quantities, flows and resources.
United Nations University, International Telecommunication Union, and International Solid
Waste Association.
 Kumar and et.al, 2017. E-waste: An overview on generation, collection, legislation and
recycling practices. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 122. pp.32-42.
 Ikhlayel, 2018. An integrated approach to establish e-waste management systems for
developing countries. Journal of Cleaner Production. 170. pp.119-130.
 Sahajwalla and Gaikwad, 2018. The present and future of e-waste plastics recycling. Current
Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry. 13. pp.102-107.
 Patil and Ramakrishna, 2020. A comprehensive analysis of e-waste legislation worldwide.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 27(13). pp.14412-14431.