Electronic Waste Management in the Top Ten Economies in the World: A Critical Review on Waste Generation, Regulations, Collection, Recycling and Environmental Challenges

Authors: Khanna R* , Konyukhov Y , Park M , Mukherjee PS and Kravchenko M

DOI: 10.23880/oajwx-16000208

Volume 9, Issue 1

Abstract

Sustainable management of electronic waste (e-waste) is a challenging issue due to high rates of waste generation, hazardous and complex nature and associated environmental impact. To understand the global e-waste scenario, an overview is presented on the generation, collection and recycling of e-waste in the top ten economies in the world, namely USA, China, Germany, India, Japan, UK, France, Italy, Canada and Brazil. State of these economies were analysed in terms of GDP, population, income/ capita and trends in e-waste generation during 2024. The generation of e-waste was found to increase linearly with annual per capita incomes up to 35000 USD but tended to flatten out for higher incomes. For e-waste legislative frameworks, these economies were clubbed into three sub-groups: Europe (Germany, France, Italy, UK), Asia (China, India, Japan) and Americas (USA, Canada, Brazil). Europe had the most comprehensive e-waste legislations. While Asian countries had kept pace to certain extent, both USA and Canada had only state level legislations. The e-waste collections ranged between 12.7% to 59.6% (of the total e-waste) for Europe and America, these were about 1.4%, 3.2% and 16.2% for India, Brazil and China respectively. Such low levels of formal collections highlight the importance of informal sector in these countries. Case studies on India and China were presented for detailed comparisons between the formal and the informal sectors. High levels of unaccounted e-waste were found to be a serious concern for sustainable waste man

Keywords: E-waste; Top Economies; Informal Sector; Waste Generation; Legislation; Recycling; Collection

View PDF