Challenges of waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Khan, Safdar Shah; Lodhi, Suleman Aziz; Akhtar, Faiza; Khokar, Irshad

doi:10.1108/meq-12-2012-0077

Cited by 27 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…The electronic production in Japan goes back to the 50s and 60s when Japan was the major producer. The legal enforcement date in Japan started between 1998 to 2001 (Buekens & Young ,2014;Khan et al ,2014).…”

Section: Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) for Electronic Waste (e-Waste) Management in York Region, Ontario

Ekhtari

2024

Preprint

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Life without electronic devices, while not impossible, would be difficult at least when trying to communicate. This dependency is one of the multiple variables leading to the fast-growing e-waste generation. Also, the lack of e-waste consumption and management synchronization leads to a flow of toxic substances, increasing the environmental and human risks. Conversely, the recycling of valuable substances of the electronics produces a significant source for re-manufactured products and protecting the natural resources while creating a wide range of business opportunities. The main objective of this research is to investigate the specifications and characteristics of a sustainable business model (SBM) for e-waste management through studying the stakeholders’ perspectives. In the SBM that is visualized by a Sustainable Business Model Canvas (SBMC) and its eleven components, the environment and society drivers are considered as important as economic drivers. However, the experimental studies on operationalizing sustainability in BMs have not been considered as they deserve. Therefore, this study, with its exploratory and interpretative nature, employed an abductive research strategy combined with a case study method to investigate the stakeholders’ perspectives. The semi-structured interviews were the primary source of data. The York Region, Ontario, CA was selected as the case study. The recorded interviews were transcribed through a qualitative content analysis method. The research findings reveal the matrices, graphs, mind maps, and seven mental models from the three major stakeholder groups. Then, the eight emerged themes were discussed thoroughly in response to the research questions. Consequently, the three significant contributions of this research when answering the research questions include: (1) A mental model consisting of the common opinions of three stakeholder groups (Government, Community, and Industry) that characterizes a consistent but incomprehensive SBM for e-waste management of York Region (YR) ; (2) Dual stakeholder group mental models that identify the gaps among stakeholders’ understandings about a SBM-YR-e-waste management system that highlight the conflicts or defects for future design; and (3) An integrated SBMC (I-SBMC) that may meet the sustainability consideration in the SBM, particularly for waste and e-waste management systems.

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Section: Asiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) for Electronic Waste (e-Waste) Management in York Region, Ontario

Ekhtari

2024

Preprint

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“…These activities are summarized in Figure 2 addition, support for technological progress in developing countries has led to the generation of significant quantities of e-waste. This usually occurs when end of life or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are sent to developing countries as donations [70,71].…”

Section: Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electronic Waste, an Environmental Problem Exported to Developing Countries: The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY

et al. 2021

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Electronic waste (e-waste) is a rapidly developing environmental problem particularly for the most developed countries. There are technological solutions for processing it, but these are costly, and the cheaper option for most developed countries has been to export most of the waste to less developed countries. There are various laws and policies for regulating the processing of e-waste at different governance scales such as the international Basel Convention, the regional Bamoko Convention, and various national laws. However, many of the regulations are not fully implemented and there is substantial financial pressure to maintain the jobs created for processing e-waste. Mexico, Brazil, Ghana Nigeria, India, and China have been selected for a more detailed study of the transboundary movements of e-waste. This includes a systematic review of existing literature, the application of the Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) framework for analysing complex problems associated with social ecological systems, and the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for evaluating the environmental impact of electronic devices from their manufacture through to their final disposal. Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and Norway have been selected for the LCA to show how e-waste is diverted to developing countries, as there is not sufficient data available for the assessment from the selected developing countries. GOOD, BAD and UGLY outcomes have been identified from this study: the GOOD is the creation of jobs and the use of e-waste as a source of raw materials; the BAD is the exacerbation of the already poor environmental conditions in developing countries; the UGLY is the negative impact on the health of workers processing e-waste due to a wide range of toxic components in this waste. There are a number of management options that are available to reduce the impact of the BAD and the UGLY, such as adopting the concept of a circular economy, urban mining, reducing loopholes and improving existing policies and regulations, as well as reducing the disparity in income between the top and bottom of the management hierarchy for e-waste disposal. The overarching message is a request for developed countries to help developing countries in the fight against e-waste, rather than exporting their environmental problems to these poorer regions.

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“…The figure shows that the WEEE management system in Japan is based on “fee withdrawal” [ 32 ]. When discarding wasted products, consumers handle the WEEE to specific collection depots.…”

Section: Weee Fund Operation Mode In Different Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waste Electrical and Electronic Fund Policy: Current Status and Evaluation of Implementation in China

Yang

Xiaoxian

Zhang

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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With the accelerated iteration of global electronic and electrical product updates, the demand for electronic and electrical products presents a new trend in which the life cycle of electronic and electrical products is shortened. Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) products pose a great threat to the global ecological environment, and solving this problem is urgent. Therefore, governments around the world have formulated funding policies for WEEE products, which has led to continuous improvements in such policies. Along these lines, we adopt the circular economy concept, extended producer responsibility theory and life cycle assessment method to comparatively analyse and compare the different fund operation modes in China, Germany, Japan and The Netherlands. In addition, based on the data related to fund policy implementation, we point out the problems in the development of the WEEE industry in China. The analysis results show that although China is the largest WEEE market, it is still in the initial stage and lags behind Western countries in efficiency and cost management. Then, taking as an example ‘Go Green’, an O2O classified recycling platform launched in 2005, this paper performs an extended analysis of the “Internet +” recycling model, which was proposed as a WEEE fund operation solution in China. Finally, we discuss the economic impact of this study on the future implementation and valuation of WEEE fund policy.

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Challenges of waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Cited by 27 publications

References 11 publications

Exploring a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) for Electronic Waste (e-Waste) Management in York Region, Ontario

Exploring a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) for Electronic Waste (e-Waste) Management in York Region, Ontario

Electronic Waste, an Environmental Problem Exported to Developing Countries: The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY

Waste Electrical and Electronic Fund Policy: Current Status and Evaluation of Implementation in China

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