Electronic Waste and Sustainability: Reflections on a Rising Global Challenge

Abstract

Globalization, technological advancements, advent of the internet, near-universal availability of mobile phones and changing consumer preferences have led to a boom in the electrical and electronics industry. Such products are now available in almost all countries of the world. The increased availability and consumption of electronic products have also led to rapid rise in the volumes of electronic waste (ewaste) globally. Markets have traditionally not paid sufficient attention to post-consumption behavior for electronic products and hence safe disposal and management of e-waste has always remained a critical issue. There are significant sustainability issues related with e-waste at local as well as at global levels which call for increased attention of governments, businesses, and societies. This paper reflects on the sustainability aspects of e-waste and resulting global challenges. It also reviews the sustainability related issues due to e-waste from different approaches and offers discussion on the relevant policy implications.

Banerjee, Dholakia and Dholakia, M-Powering Marketing in a Mobile World (2017)

“…Despite my excitement, I was disappointed by the lack of acknowledgement of the sustainability implications that the growth of mobile device usage has on our environment. As we all know now, the majority of global citizens own mobile phones that are often quickly upgraded to the newest models, and disposing obsolete devices creates an excess of waste with environmental implications (Tan et al 2017; however, MGDR has addressed this issue, see Kumar and Bhaskar 2016). Pivotal questionsthat should have been addressed in this bookcould have revolved around disposal, recycle, or repurposing strategies that need to be applied to manage the 42,000 tons of waste predicted by 2025 in countries such as China (Tan et al 2017).…”

A Journal for a Fast-Changing World

“…The most popular article from the inaugural issue, "Marketing's Lost Frontier: The Poor" by Ravi Achrol and Philip Kotler, crossed 300 downloads in these first few months (see Achrol and Kotler 2016). It is also gratifying for the editors of MGDR, and for the journal's parent organization, the International Society of Markets & Development (ISMD), that the second most downloaded paper in the inaugural issue is by two young scholars from a developing region, viz., Bipul Kumar and Kalyan Bhaskar from India (see Kumar and Bhaskar 2016).…”

A Systematic Review of E-Waste Generation and Environmental Management of Asia Pacific Countries

“…Today, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has become indispensable and enhance living standards, but often contain toxic chemicals that negatively impact human health and the environment and fuel the climate crisis [2,3]. The growth in demand and increased sales of EEE have consequently led to the rise in the volume of e-waste [3][4][5].…”

“…E-waste is one of the most urgent and pressing challenges of our time; however, it is routinely ignored. Across the world, the growing amount of e-waste threatens the environment and local communities, as incorrectly disposed e-waste results in life-endangering toxic chemicals released into the environment and the loss of precious metals [2,[4][5][6][7]. Perkins et al [8] point out that the amount of e-waste generated each year is increasing at an alarming rate.…”