Material flow, economic and environmental life cycle performances of informal electronic waste recycling in a Thai community

Arain, Aubrey; Neitzel, Richard; Nambunmee, Kowit; Hischier, Roland; Jindaphong, Siripond; Austin‐Breneman, Jesse

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.106129

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Therefore, setting carbon prices specified at the appliance level may be more rewarding since the carbon credits differ substantially among WEEE categories. For example, our study shows that recycling per ton of microcomputers exhibits GHG reduction (980–2390 kgCO 2 e) fewer than recycling washing machines (1620–2640 kgCO 2 e), which is consistent with previous estimates of Gu et al (2016; 1490 kgCO 2 e) on recycling microcomputers and Arain et al (2022; 1910 kgCO 2 e) on recycling washing machines …”

Section: Policy Implicationssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Estimates of the GHG emission reductions are comparable to those from previous studies (Table S8). For example, our emission reduction potentials of recycling refrigerators (1306–1830 kgCO 2 e t –1 ) exceed Arain et al (2022; 1230 kgCO 2 e t –1 ) by a small margin. This deficiency is because that Arain et al (2022) discarded compressors for disposal, while we used them for second-hand depreciation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…This is due to the fact that replacing virgin materials with recycled ones can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions . For example, in a Thailand village that generated 460 tons of household appliances annually, recycling four WEEE appliances (i.e., washing machine, refrigerator, television, and fan) can reduce approximately 60 tCO 2 e of GHG emissions through substituting the virgin materials (e.g., steel, copper, aluminum) with the recycled ones . For another example, a China-specific study found that recycling per unit of cathode ray tube (CRT) television could avoid 20–26 kgCO 2 e of GHG emissions …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 For example, in a Thailand village that generated 460 tons of household appliances annually, recycling four WEEE appliances (i.e., washing machine, refrigerator, television, and fan) can reduce approximately 60 tCO 2 e of GHG emissions through substituting the virgin materials (e.g., steel, copper, aluminum) with the recycled ones. 20 For another example, a China-specific study found that recycling per unit of cathode ray tube (CRT) television could avoid 20−26 kgCO 2 e of GHG emissions. 21 Notably, since 2017, China has established the largest carbon trading market for the electric power industry.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon Trading in China Reduces the Dependence of Household Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling on Government Subsidies

Zhang,

Song,

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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China's enterprises of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling suffer from low profitability that is highly dependent on government subsidies. This low economic gain impedes the sustainable growth of China's WEEE-recycling sector and also adds to the government's financial burden. Prior life-cycle studies have approved the carbon reduction potentials or net carbon credit of recycling WEEE. However, policymakers fail to know whether the revenue from selling carbon credits can offset the government's financial subsidy. We performed life-cycle and costbenefit analyses for a case recycling enterprise that processes six categories of household appliances. The results show that the reduction potentials of greenhouse gases range from 930−3450 kgCO 2 e by recycling per ton of household appliances and materials substitution. The recycling enterprise would gain extra revenue ranging from 32 to 160 RMB per ton of appliance if the carbon credits were sold at China's current carbon price, i.e., 45−60 RMB tCO 2 e −1 . Recycling waste refrigerators exhibits the highest carbon revenue, offsetting 6−17% of the government's financial subsidy. Microcomputers, by contrast, indicate the lowest carbon revenue, equivalent to 1−3% of its highest government subsidy. For each household appliance category, when the carbon price reaches 270− 600 RMB tCO 2 e −1 , selling carbon credits can fully offset the government's financial subsidy. Constrained by the processing capacity of the case enterprise, optimizations for appliance-recycling composition contribute a 15−25% profit growth to the current economic gains. Interpreting the specific profit depends on the predefined scenarios of carbon price and the substitution rate of the regenerated materials for the virginal ones. Our findings show that raising the profitability of WEEE recycling enterprises through the carbon trading policy contributes to the sustainable growth of China's WEEE-recycling sector while alleviating the government's financial burden.

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Section: Policy Implicationssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Carbon Trading in China Reduces the Dependence of Household Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling on Government Subsidies

Zhang,

Song,

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…The input and output data for the processes in the e-waste recycling chain were determined by inventory analysis, as shown in Supporting Information Table S2. Global warming potential (GWP) index in LCA evaluation was based on the radiation characteristics of fully mixed greenhouse gases (GHGs), which was used to measure the GHGs accumulated in a selected time relative to CO 2 . , Both the Montreal Protocol and the Kyoto Protocol are GWP100 calculated based on 100 years, taking into account the urgency of carbon peaking. In this study, CO 2 emission of five types of e-waste was calculated by the GWP100 index.…”

Section: Methods and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring the Resources and Environmental Impacts from the Precise Disassembly of E-Waste in China

Tian

Gao

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Due to the dispersed distribution of e-waste and crude disassembly in traditional recycling, valuable metals are not traceable during their life cycle. Meanwhile, incomplete separation between metals and nonmetals reduces the economic value of disassembled parts, which leads to higher environmental costs for metal refining. Therefore, this study proposes a precise disassembly of e-waste to finely classify and recover metals in an environmentally friendly way. First, the macroscopic material flow of e-waste in China (source, flow, scrap, and recycling gap) was measured based on data collected by the government and 109 formal recycling enterprises. The sustainable recycling balance time points for e-waste recycling and scrap volumes were forecast by introducing an additional recycling efficiency. By 2030, the total scrap volume of e-waste is predicted to reach 133.06 million units. For precise disassembly, the main metals and their percentages from these typical e-wastes were measured based on material flow analysis combined with experimental methods. After precise disassembly, the proportion of reusable metals increases significantly. The CO 2 emission of precise disassembly with the smelting process was the lowest compared with crude disassembly with smelting and ore metallurgy. The greenhouse gas for secondary metals Fe, Cu, and Al was 830.32, 1151.62, and 716.6 kg CO 2 /t metal, respectively. The precise disassembly of e-waste is meaningful for building a future resource sustainable society and for carbon emission reduction.

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Effective Utilization of E‐waste in Advanced Energy Technology Processes

Bhui,

Pathak,

Prabu

2023

Electronic Waste Management

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Material flow, economic and environmental life cycle performances of informal electronic waste recycling in a Thai community

Cited by 24 publications

References 47 publications

Carbon Trading in China Reduces the Dependence of Household Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling on Government Subsidies

Carbon Trading in China Reduces the Dependence of Household Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling on Government Subsidies

Monitoring the Resources and Environmental Impacts from the Precise Disassembly of E-Waste in China

Effective Utilization of E‐waste in Advanced Energy Technology Processes

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