Waste electrical and electronic equipment management and Basel Convention compliance in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations

Abstract

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) nations account for one-quarter of the world's land area, having more than 40% of the world's population, and only one-quarter of the world gross national income. Hence the study and review of waste electrical and electronic equipment management systems in BRICS nations is of relevance. It has been observed from the literature that there are studies available comparing two or three country's waste electrical and electronic equipment status, while the study encompassing the BRICS nations considering in a single framework is scant. The purpose of this study is to analyse the existing waste electrical and electronic equipment management systems and status of compliance to Basel convention in the BRICS nations, noting possible lessons from matured systems, such as those in the European Union EU) and USA. The study introduced a novel framework for a waste electrical and electronic equipment management system that may be adopted in BRICS nations and revealed that BRICS countries have many similar types of challenges. The study also identified some significant gaps with respect to the management systems and trans-boundary movement of waste electrical and electronic equipment, which may attract researchers for further research.

A Mini‐Review of E‐Waste Management in Brazil: Perspectives and Challenges

“…Despite being mentioned as a recipient country for e‐waste, there are no technical or scientific studies that show the extent of this problem in Brazil. According to Gosh et al., due to the nature of the activity and deficiencies inherent in solid waste management (SWM), it is very difficult to estimate the size of this e‐waste receptor market in Brazil.…”

“…With an annual growth rate of about 3–5%, the increasingly rapid generation of e‐waste poses a challenge for solid waste management, mainly in developing countries. The manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment demands special metals, such as silver, gold, palladium, iron, aluminum, copper, and high‐technology rare earth elements of anthropogenic origin .…”

A novel method for the removal of epoxy coating from waste printed circuit board

“…The soaking time was optimised from 20 min to 12 h. In order to treat an electronic waste and to extract the metals from them it would be a time-consuming process with the help of bioleaching and so time consumption should be reduced. Because the generation of waste and storage of the generated waste are too high in various countries, the time utilisation should somehow be reduced (Ghosh et al, 2016).The results showed that soaking time also plays a significant role in the removal of epoxy resin. As the time increases the removal efficiency increases.…”

“…The overall fact that the epoxy resin cured with an amine bond was found impossible to be removed, but later on the addition of a lye solution along with some external disturbances helped remove the peel. This could be because of planned obsolescence (Ghosh et al, 2015(Ghosh et al, , 2016Mary and Meenambal, 2016). And moreover, the addition of epoxy resin to the base salts would produce enormous oxides that are very harmful.…”

Prediction of End-of-Life Waste Amounts Generated From Durable Goods Comsumption and Urban Facilities by the Example of Computer Hardware Waste

“…Соответственно увеличивается количество образующихся отходов. В европейских странах доля отходов ЭЭО составляет 4-6 % в потоке муниципальных отходов, и прогнозы говорят о возрастании их объема ежегодно на 3-5 %, в России таких отходов образуется около 1,5 млн т/год [7,8].…”