S. Mohammed Ghouse et al.

, IJSID, 2011, 1 (3), 16-25

ISSN:2249-5347

IJSID
International Journal of Science Innovations and Discoveries
Review Article
An International peer Review Journal for Science

Available online through www.ijsidonline.info

ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH IMPLICATIONS OF E-WASTES AND ITS MANAGEMENT

Dr.S.Mohammed Ghouse1* Dr.Silar Mohammed1, S.Masood Ahmed1, Dr.Mansoor Rehman1, M.Jafarullah Baig1, Meer Altaf Ahmed1 , S.Gulam Hussain1, Prof. P. Indira2
1Osmania

College (NAAC AccredtA Grade), Kurnool, A.P, India; 2Head of dept. of Zoology, S.K.University, Anantapur, A.P, India ABSTRACT

Received: Modified:

13.09.2011 06.10.2011

Human civilization witnessed rapid changes from time to time with the technological advancements. E wastes are becoming the primary concern due to their health hazards and environment pollution. E wastes consist of electronic goods which are not fit for their originally intended use and irreparable which

Published: 29.12.2011
*Corresponding Author

includes TVs, computers, washing machines, mobile phones etc. Global e waste is about 40 million tons a year. In developing countries availability of cheap labour, profitability in the recycling process lure the non formal sectors to import e waste. China banned the import of e waste from developed countries in 2000, but due to improper laws most of the waste material from the developed countries ends here. Basel Convention draft is to reduce and minimize, reuse and recycle the hazardous waste European countries ratified the ban against e waste exports through Basel Convention. With advancement of science and technology

Address: Name: Dr.S. Mohammed Ghouse Place: Kurnool, AP, India E-mail: syed0002001@rediffmail.com

particularly in the last fifty years the life span of man is increased drastically i.e. 68 in the world, but in India it is 62 years, but the quality of life is severely

INTRODUCTION

affected by pollutants. Most of e waste is kept in the house hold because most of them do not know how to handle it. Whenever they are disposing the e waste, it

INTRODUCTION must be separated from the other municipality solid wastes. Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle, Recover and Reassemble slogan is catchy, but its implementation save the planet biodiversity and us. Keywords: Human civilization, E wastes, developing countries, cheap labour, quality of life, save, biodiversity

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INTRODUCTION World scenario Global e-waste is about 40 million tons a year. Electronic industry is adding growth of the economy as it is a fastest growing industry by 2020. E waste production in different countries America: 3 billion tons of e-waste a year China: 2.3 billion tones of e waste per year (science daily feb23-2010) One of the fastest growing industries in the world is electronics. Nowadays mobiles and computers are commonly used gadgets. Globally 20 t0 50 million tons of e waste is generated every year (Green Peace) United States of America and Britain are dumping huge amount of to Asia. First world countries produce twice the e waste of developed countries. ( Science daily-2010).Hundreds of thousands of computers and mobile phones and other electronic appliances are discarded by the developing countries like United states of America Japan, .Europe and other industrialized countries , many of them find their way to landfills and the remaining are shipped to Asia (green peace international). United States of America dumps around 30 Million Computers a year. For the developed countries India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, and African countries like Ghana, Kenya have become the popular destinations of e waste disposal. China banned the import of e waste from developed countries in 2000, but due to improper laws most of the waste material from the developed countries ends here. China alone produces 1 million tons of e waste annually. Britain dumps around 25,000 tons of e waste into South Asia. Asia alone is estimated to produce 12 million tons of e wastes a year. (Asian times 2006). ).In Uganda with the agreement with Microsoft secondary PC s are available to small and medium sized entrepreneurs (UNIDO JULY 2006) In Uganda recycling facilities are less, plastics , ferrous metals , aluminum are recycled , the remaining recycling is not available so they are dumped to Asian countries. In Bangladesh more than 155 of child labourers die as a result of e waste recycling in a unhealthy manner. Bangladesh has generated 10,504 metric tons of e waste. There are no manufacturers of TVs in Bangladesh, only assembling.( Case study on e waste, Bangladesh situation 2010). In developing countries the recycling of e waste is done because recycling of copper, gold, iron etc from e waste is more profitable than mining, the same quantity from their ore. A cell phone contains 5-9 times gold than its ore. Basel Convention: It is a global environment treaty. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1987 took first step to solve the problem of disposal of hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries, as the developing countries are not equipped with machinery, skills to recycle. The Basel Convention signed by 116 nations was an effort of UNEP in 1987 in Hungary. 97 countries ratified the convention and began its implementation. Basel Convention draft is to reduce and minimize, reuse and recycle the hazardous waste European countries ratified the ban against e waste exports through Basel Convention. . United States of America
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has signed the convention but not ratified it, with a loop hole to export the e waste to developing countries. Most of the e waste is dumped in China. The convention aims in introducing a system for controlling the export and import and disposal of hazardous waste to protect the human health and environment. The Basel Convention came into force in 1992.The basal convention prevents generation, management of Trans-boundary movement and disposal of hazardous and other waste. In European countries it came into force in 7 Feb. 1994, as per the Basel Convention act of European nations movement of waste from one place to another is authorized where there is no danger to their movement and disposal. Movement of waste material must be labeled with international rules with proper documentation. A company cannot export e waste if the importing country has banned it. If the exporting country knows that importing country does not have the machinery to handle it in a scientific manner, it should stop exporting. Indian scenario: In India advances in information technology, industry and communication lead to the use of many electronic gadgets like the computers, mobiles and home appliances etc in day to day lives. E waste is emerging problem in India and the world. India is a vast country with a population of 1.21 billons. In India approximately 1, 50,000 tons of e waste is generated annually. Due to poor legislation and poor awareness among the people, availability of cheap labour, e waste is dumped into the developing countries like India, which compounds the problem further (Toxic link, 2000).Some educational institutions, charitable organizations receive used computers from the business sectors. The growth rate of mobile handsets is very high when compared to Personal Computer sand Televisions. India with strict negotiations with United States of America is importing approximately 40.000 tons of e waste every month with 80% residuals having some life left. (Asian times 2006).India has no specific law to ban the import of e waste, but we have a court order, which bans the import the all hazardous materials. (Asian times 2006). The import of e waste is governed by the amended hazardous waste (management) and handling rules of Ministry of Environment and Forests. Ten states generate 70% of e wastes in India. Life of electronic products in a small city like Kurnool the former capital of Andhra Pradesh Table 1 Product Computers Televisions Mobile phones Upper income class 5.64 YEARS 3.6O YEARS 1.54 YEARS (Study by Dr.Ghouse and Venkata swamy in 2011) Production of e waste in different states of India in 2007 is approximately: Maharashtra Tamilanadu Andhra Pradesh 202770.59 metric tons 13486.24 metric tons 12780.33 metric tons Lower income group 8.56 YEARS 5.11 YEARS 3.12 YEARS

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Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Delhi Karnataka Gujarat Madhya Pradesh Punjab 10381.11 metric tons 100059.36 metric tons 9729.15 metric tons 9118.74 metric tons 8994.33 metric tons 7800.62 metric tons 6958.46 metric tons

Courtesy: International journal of Energy and Environment The cost of recycling of a computer in United States of America costs 20 $, but in India it costs only 2 $ (Elucina 2009). Nowadays the recycling of e waste in America is not viable because the cost of labour is high, the recovery of precious metals from the automatic machines is less, they need the manual labour for the separation of components of e products which is a costly affair,. In developing countries availability of cheap labour, profitability in the recycling process lure the non formal sectors to import e waste. Non formal sectors employ child and women labourers from poor sections of the society; most of them dont have the idea of labour rights and health impacts of e waste recycling. Non formal sector process around 95% of the e-waste. Steps Taken by the Indian Government For The Management Of E Waste: Indian government has taken the following steps for the management of e waste. The import of e waste is governed by the amended hazardous waste (management) and handling rules of Ministry of Environment and Forests. Various workshops by the central pollution control board and technical guide on environment

anagement for information technology initiative India. India is working very hardly to minimize the import
and environmentally friendly recycling of e waste. In India Eco- Reco, authorized e waste recycler in Mumbai, collects the e waste across the India and recycle it in a environmentally friendly manner in association with industries like State Bank of India, CASTROL etc , E parisra, and trishyiraya of Bangalore and Tamilanadu comes under this category. Authorized recyclers recycle around 5% of e waste only. Health Implications: With advancement of science and technology particularly in the last fifty years the life span of man is increased drastically i.e. 68 in the world, but in India it is 62 years, but the quality of life is severely affected by pollutants, which includes e waste. E waste includes 60 percent of metals like iron, copper, gold, aluminum and 30 percent of plastics and approximately 2.7% of hazardous pollutants (Widmer et.al 2005). Land filling of e-waste can lead to the leaching of Lead into the ground water. Acid sludge causes the acidification of soil derived from melting of computer chips. This is a threat to biodiversity Computers contain hundreds of chemicals including lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants, poly vinyl chloride. Many of them are carcinogenic, cause respiratory, reproductive problems. They can travel to

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long distances through air , water and accumulate in our bodies and environment. The release of e waste from households along with the other solid wastes results in adverse effect on our health and his environment. Table 2: Effects of E-Waste constituent on health Source of e-wastes Solder in printed circuit boards, glass panels and gaskets in computer monitors Chip resistors and semiconductors Relays and switches, printed circuit boards Constituent

Lead (PB)

Cadmium

(CD)

Mercury (Hg)

Health effects Damage to central and peripheral nervous systems, blood systems and kidney damage. Affects brain development of children. Toxic irreversible effects on human health. Accumulates in kidney and liver. Causes neural damage. Teratogenic. Chronic damage to the brain. Respiratory and skin disorders due to bioaccumulation in fishes. Asthmatic bronchitis. DNA(Deoxy ribonucleic acid) damage.

Corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel Hexavalent plates, decorator or hardner for chromium (Cr) VI steel housings Cabling and computer housing Plastics including PVC(poly vinyl chloride)

Burning produces dioxin. It causes Reproductive and developmental problems; Immune system damage; Interfere with regulatory hormones

Plastic housing of electronic Brominated flame equipments and circuit boards. retardants Front panel of CRTs (Cathode ray tubes) Barium (Ba)

Disrupts endocrine system functions

Motherboard

Beryllium (Be)

Short term exposure causes: Muscle weakness; Damage to heart, liver and spleen. Carcinogenic (lung cancer) Inhalation of fumes and dust. Causes chronic beryllium disease or beryllicosis. Skin diseases such as warts.

E waste policy and regulation: Facilitation and development of infrastructure for environmental friendly recycling process The policy should extend the responsibility of the producer from production to recycling, financially, physically and legally. The import of the e waste from the developed or from other countries should be banned or strictly monitored. The disposal of e waste along with other solid waste from households should be monitored. In E-waste management, NGOs (non-government organizations), experts from industries should form e waste recycling agency periodically monitored by the government. Take back policy by the manufacturers. Creating the awareness of ill effects of e waste among the public by the way of seminars, advertisement in media etc
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Encouragement of scientific recycling agencies by providing subsidies. Establishment of collection centres of e waste by the manufacturers along with NGO s and other private organizations. Separation of e waste from the other solid waste from households should be encouraged by creating awareness among the public. E Waste Management Stratergies: Usable parts of many discarded computers, TVs, mobile phones etc., can be reassembled in to workable products. Re use of electronics Apple completely eliminated the use of cathode ray tube technology and adopted l LCD (Liquid crystal display) which reduces lead content in laptops from 484 grams to 1 gram and their life span is doubled. Switzerland uses e waste collection points. Going green increases awareness among the people(International journal of Environment and Waste management feb-2008) Products take back by the manufacturer. Greater attention for new product design. Extended Producer Responsibility Consumers should choose environmentally friendly products. Buy back of old electronic goods by the manufacturers. Establishment of e waste collection centres, recycling centres should be encouraged with the manufacturer, government organizations, NGOs with private voluntary organizations. Company should take back the responsibility of their products throughout their life cycle. Imposing the strict legislation may result in the formation of new e waste recycling industries, new jobs etc Most of the e waste recycling involves small entrepreneurs who are widespread, many in number and their regulation is very hard. Use of recycled plastics. Proper skilled training of persons involved in e waste recycling should be encouraged. E waste management not only depends on the product manufacturers, local government, and recycling agencies but also on the consumers. Their participation is promoted. Awareness of health and environmental hazards of e waste should be created among the citizens. Employment of unemployed youth in e waste recycling process by providing them the skilled training of environmental friendly methods. Manufacturers of electronic goods should minimize the use of hazardous materials in their products. Products of long life, up gradation and applicability should be designed. Product testing should be done by the manufacturers before releasing it in to the market, so that rejection, repair of the product is minimized.
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Sustainable product design. for example production of thinner computer without separate monitor and cp, thin and touch screen mobiles. Biopolymers may be used in the place of plastics in the manufacture of electronic products. E products that can be upgraded by the manufacturer may be encouraged for example; a TV may be used for internet browsing and storage of some data by using memory card or inbuilt memory. Regulation and strict implementation of laws for proper handling of bulk e waste. E regulatory agencies should be set up at the village level under the authority of district officer. Encouragement of R&D (Research and development) separately in the handling of e waste.

Responsibilities of the manufacturer: Up gradation of machinery techniques to minimize the release of waste during the manufacture of e products. Qualified, trained and skilled personnel should be involved in the handling of hazardous e waste. Manufacturer, distributor and retailer should take the responsibility of recycling / disposal of the e waste, for example Nokia is collecting used phones in their Nokia care service centres. Manufacturers must educate the consumers not only about their product efficiency but also hazardous material present in it and also after its life who should they should handed over safely. Children and women (pregnant women) should not be allowed to work in the handling of e-waste. Manufacture of universal adaptor or battery charger will reduce the use of many adapters for charging different electronic items. Role of citizens: Most of e waste is kept in the house hold because most of them do not know how to handle it. Whenever they are disposing the e waste, it must be separated from the other municipality solid wastes. House hold computers, other electronic appliances can be donated to low income groups, for example computers to school. While selecting a pp e product the product which is energy efficient, and with long life should be chosen. Citizens must choose those products which have collection centres after the expiry of their life. E products with take back offer should be encouraged.

Recycling: 75% of the e waste is unusable. According to the environmental protection agency statistics 2007out of the 2.25 million tons of TVs , mobiles, computers and other electronics appliances only 18% (414,000 tons) are recycled and 82% 1.84 million tons was disposed in landfills . Dumps around 23.000 metric tons of e waste to India, China and Africa. It is possible to segregate and dismantle the e waste in environmentally sound manner without harming the human, other living organisms and environment. In India most of the recycling is done in with bare hands by non formal sectors by using hammers and screwdrivers. Recycling of e waste is a costly affair in developed
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countries, so it finds its way to developing countries like India where cheap labour is available. Cadmium obtained from the mobile battery is enough to pollute 600m3 of water (Trick-2002).The e waste which does not have reuse value is burnt openly, there by contaminating the air with the pollutants. Capacitors are burnt in open air on charcoal to get gold. Lack of a safe e waste recycling infra structure in the formal sector. In non formal sectors the recycling of 95-97% of the plastics, glass except the PCBS (Printer circuit boards) and connectors should be done by the non formal sectors by the way of segregation and dismantling. The PCBs should be sold to the formal recyclers for the recovery of precious metals like gold, silver, and palladium, to the maximum extent. PCBs consist of 3-5 % of total e waste which contains valuable metals like gold, which should be processed by the formal sector. In India the formal sector agencies can be counted on fingers, where as the non formal sector is widely spread it is very difficult to regulate. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover and Reassemble: The above theme appears to be very catchy, but coming to its implementation level it is too low. Regarding the e waste, the use of hazardous material should be reduced, so that recycling process is not time consuming and environment friendly. Most of the e waste is recycled by the non formal sectors in developing countries by using cheaply available manual labour .the PCBS, Connectors which is about 3-5% of the e waste and hazardous containing precious, valuable metals is recycled by the non formal sectors in a unhealthy manner involving women and children, but it must be done by the formal sectors scientifically. The plastics and other recycled products can be used again in the manufacture of new products which minimize the health hazards and environmental pollution to a larger extent. Recovered parts of e waste which have some Life should be segregated and assembled in to usable product that can be sold in the secondary market CONCLUSION The survival of the biodiversity and ourselves on the planet depends upon the environment, which we are polluting knowingly, unknowingly. E waste are nowadays causing so many health implications and harm to biodiversity polluting our environment, so it is time to wake up and implement the Basel Convention guidelines strictly so that the problem of hazardous e waste can be reduced. Governments and manufacturers along with private corporate sectors should work efficiently to minimize the e waste and to recycle it in a healthy manner As a citizens it is our duty to select the products having long life and less hazardous materials. Further study and research is required in the above work to minimize the use of hazardous waste material and scientific recycling. REFERENCES 1. 2. Agarwal R. (1998) India: The World's Final Dump yard!, January, Basel Action News, Vol.1 Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (2002-02-25). "Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia" (PDF). Seattle and San Jose. http://www.ban.org/E-waste/technotrashfinalcomp.pdf Case study on e waste..Bangladesh situation 2010)

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3. CII (2006). E-waste management, Green Business Opportunities, Vol.12, Issue 1, Confederation of Indian Industry, Delhi. 4. Devi B.S, Shobha S. V, Kamble R. K. (2004). E-Waste: The Hidden harm of Technological Revolution, Journal IAEM, Vol.31, pp.196-205. 5. DIT (2003). Environmental management for Information Technology industry in India, Department of Information Technology, Government of India, pp.122-124. 6. 7. The Economist, 29.01.2005. p. 56. Illegal e-waste exposed". Greenpeace International. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/illegal-e-waste-exposed140708. 8. 9. Mehra H.C. (2004). PC waste leaves toxic taste, The Tribune, 22nd March Matthews S, Hendrickson C, McMichael F, Hart D. Disposition and end-of-life options for personal computers Carnegie Mellon University; 1997. http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~fm2a/12710/Newmodel%20computer%20 recycling.xls 10. Ramachandra T.V and Saira V. K. (2004). Environmentally sound options for Waste Management, Envis Journal of Human Settlements, March 2004, 5. 11. Toxic links (2003). Scrapping the Hi-Tech Myth Computer Waste in India, www.toxiclink.org Accessed on June 2006. 12. Toxics Link. (2004). E-Waste in Chennai Time is running out, www.toxicslink.org accessed on 14th June 2006. 13. 14. 15. Trick J. (2002). A mobile is not just for Christmas, Tuesday, 24th December 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk accessed on 19th August 2005. Widmer R, Heidi Oswald-Krapf , Deeply Sinha-Khetriwal, Max Schnellmann, Heinz Boni (2005), Global perspectives on e-waste, Environmental Impact Assessment Review 25 43645 16. 17. 18. R. Widmer et al. / Environmental Impact Assessment Review 25 (2005) 436458 International journal of Environment and Waste management feb-2008) Freeman M. H. 1989. Standard Handbook of Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal, McGraw-Hill Company, USA. 19. Third World Network. 1991. Toxic Terror: Dumping of Hazardous Wastes in the Third World, Third World Network, Malaysia. Muttil, N. and Chau, K.W., Machine learning paradigms for selecting ecologically

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21. Chau, K.W., Field measurements of SOD and sediment nutrient fluxes in a land-locked embayment in Hong Kong, Advances in Environmental Research, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2002, pp. 135-142. 22. Wu, C.L. and Chau, K.W., Mathematical model of water quality rehabilitation with rainwater utilization a case study at Haigang, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, Vol. 28, No. 3-4, 2006, pp. 534-545. 23. Muttil, N. and Chau, K.W., Neural network and genetic programming for modelling coastal algal blooms, International Journal of Environment and Pollution, Vol. 28, No. 3-4, 2006, pp. 223-238. 24. Chau, K.W., Cheng, C.T and Li, C.W., Knowledge management system on flow and water quality modeling, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2002, pp. 321-33

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