10 07 29 Master thesis Juliana Leon - e-Waste. This guide

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem description
According to the European Directive 2002/96/EC, waste electrical and electronic
equipment (WEEE) or e-waste can be divided into ten categories, comprising “IT and
telecommunications equipments” (EC, 2002b). Computer waste, the central topic of
this thesis, is included in this category.
With the worldwide increase of information and communication technology (ICT) use,
e-waste has become one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world (Widmer
et al., 2005). E-waste has become an issue in developing countries and particularly
in Latin America due to the rapid urbanization, allowing for a high ICT penetration,
combined with a lack of regulated end-of-life management systems for computers
and other electronic devices (Boeni et al., 2008).
E-waste is considered an emerging environmental issue because it contains very
harmful and toxic components such as heavy metals and brominated flame
retardants (EC, 2002a; Sepulveda et al., 2010). However, e-waste appears also to be
a business opportunity because more than 60% consists of metals such as iron,
copper, aluminium, and gold that can be recycled, whereas the fraction with toxic
components represents approximately 2.7% (Widmer et al., 2005).
Studies have demonstrated that in countries such as China and India the recycling of
this waste stream is performed mostly by the informal sector (IS) using artisanal
practices (Streicher-Porte et al., 2005; Rochat et al., 2007; Hicks et al., 2005). These
artisanal practices not only are very inefficient from a resource conservation point of
view (Keller, 2006), but also represent high health risks due to the workers’ exposure
to hazardous substances (e.g. lead, arsenic or cadmium). Additionally, these
practices have a negative environmental impact as a result of inappropriate disposal
of hazardous materials (e.g. cathode ray tubes lead glass), as well as emissions in
air, water and soils (Sepulveda et al., 2010).
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