Material flow analysis and risk evaluation of informal and formal E-waste recycling processes in Bangladesh: Towards sustainable management strategies

Abstract

E-waste is considered one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world, while high consumption of electronic goods and rapid development of technology are the major contributing factors. Bangladesh generates around 2.81 million tons of E-waste every year from various sectors such as shipyards, household electronics, and mobile phones, posing a great hazard to the environment and health of the people of this country. The predominance of informal recycling of E-waste employs very rudimentary techniques for processing, such as manual dismantling and open burning of E-wastes, leading to severe contamination by toxic substances. Despite this, limited data exists on E-waste management practices for both formal and informal processing, and the material flow and outcomes of hazardous materials remain mostly undocumented. The present study focuses on the application of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) stream generated in Bangladesh, which examines the generation characteristics, informal and formal recycling, economic impacts, and environmental hazards. The field data from several informal workshops and formal facilities supported the MFA; from metals, considerable resource recovery is achieved, yet a significant amount of waste goes to landfills. This study conducted an MFA on dismantling seven WEEE items: desktop PCs, laptops, mobile phones, CRT monitors, refrigerators, washing machines, and printers. The analysis revealed that, except for CRT and printers, different fractions of the rest of the items end up in either landfill or burning process. In the case of landfilling, 0.1% of desktop PCs (metallic residual from eddy current separator), 12% of laptops (screen after non-destructive dismantling), 54% of mobile phones (both battery and display after non-destructive dismantling), 3.3% of refrigerators (mostly oil and liquids) are discarded as waste that cannot be further processed or recycled. This research identifies previously unknown mutualism between the informal and formal E-waste processing pathways, emerging fractions, remaining potentially hazardous materials, and the principal economic incentives driving this current mutualism between informal and formal E-waste dismantling and recycling processes. The informal sector gives a boost to health risks as well as ecological degradation. The results show that informal workers need to be brought under legalized regulation, recycling technology has to be improved, and tight policies are required for an environmentally sound system of E-waste management in Bangladesh. The present study provides critical data needed by policymakers to develop effective policies toward safer, circular approaches to managing E-waste.