Assessing resident awareness on e-waste management in Bangalore, India: a preliminary case study

A review of the effects of environmental hazards on humans, their remediation for sustainable development, and risk assessment

In the race for economic development and prosperity, our earth is becoming more polluted with each passing day. Technological advances in agriculture and rapid industrialization have drastically polluted the two pillars of natural resources, land and water. Toxic chemicals and microbial contaminants/agents created by natural and anthropogenic activities are rapidly becoming environmental hazards (EH) with increased potential to affect the natural environment and human health. This review has attempted to describe the various agents (chemical, biological, and physical) responsible for environmental contamination, remediation methods, and risk assessment techniques (RA). The main focus is on finding ways to mitigate the harmful effects of EHs through the simultaneous application of remediation methods and RA for sustainable development. It is recommended to apply the combination of different remediation methods using RA techniques to promote recycling and reuse of different resources for sustainable development. The report advocates for the development of site-specific, farmer-driven, sequential, and plant-based remediation strategies along with policy support for effective decontamination. This review also focuses on the fact that the lack of knowledge about environmental health is directly related to public health risks and, therefore, focuses on promoting awareness of effective ways to reduce anthropological burden and pollution and on providing valuable data that can be used in environmental monitoring assessments and lead to sustainable development.

The Expanded Theory of Planned Behavior in the Context of Environmental Protection Behaviors for Undergraduates: Roles of Moral Norms and University Class Standings

The expanded Theory of Planned Behavior (ETPB) was applied to examine undergraduates’ environmental protection behaviors. Moral norms were applied into the model as the predictor of attitude, social norms and perceived behavioral control. The effects of different class standings were also examined. A questionnaire survey was conducted and 380 responses underwent data analysis using structural equation modelling. According to Model ETPB, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were strongly affected by moral norms, while attitude was moderately affected by moral norms. Environmental protection behaviors was moderately affected by environmental protection intention, while environmental protection intention was moderately affected by perceived behavioral control which was the strongest predictor, followed by attitude and subjective norms. Invoking moral emotions through posters or peers leading by examples, which over time might internalize into moral norms, played an important role in positively affecting perceived behavioral control and subjective norms. This could be followed by simple and convenient programs creating a positive self-perception of the abilities to carry out environmental protection behaviors. When separated by class standings, perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor for the freshmen class, while subjective norms were non-significant. For the class standing of sophomores and above, attitude was the strongest predictor.

Consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste: systematic review and future research prospects

Purpose

With the rapid increase in the consumption of electrical and electronic innovations, responsible management and recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been a significant concern for the governments, stakeholders, researchers and industry practitioners around the world. Consumer awareness, disposal behaviour and perception are chief facets of designing sustainable management strategies. Although researchers have widely studied e-waste over many years, the research focusing on consumer awareness about e-waste recycling has gained momentum recently. This paper aims to systematise the existing literature and explore future research prospects on household e-waste sorting behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Web of science (WoS) core collection was searched using selected keywords to identify relevant articles published from 2001 to 2021. The search resulted in 1,156 research articles published from 2001 to 2021. After a detailed study, 85 articles were shortlisted for in-depth review. The review was conducted based on global trends, top journals, most prolific authors, most active e-waste research countries, and institutions centring on consumer participation in e-waste disposal and recycling behaviour. The present research has also identified around eleven factors that seem to have a bearing on consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste.

Findings

E-waste research has gained increased attention in the last five years. The majority of the studies has focused on motivational factors and ignore the risks associated with handling e-waste. The present study reports the pertinent issue of lack of awareness among the masses about e-waste handling and disposal. Thus, bringing to the fore the lack of awareness programmes and initiatives. The analysis presents the gaps in the literature and future research agendas.

Originality/value

The review article will help in providing an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour towards storage, disposal and recycling of e-waste and delineates the future direction of research that may be undertaken in this field of study.

An assessment of e-waste generation and environmental management of selected countries in Africa, Europe and North America: A systematic review

Waste generated from electrical and electronic equipment collectively known as e-waste has remained a persistent environmental problem. Globally, approximately 53.6 million tons of e-waste was generated in 2019. Of this amount generated, less than 13% was recycled and the rest ended up in landfills or incinerators creating enormous environmental and health concerns due to the presence of hazardous materials. While there are several previous-studies on e-waste, research findings of the United Nations global e-waste report 2020 shows that many countries are not sufficiently managing e-waste generated and greater effort is urgently required to ensure smarter and more sustainable e-waste management. On this premise, this study critically reviews previous research on e-waste generation and management practices of selected-countries - Canada, France, United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria and South Africa; provides an overview of progress made and identifies areas for improvement. These countries are selected because they are some of the largest-producers of e-waste worldwide. To achieve the objectives of this study, previous-studies from 2005 to 2020 are collected from databases. The study focuses on aspects such as e-waste generation, e-waste recycling, e-waste disposal methods and behaviour, environmental management of e-waste, e-waste problems and challenges and e-waste legislation of these countries. This study further categorised previous-studies of selected-countries in relation to type and scope of research, e-waste categories evaluated and study locations. Based on the findings/outcomes of the analysis on the current-situation of the selected-countries in the literature, this study proposes generic best-practice approaches to e-waste generation and environmental management taking into account country-specific issues and identifies future research areas.

A Systematic Review of E-Waste Generation and Environmental Management of Asia Pacific Countries

Due to the rapid increase in the use of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) worldwide, e-waste has become a critical environmental issue for many governments around the world. Several studies have pointed out that failure to adopt appropriate recycling practices for e-waste may cause environmental disasters and health concerns to humans due to the presence of hazardous materials. This warrants the need for a review of the existing processes of e-waste management. In view of the growing e-waste generation in the Asia Pacific region and the importance of e-waste management, this study critically reviews previous research on e-waste generation and management practices of major e-waste producing nations (Australia, China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia) in the Asia Pacific region, provides an overview of progress made and identifies areas for improvement. To fulfil the aims of this research, previous studies from 2005 to 2020 are collected from various databases. Accordingly, this study focuses on e-waste generation and environmental management of these countries. This study found that e-waste management practices of the selected countries need to be enhanced and recommends several best practices for effectively managing e-waste.

Issues and solutions of electronic waste urban mining for circular economy transition: An Indian context

The rapid consumption of advanced e-products has intensified problems for the linear economy; constantly diminishing natural resources employed in production processes have created a need of recycle and reuse. Although the transition to a circular economy proposes to end the loop of e-products, it needs the application of processes such as urban mining to recover resources as secondary raw material. The present study intends to examine the issues and challenges of electronic waste urban mining (EWUM) in India that need to be assessed for the development of a sustainable economy. To accomplish this, the current study employs integrated Multi-Criteria-Decision making methods (MCDM). Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) is used to prioritize issues and their possible solutions with Weighted Assessment Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) methods introduced to explore these challenges and provide solutions for managing EWUM. There is an immediate need to acknowledge the issues confronted by stakeholders in urban mining processes for successful transition to a circular economy. A better understanding of the issues will help policy makers and decision makers to implement best practices to enhance the urban mining process in India. This study has shown that socio-economic (SE) issues are the most critical issues in EWUM in India. The possible solutions that would have most impact are to enhance awareness campaigns for people to educate themselves regarding e-waste, train staff to handle safe disposal of e-waste and produce eco-friendly electronic products.

Survey and analysis of consumers' behaviour for electronic waste management in Bangladesh

This paper aims to establish consumer's perception of electric waste recycling and management on a national scale in Bangladesh. The attitude, willingness to pay (WTP) and consumers' behaviour were explored by conducting a questionnaire-based survey. The conclusions are based on 915 valid responses out of 2000 online survey invitations. Interestingly, 37.9% of the respondents indicated that they would accept to pay for electronic waste recycling. Analysis also shows that the preferred WTP would cover 5-10% of the recycling cost. Factors like environmental awareness, monthly income, and education level affect the consumers' WTP. Nevertheless, most of the participants believe that the Government should share the recycling cost. The study suggests that e-waste recycling can be stimulated by promoting environmental awareness, educating the public about the benefits of recycling e-waste, and making e-waste recycling more convenient. However, additional measures will likely be needed to tackle the e-waste problem. Thus, support for environmental education is imperative in order to promote environmental awareness and increase the WTP of consumers. The study outlines key characteristics of consumer-focused e-waste management archetypes and proposes an effective road map for Bangladesh.

The relationship between environmental awareness, environmental behaviors, and carbon footprint in Turkish households

Having knowledge about household environmental behaviors is important for planning and conducting efforts to reduce carbon footprint. In this study, the relationship between environmental awareness, purchasing, household practices, and carbon footprint was investigated, and the impact of demographics on these variables was determined. The analysis shows that sensitivity dimension of environmental awareness is related to few environmental behavior variables (purchasing and efficiency) whereas willingness dimension was related to all variables (except gas). While improvements in demographic factors (income, education, and female employment status) positively affect environmental sensitivity, they increase carbon footprint from automobile. Only increase in income has an effect on willingness. It is determined that income positively affects environmental purchasing. Furthermore, it is revealed that environmental household practices did not differ in terms of demographic characteristics, except the effect of education on pollution.

A review of sustainable e-waste generation and management: Present and future perspectives

Studies on sustainable management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (or e-waste) have gained increasing attention from researchers around the world in recent years, with investigations into various aspects of e-waste management were investigated. Studies on e-waste generation by previous papers have been reviewed to provide an overview of the current research progress and recommendations for future research. The relevant existing studies were collected from various databases. Using content analysis, three main aspects of the existing studies were evaluated: the distribution and trends of the publications, the scope and boundaries of the studies, and the current research practices and research applications. Although there was a significant increasing trend of the amount of research on the evaluation of e-waste generation, however, the number of publications based on the countries of origin was still small. Another limitation was found related to the differences in the selection of research subjects and the level of analysis resulted in variations in the scopes and boundaries of the existing studies. Various other research areas were investigated further based on their research findings, but the analysis of various methodological aspects was complicated due to the increasing number of newly developed methodologies and the lack of comprehensive and up-to-date reviews on this research area. Additionally, there was also a need to evaluate emerging and/or older technology, which led electrical appliances to be overlooked. We found that comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of the methodological aspects of e-waste generation are still lacking. Based on the research gaps and limitations discussed, recommendations for future research were made.

Circular economy potential of e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra: a case study

The paper investigates the potential of circular economy of authorized e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra. The study determines the drivers and barriers associated with e-waste collection in the region. Furthermore, it explores the handling techniques including dismantling, recycling, and scrap disposal. This is done through a case study of a recycling company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. A questionnaire-based survey is used to study e-waste processing units. The qualitative analysis of the questionnaire shows that lack of awareness of environmental impact is the greatest constraint in the collection of e-waste and data security is the most crucial driver for enhancing the collection of e-waste. The case study reveals that the quantity and type of e-waste are more important than the distance between the processing unit and the collection point. It discloses that the primary factor for building trust between e-waste collectors and waste holders is data security.

Assessing enablers of e-waste management in circular economy using DEMATEL method: An Indian perspective

With increasing population, excessive use of electrical and electronic products and extreme demand of resources have compelled the linear economy to transform into Circular Economy (CE). In the current scenario, e-waste management has become the top priority of all the developed and developing nations especially those in the transition phase. The generation of e-waste has increased proportionally across the world and created an intense pressure on the firms to implement sustainable practices to redesign and recycle the products. The current status of the developing countries like India confronts number of challenges to manage e-waste produced, and the only possible solution is to minimize the waste generation and practicing recycling processes. For transforming into CEs, there is a need to identify the most influencing key enablers through which an effective and robust e-waste management (e-WM) system can be developed. An extensive literature review and expert judgments are expended to identify the most influencing key enablers of e-WM in circular economies, and, being the highest producer of e-waste, Mumbai (Maharashtra) has been chosen as the case location. To explore the strength of causal and effect enablers, the DEMATEL method is applied. This study has shown that 'Environmental management system' (EMS) is the most significant and important driving enabler to influence all the other existing enablers. This study has also highlighted that e-WM can be efficient if it focuses on producing eco-friendly products, developing strict legislations, building green image and supporting the producers to implement CE practices. This study helps stakeholders and policy makers to reduce the burden from the environment and focus on developing an efficient e-WM system on the basis of identified key enablers like EMS and collaboration with environmental partners to contribute towards CE transition.

Factors influencing community participation in the management of household electronic waste in West Surabaya, Indonesia

The objective of the study was to determine the factors that influence community participation in the management of electronic waste. A survey of community willingness to participate in the management of electronic waste was conducted using questionnaires. Survey locations covered western areas of the city of Surabaya, Indonesia, where 238 respondents were selected proportionally from high-, medium-, and low-income groups during 2014. The group was divided by land and building taxes, which represents the socio-economic conditions of the community. Processing and statistical data analysis were performed with structural equation modeling. Results showed that one factor influencing the willingness of communities to manage e-waste was behavior, while factors influencing the willingness of communities to pay more included behavior, attitudes, and knowledge. Strategies to increase community participation can be applied through education and community assistance, the provision of recycling facilities, and applied regulations about e-waste management and extended producer responsibility.

Assessing young consumers' awareness and participation in sustainable e-waste management practices: a survey study in Northwest China

The massive generation of electronic waste (e-waste) and the informal recycling of e-waste are serious concerns in China. As a hazardous waste stream, e-waste calls for sustainable management practices to avoid adverse effects on environment and health. However, consumers' awareness and active participation are needed to make e-waste management successful. Therefore, this study is an exploratory attempt to investigate young consumer awareness, knowledge, and participation in sustainable e-waste management practices. Meanwhile, the study reviews the current situation of e-waste recycling, its related legislative framework, and practices in China. The survey revealed that the respondents have keen environmental consciousness, while they have low awareness about e-waste-related rules and regulations, recycling programs, and the formal and informal recycling sector. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners in order to promote environmental awareness and sustainable e-waste management practices among young consumers in China.