Global perspectives on e-waste
Global perspectives on e-waste
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DOI：
10.1016/j.eiar.2005.04.001
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发表时间：
2005-07-01
影响因子：
7.9
通讯作者：
Böni, H
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Widmer, R;Oswald-Krapf, H;Böni, H
电子废物是一个新出现的问题，也是一个日益重要的商业机会，因为电子废物的数量及其有毒和有价值的材料。电子废物中包括铁，铜，铝，金和其他金属的部分超过60%，而污染物占2.70%。鉴于这些污染物的高毒性，特别是在不受控制的环境中燃烧或回收时，《巴塞尔公约》已将电子废物确定为危险废物，并制定了控制此类废物越境转移的框架。《巴塞尔禁令》是对《巴塞尔公约》的一项修正案，目前尚未生效，它将进一步禁止发达国家向工业化国家出口电子废物。本文第一节概述了电子废物的定义、组成以及估计电子废物产生量的方法。据估计，仅考虑使用中的个人电脑，2004年至少有1亿台个人电脑过时。毫不奇怪，废弃电子电气设备（WESTERN）如今已占城市废物的8%，是增长最快的废物之一。第2节介绍了旨在帮助管理这些不断增长的电子废物的立法和举措。生产者延伸责任作为废物管理的一种新模式正在得到推广。欧盟于2004年8月生效的《废物管理指令》规定，欧盟国家的制造商和进口商有义务从消费者手中收回其产品，并确保进行环境无害化处理。工业化国家的废物管理有其自身的特点和问题，因此本文指出了这些国家特有的一些问题。本文以从印刷线路板中提取铜的危险过程为例，说明印度电子废物回收行业的危害。（瑞士国家经济事务秘书处）并由Empa执行的一项研究制定了一种评估当前形势的方法，为了更好地了解中国北京、印度德里和南非约翰内斯堡三个国家试点城市地区的机遇和风险。这三个国家进行了比较使用的评估指标体系，考虑到结构框架，回收系统及其各种影响。迄今为止的评估得出了三个关键点：（a）电子废物回收在所有国家都已发展成为一种基于市场的活动;（B）在中国和印度，电子废物回收是以非正规部门的中小型企业为基础的，而在南非，电子废物回收是以正规部门为基础的;（c）每个国家都在努力通过制定改进战略来克服现行制度中的缺陷。(c)2005年爱思唯尔公司All rights reserved.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, is an emerging problem as well as a business opportunity of increasing significance, given the volumes of e-waste being generated and the content of both toxic and valuable materials in them. The fraction including iron, copper, alummium, gold and other metals in e-waste is over 60%, while pollutants comprise 2.70%. Given the high toxicity of these pollutants especially when burned or recycled in uncontrolled environments, the Basel Convention has identified e-waste as hazardous, and developed a framework for controls on transboundary movement of such waste. The Basel Ban, an amendment to the Basel Convention that has not yet come into force, would go one step further by prohibiting the export of e-waste from developed to industrializing countries.Section 1 of this paper gives readers an overview on the e-waste topic-how e-waste is defined, what it is composed of and which methods can be applied to estimate the quantity of e-waste generated. Considering only PCs in use, by one estimate, at least 100 million PCs became obsolete in 2004. Not surprisingly, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) today already constitutes 8% of municipal waste and is one of the fastest growing waste fractions.Section 2 provides insight into the legislation and initiatives intended to help manage these growing quantities of e-waste. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is being propagated as a new paradigm in waste management. The European Union's WEEE Directive, which came into force in August of 2004, makes it incumbent on manufacturers and importers in EU states to take back their products from consumers and ensure environmentally sound disposal.WEEE management in industrializing countries has its own characteristics and problems, and therefore this paper identifies some problems specific to such countries. The risky process of extracting copper from printed wiring boards is discussed as an example to illustrate the hazards of the e-waste recycling industry in India.The WEEE Knowledge Partnership programme funded by seco (Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) and implemented by Empa has developed a methodology to assess the prevailing situation, in order to better understand the opportunities and risks in pilot urban areas of three countries-Beijing-China, Delhi-India and Johannesburg-South Africa. The three countries are compared using an assessment indicator system which takes into account the structural framework, the recycling system and its various impacts. Three key points have emerged from the assessments so far: a) e-waste recycling has developed in all countries as a market based activity, b) in China and India it is based on small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the informal sector, whereas in South Africa it is in the formal sector, and c) each country is trying to overcome shortcomings in the current system by developing strategies for improvement. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.