Track: Waste

Abstract

Most third-world nations struggle mightily to establish functional e-waste management systems. Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) surpluses from developed countries are easily exported to developing countries and largely populated countries. After its end of life (EOL), the transported and their own generated EEE becomes e-waste, a growing source of concern for developing countries. Because of the serious consequences to people's health and the environment, informal e-waste management techniques have emerged as a major challenge for authorities and other interested parties in developing countries like India. In developing nations, there are few formal recyclers and legislation to manage e-waste, which gradually reduces the harmful impact on the environment. Nonetheless, there have been various impediments to the endeavour to embrace a formal e-waste management system. The research aims to catalogue and rank the most significant challenges (impediments) faced by the formal e-waste management system in developing countries. A DEMATEL (MCDM) approach is applied to eleven impediments which are identified by extensive literature review and institutional experts’ opinions. The study determined that "Lack of awareness of the harmful effects of unregulated e-waste recycling," "Low incentive package for formal e-waste recovery," "Lack of Training empowerment," "Insufficient funds for a formal e-waste recycling management system," "Lack of corporate social responsibility initiatives," and "Lack of awareness of the cost of returning in formal e-waste recycling" were the most significant and influential causes of the problem. Also, the factor found to be most effective for the current formal e-waste management system is the “Large Ideal duration for formal e-waste value recovery.” This research has the potential to help policymakers in a developing nation with a large population create an effective e-waste management system.