E-Waste : Regulations, Management Strategies and Current Issues

Science and technology is a double-edged sword. Information and communication technology has brought numerous electronic products to server for the human, and significantly changed the landscape of human life and its style. However, it also has caused the serious environmental pollution and public health risk, in particular when electronics reach end of life and are dealt with in an informal manner. From 1990s, electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) posed much threat and raised many disasters from China to Africa. Thus, e-waste has becoming a global problem in terms of environmental maintain and resource sustainability from developing countries to industrial nations.

Many endeavors have been carried out to solve the e-waste problem around the world. This book will review the latest adventure of e-waste management from regulation to technology, and draw the way forward of e-waste management. In this context, seven chapters are included here: First is overview of e-waste and its management, covering the global regulation, recycling process, and detoxification of e-waste; Second is estimation of the generation of e-waste in China, covering the e-waste generation and flows, recycling industry and its evaluations; Third is generation and management status of waste office equipment, involving generation prediction, recycling technology, and collection situation in China; Fourth is the impact of technology innovation of WEEE management, concerning the computer display products evaluation with multi-life cycle assessment; Fifth is extended producer responsibility in fragmented value chain, revealing how to merge the formal and informal into e-waste management; Six is recovery of metals from e-waste by vacuum metallurgy, focusing on technical recycling of waste printed circuit boards; Seventh presents the way forward of global e-waste management.