IICMR Research Journal I4 Vol 10 Issue 1 March 2016,ISSN No 09752757
e-Waste Management Practices in Developing
Countries: A SWOT Analysis
Dr. Rajeev Srivastava1
ABSTRACT
The amount of e-waste is growing day by day in India as
well as in many developing countries. Informal practices
followed by collectors, dismantlers and recyclers of
e-waste are also growing, which are very harmful for the
environment and human health. The aim of this paper is
to investigate the e-Waste situation in various developing
countries. This study presents an analysis of the
implementation of the e-waste management, presenting
Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) as
well as challenges and opportunities encountered in each
phase. Thus the paper aims to develop sustainable
e-waste management system in developing countries.
KeywordsDismantling, Refurbishing, e-Waste
Management, SWOT, Developing Countries
I. INTRODUCTION
Old appliances which have reached their end-of-life
may not be very useful to their owners; however they
still need to be disposed properly. In the past few
years tremendous growth has been seen in the field of
information technology. This has increased the
consumption of electrical and electronic equipment
(EEE) both from the institutional users and
households. The main reasons for the growing
volume of e-waste are higher rate of consumption,
shortened product lives, lack of collection, recycling
facilities and rapid advancement of technology.
A study conducted by MAITGTZ (2009) found that
India generated 382,979 metric tons of e-Waste which
includes only computers, TV and mobile phones. It
was also found that about 60% of e-Waste is
generated from 65 cities. Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore,
Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune,
Surat and Nagpur are the top ten e-waste generated
cities (Chatterjee, 2007).
Waste is regarded as a resource which should and
1.Associate Prof. and Head, School of Computer
Applications, IMS Unison University, Dehradun
Email:rajeevspn21@yahoo.com
9927959665
e-Waste Management Practices in Developing Countries: A SWOT Analysis Page
could be reclaimed (Lindhqvist, 2000). Though
disparate in their composition, electronic and
electrical products contain valuable metals such as
gold and silver as well as hundreds of other materials.
Apart from recycling e-Waste, reducing e-Waste
should also be a priority because the manufacture of
these products is extremely resource intensive. A
study showed that the manufacturer of one desktop
computer required 240 kilograms of fossil fuels, 22
kilograms of chemicals and at least 1,500 liters of
water (Williams et al., 2003).
e-Waste contains many hazardous substances such as
antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead,
mercury, selenium, beryllium, and brominated flame
retardants (BFRs). As a result, there are risks to
human health associated with placing such products
into landfills or incinerators where these hazardous
elements can enter the air and water streams.
These substances do not only affect the environment
but also the health of people if not properly treated at
the end of life (Eol). In India e-Waste is mainly
handled by people in the informal sector. Informal
sector uses crude techniques such as burning of cables
and acid bath to recover precious metals. Effluents
from these techniques pollute environment and cause
harm to the health of the people.
Upon contact with these toxic elements in humans
can have health problems such as breathing
difficulties, respiratory irritation, coughing, choking,
pneumonitis, tremors, Neuropsychiatry problems,
convulsions, comas and even death (Halluite et al.,
2005). In a study conducted by Steiner (2004) in
Delhi it was assessed that open burning of PWB and
cables release dioxins and furans and chronic
exposure to them could lead to a higher-than-average
risk of cancer in people in the vicinity of fire sites.
Initially, there was no separate law on e-Waste
management in India. e-Waste is interpreted under
Hazardous Waste rules and the present recycling
facilities are licensed under these rules. On 11th May,
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 IICMR Research Journal I4 Vol 10 Issue 1 March 2016,ISSN No 09752757
2011 a document with Guidelines for
Environmentally Sound Management of e-Waste was
released by Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MOEF) and Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB).
While India is a signatory of the Basel Convention it
has not ratified the Ban Amendment which prohibits
the shipment of e-Waste among other hazardous
substances from developed to developing countries.
However a Supreme Court directive of 1997 prohibits
the import of hazardous waste into India (Agarwal et
al., 2003). However, there is ambiguity in the policy
because the Customs Tariff Act does not provide any
provisions for old computers, whether working or
waste. Furthermore, second hand imports of computer
equipment are allowed in certain cases, such as
charitable donations to educational institutes, but after
getting required clearances from the government. It is
felt that under the guise of such imports, scrapped
computers are imported for recycling.
The one reason for the growing volume of e-waste in
India is the import of e-Waste from developed
countries as second hand goods and the main reason
for the import is low labor cost and less stringent
environmental laws (Toxics Link, 2004 and
Ragupathy, 2006). In India e-Waste is mainly handled
by the informal sector, which is not registered with
the government. The practices followed by these
informal sectors are not safe for the environment and
health of the human beings. In India still there are a
few authorized recycling companies of e-waste, who
conduct environmentally safe dismantling, recovery
and recycling.
II.COMPONENTS OF E-WASTE
MANAGEMENT
On the basis of the literature review six many
components are identified which will influence the
effective e-Waste management in developing
countries. These components are: „Collection and
Recycling‟, „Rules and Regulations‟, „Government
Support‟, „Awareness‟, „Initiatives‟ and
„Responsibility‟. The details of these components are:
A.Collection and Recycling
Collection and recycling means collecting back, used
electronics devices for the purpose of recycling, reuse
and safe disposal of e-Waste. Take back system is an
e-Waste Management Practices in Developing Countries: A SWOT Analysis Page
important factor for e-Waste management (Jinglei et
al., 2009). Time delay (Ali and Chan, 2008), lack of
collection points (Shih, 2001) and cost of collection
(Shanshan and Kejing, 2008) are the main drivers for
collection of e-Waste. Complexity of the take - back
system is also one of important factor (Yang and Xu,
2008).
A paper discussed that real quantity of discarded e-
Waste in urban China is not recycled or disposed by
formal recyclers (Liu et al., 2007). Low recycling rate
(Gullett, 1992) is main drivers of formal recycling.
The most challenge faced by formal e-Waste
recycling sectors is that they cannot get sufficient e-
Waste to maintain normal operations (Jinglei et al.,
2009). Due to high costs of recycling and lack of
consumer incentives, only a very small fraction
(Yoon, 2006) reached to formal recycling. A Trans -
boundary system for the 3R (Reduce, Reuse and
Recycle) management of electronic waste (Suzuki et
al., 2008) is an important driver for reuse. e-Waste
management can be improved by donating e-Waste to
charities or schools, remanufacturing and by use of
upgradeable electronic devices (Hanks et al., 2008).
B. Rules and Regulations
Rules and regulations refer to the type of legal system
required for effective e-Waste management. Adequate
rules and regulations is one of the important factors in
the management of e-Waste. By making final
treatment and landfill last stage of the disposal
process (Shih, 2001) e-Waste management can be
improved. In the absence of legislation, e-Waste
recycling systems have been limited to private
recycling of high-value waste with only limited
consumer participation (Susan et al., 2008). Trans-
boundary movements of huge amount of e-Waste
from developed counties to developing countries
(Wen et al., 2006), lack of legislation around e-Waste
(Roa, 2007), dumping e-Waste into landfills, terrible
working conditions for workers (Hanks et al., 2008),
rigorous controls to prevent the illegal import and
export of e-Waste (Sinha-Khetriwal et al., 2005) and
lack of relevant laws to adjust or control the selling
behaviors of waste electric and electronic equipments
(Wen et al., 2006) are some important drivers in
effective e-Waste management.
C.Government Support
Government supports refer to the support required
from government at various levels for effective e-
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 IICMR Research Journal I4 Vol 10 Issue 1 March 2016,ISSN No 09752757
Waste management. It is suggested that recycling
facilities to manage e-Waste should be supported by
the government (Gupta, 2012). The informal sector as
a crucial and emerging issue which is needed to be
well understood and better governed (Tienhua and
Yenming, 2008) by the government. Inadequate
technical infrastructure for handling and managing
the waste, movement of e-Waste dismantling from the
formal to the informal sectors (Jain and Sareen, 2006)
are important drivers in effective e-Waste
management. e-Waste can be a potential product for
secondary markets (Kahhat et al., 2008), so
government needs to develop second hand markets
for electronics devices. The system creates incentives
for collectors and recyclers to over-report the amount
of collecting e-Waste in order to gain extra subsidies
from the fund (Kojima et al., 2006). Under the
support of government e-Waste from the government
must be compulsively sent to formal Recyclers (Liu et
al., 2007).
D. Awareness
Making end consumer of electronic devices aware
about various activities and services of e-Waste. Lack
of relevant information as support to the disassembly
(Yang and Xu, 2008), Information about recycling
services (Huang and Truong, 2008), consumer
awareness regarding environmental issues (Sinha-
Khetriwal et al., 2005) and lack of programs that
will enable consumers to reduce reuse and recycle
greater volumes of this growing category of waste
(Cairns, 2005) are some important drivers for
effective e-Waste management.
E.Initiatives
Initiatives refer to programs or schemes required to
promote effective collection, recycling and disposal
of e-Waste. It is important for the government and
manufacturers of electronics devices to take various
types of initiatives to promote e-Waste management.
Several initiatives have also been launched by
electronic product manufacturers or government to
collect WEEE (Jinglei et al., 2009), begun efforts to
collect and recycle the e-Waste from residential and
business sectors (Kahhat et al., 2008), enterprises and
individual consumers choose to send owned e-Waste
to formal recyclers (Liu et al., 2007). Promoting
renewal and reuse (Hanks et al., 2008) are some
e-Waste Management Practices in Developing Countries: A SWOT Analysis Page
important drivers for effective e-Waste management.
Legislation and initiatives intended to help manage
these growing quantities of e-Waste (Rolf et al.,
2005).
F. Responsibility
Responsibility means all stakeholders of e-Waste
should understand and play their role in a responsible
manner so that e-Waste can be managed effectively. It
is important to clear definition of roles and
demarcation of responsibilities (Sinha-Khetriwal et
al., 2005). Consumers may bring their e-Waste to
designated drop-off collection points (Susan et al.,
2008). Manufacturer to reduce toxicity in material
used for making electronics equipments (Thiel and
Neeli, 2006). By making manufacturers entirely
responsible for the collection and disposal e-Waste
management can be improved, however other
participants in the chain of electronic products such as
consumers and government could also take partial
responsibility for e-Waste management. The
manufacturer may provide a financial incentive for
consumers to turn in their equipment (Kahhat et al.,
2008). Retailers and repair shops have an obligation
to accept discarded appliances and hand them over to
formal recyclers (Kojima et al., 2006). An ambiguous
responsibility for e-Waste recycling among
consumers, retailers, and manufacturers (jungle et al.,
2009) is also an important factor.
III.SWOT ANALYSISOFE-WASTE
MANAGEMENT
A SWOT analysis was conducted to understand the
current e-waste management practices in developing
countries. During analysis Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats are identified, so that
future direction for managing e-waste in an effective
manner can be done. The Table 1 highlights a SWOT
Analysis of the e-waste management indeveloping
countries:
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The facts available from literature and reports
related to e-waste management, the status of e-waste
on the base recycling, government support,
awareness, inititiative& responsibility factors.
During SWOT analysis it was found that
tranboundary movement, responsibility of recycling,
informal recycling, lack of awareness, low consumer
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participation, space for safe disposal, inadequate opportunity for recycling industry. It was also found
linkages to procure e-waste, high recycling cost, low that among all threats and opportunities informal
cost of secondary material after recycling, and recycling and inadequate linkages to procure e-waste
weaken improvement of performance are threats for are two major threats for recycling industry. While
recycling industry. While environmentally sound fast changes in technology and low price of
recycling, fast change in technology, low price of electronic equipments are two major opportunities
electronic equipments, and employment are for e-waste management.
TABLE I
A SWOT ANALYSIS OF E-WASTE MANAGEMENT
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
Collection centeres are Lack of access to Creation and increase of jobs Lack of income
already offering basic e-waste technologies and income through
collection services formalization of informal Economic constraints weaken
Lack of transportation employment improvement of performance
Employment opportunities facilities
can be created in e-waste Fast change in technology Bad management e-
recycling Lack of knowledge to wastes scarce resources
properly handle e-waste Improvement of working-
conditions
Waste-collection improves Lack of designated proper Lack of economic
overall-situation dumpsites Low price of electronic sustainability
equipments
sell e-waste for recycling Bad management leads to
Lack of tools and equipment Increase of income through ineffective work and
Clean up the public collection of larger amounts of threatens the existence of the
environment Lack of external funding recyclable and sellable e- groups
waste
e-waste collection offers Lack of knowledge to Neglect of community
direct lessons on hazardous recycle e-waste Possibility for municipality to activities might widen the
impact of dumped waste improve living gaps between formal
Lack of space for storing and informal sector
Clean-up activities strengthen and sorting Reduction of dumped e-waste
awareness on health and
environment Hazard to health and Integration into process chains
environment
Improvement of health situation
Unprotected contact with
garbage and hazardous Possibility for municipality to
items alleviate poverty and to
improve environmental and
Uncontrolled dumping health situation

Pollution of rivers and

environment Clean-up of hazardous
dumpsites
Burning of all kinds of e-
waste

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