The rapid pace of technological change in the field of electronics has made appliances for homes and
office equipment both affordable and widely used. The extreme growth and ever increasing obsolescence
rates result in large quantities of electrical and electronic equipment being added to the waste stream.
Electronic Waste, also known as ‘E waste’ is a term used for waste generated when electronics
like computers, monitors, hard drives, copiers, printers, fax machines, mobile phones, telephones
and even televisions are discarded. While there is no generally accepted definition of electronic
waste, in most cases electronic waste consists of electronic products that were used for data
processing, telecommunications, or entertainment in private households and businesses that are
now considered obsolete, broken, or irreparable.
Electronics and electricals have printed-circuit
boards that contain large amount of metals that can be recoverable, hence E waste is collected in
large volumes. However, this collection is not always for the built-in value as recyclable raw
materials, as cost advantages of collection and recycling are offset by the disposal cost of
low-value and hazardous materials. The largest volume component of electronic scrap is the "e-plastics".
Some of the e-plastics (majorly present in personal computers) contain brominated flame retardants.
Two factors currently drive e-waste collection and recycling:
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A double check by corporations to ensure data security by destroying old computers. |
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Support and mandatory requirement by governments around the world of e-waste collection because of the hazards caused by improper disposal of metals and chemicals in many components. |
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined CRT tubes and LCD screens as hazardous
because they contain leaded glass and mercury, respectively. Personal Computers contain circuit
boards with heavy-metal components and rechargeable lithium batteries.
The European Union has introduced the new RoHS regulations on “restriction of the use of certain
hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment,” in effect since 2006. The RoHS regulations
limit the amount of brominated FR in plastics to no more than 0.1% of polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). Newer electronics are being made with non-halogen FRs, but
components are being made on older equipment that continues to be in use. This makes recycled e-plastics
largely unusable by any company selling its products in Europe. E-plastics waste has found applications
mainly in China because of the FR issue and because of lower cost of the labor intensive process of
separation. As per an estimate, 99% of US e-plastic is now baled and shipped to China to be recycled
because of the lower costs.
Imperfectly sorted e-plastics could raise potential quality and health issues. A mixture of e-plastics contains
different FR agents used in ABS, HIPS and PC/ABS of different grades. The most common brominated FR agent still
used today is decabromodiphenyl oxide (DBDPO), which is not considered an environmental or health hazard in waste
plastics. However, the older e-waste could contain octa- and pentabrominated biphenyls—FRs now banned as
environmental hazards.