E-waste: An overview on generation, collection, legislation and recycling practices

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world in terms of volume and its environmental impact on the planet. The existence of precious metals in the e-waste stream provides a major economic benefit for recycling industries but due to the presence of hazardous chemicals, a proper recycling technique is required prior to the disposal of the e-waste. This paper presents an overview of the statistics on global e-waste generation and the sales of new electrical equipment and electronics in general. The total amount of e-waste produced has reached approximately 41 million tonnes in 2014 and increasing at a rate of 3-5% every year. A correlation between e-waste generated, gross domestic product and population of the country has also been explored that suggested that the GDP of any country has a direct correlation with the amount of e-waste produced by that country. The population of the country doesn't have a significant impact. The paper also describes the importance and benefits of recycling are emphasized while presenting the techniques currently used by the recycling facilities. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.