Circular economy potential of e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra: a case study
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Circular economy potential of e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra: a case study Anju Singh1 · Rohit Panchal1 · Mayuri Naik1 Received: 21 May 2019 / Accepted: 4 March 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The paper investigates the potential of circular economy of authorized e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra. The study determines the drivers and barriers associated with e-waste collection in the region. Furthermore, it explores the handling techniques including dismantling, recycling, and scrap disposal. This is done through a case study of a recycling company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. A questionnaire-based survey is used to study e-waste processing units. The qualitative analysis of the questionnaire shows that lack of awareness of environmental impact is the greatest constraint in the collection of e-waste and data security is the most crucial driver for enhancing the collection of e-waste. The case study reveals that the quantity and type of e-waste are more important than the distance between the processing unit and the collection point. It discloses that the primary factor for building trust between e-waste collectors and waste holders is data security. Keywords E-waste · Circular Economy · E-waste collection · Drivers · Barriers
Introduction Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is becoming one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world, which contains toxic metal and toxic organics (Lithner et al. 2012). Rapid innovation in technology is possibly the primary reason for a global increase in e-waste, which in turn causes rapid resource depletion (Amit et al. 2017). Consider the case of today’s consumers: as they constantly update their electronic equipment (e.g., laptops, mobile phones, and computers) to the latest version, older versions become obsolete, which many discard; this, in essence is the crux of WEEE. Nevertheless, circular economy (CE) tends to reduce resource depletion by promoting reuse, recycle, and recovery, which in turn yields economic benefits, often by increasing the product lifecycle. CE primarily
aims at larger economic prosperity, followed by environmental quality and social equity (Kirchherr et al. 2017). In fact, CE’s core principle is recycling, but it prioritizes WEEE reuse and remanufacturing over recycling, for improved resource recovery (Ghisellini et al. 2016; Parajuly and Wenzel 2017). The present study aims to determine the CE potential of the e-waste collectors, dismantlers, and recyclers of Maharashtra with a case study of a recycling company situated in Mumbai. The structure of the paper is as follows: “Introduction” llustrates the background of the research topic; “Literature review” provides an overview of both the global and Indian scenario of e-waste generation. Section “Methodology” describes the methodology; followed by “Results and discussions,” which provides an analysis of the responses to the questionnaire. Finally, the “Conclusion” s
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