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Abstract
Developing countries are facing challenges related to the growing volume of e-Waste, which are either generated internally or imported from other countries.This paper presents the case study of one top organization (IIT Roorkee) with an objective to understand the process of e-Waste management in one of the reputed organization. One higher education institution was selected for the study. Although the policy related to e-Waste management exists in India, but its implementation serve as a big challenge. Under this context, comparison of e-Waste management practices of that organization was done with practices followed in the development countries' organizations (benchmark practices). During comparison of e-Waste management practices in developed countries (benchmark practices) and IIT Roorkee, it was found that practices followed in developed countries are far better as compare to practices followed in IIT Roorkee.
Key Words : e-Waste Management, IIT Roorkee, Benchmark practices, Developed countries, Developing countries
Introduction
Electronic waste or e-Waste includes discarded electronic and electrical equipment. Developing countries are facing challenges related to the growing volume of e-Waste, which are either generated internally or imported from other countries. The existing e-Waste management practices in India are reasonably poor and cause risk to both human health and the environment. The policy related to e-Waste management exists in India, but implementation of these policies again is the big challenge. In the recent years the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) sector is unprecedented in India. This has fueled the consumption of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) both from the institutional users and households. With the advent of this higher rate of consumption, shortened product lives, and rapid advancement of technology e-Waste has emerged as a fastest growing waste stream.
Electronic waste contains many hazardous substances such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, mercury, selenium, beryllium, and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). These hazardous substances may risk to human health associated with placing such products into landfills or incinerators where these hazardous elements can enter the air and water streams. There are many technologies that can be used for treating of e-Waste. One of these technologies is the Vertical hammer mill technology, which is a mechanical treatment that uses crushing of waste, density separation by air blowers, iron separation by magnets, and manual...