Electronic waste recycling: A review of U.S. infrastructure and technology options

The useful life of consumer electronic devices is relatively short, and decreasing as a result of rapid changes in equipment features and capabilities. This creates a large waste stream of obsolete electronic equipment, electronic waste (e-waste).Even though there are conventional disposal methods for e-waste, these methods have disadvantages from both the economic and environmental viewpoints. As a result, new e-waste management options need to be considered, for example, recycling. But electronic recycling has a short history, so there is not yet a solid infrastructure in place.In this paper, the first half describes trends in the amount of e-waste, existing recycling programs, and collection methods. The second half describes various methods available to recover materials from e-waste. In particular, various recycling technologies for the glass, plastics, and metals found in e-waste are discussed. For glass, glass-to-glass recycling and glass-to-lead recycling technologies are presented. For plastics, chemical (feedstock) recycling, mechanical recycling, and thermal recycling methods are analyzed. Recovery processes for copper, lead, and precious metals such as silver, gold, platinum, and palladium are reviewed. These processes are described and compared on the basis of available technologies, resources, and material input–output systems.     

Household behaviour and attitudes with respect to recycling food waste--experiences from focus groups

It is a challenge to reduce the ever-increasing flow of waste. In Norway the systems for recycling of organic waste, paper, glass, metals, etc. differ between municipalities, both with regard to organizational and to technological structures. Our hypothesis is that people's attitudes and behaviour may differ with different systems of waste management. People's behaviour and attitudes regarding (organic) waste recycling were investigated in two municipalities with differing technical and organisational systems. Data came from interviews with municipal employees, questionnaires, focus groups and multi-criteria mapping. People seem to be better informed and more positive about organic waste recycling in one of the municipalities (MH, which has recycling of organic waste) than in the other (MS, which has no such recycling). The two municipalities had similar sets of important criteria for waste management (price, environmental friendliness, easy solutions, information). Many participants stated that they had learned from the group process, though only a few reported changed preferences. The institutional context seems to be important for people's behaviour and attitudes towards waste management. This implies that people's recycling behaviour does not only depend on technical and organisational aspects, but also on institutions. These are important messages for policy makers. On an individual basis, the different systems in the two municipalities seem to affect people's stated attitudes. These differences diminish when they are in a common setting where process and dialogue stimulate new thoughts and encourage people to act more altruistically.     

Why recycle? A comparison of recycling motivations in four communities

Four Illinois communities with different sociode-mographic compositions and at various stages of planning for solid waste management were surveyed to determine the influence of sociodemographic variables and planning stages on the factors that motivate recycling behavior. A factor analysis of importance ratings of reasons for recycling and for not recycling yielded five factors interpreted as altruism, personal inconvenience, social influences, economic incentives, and household storage. The four communities were shown to be significantly different in multivariate analyses of the five motivational factors. However, attempts to explain these community differences with regression analyses, which predicted the motivational factors with dummy codes for planning stages, a measure of self-reported recycling behavior, and sociodemographic measures were unsatisfactory. Contrary to expectation, the solid waste management planning stages of the cities (curbside pickup, recycling dropoff center, and planning in progress) contributed only very slightly to the prediction of motivational factors for recycling. Community differences were better explained by different underlying motivational structures among the four communities. Altruistic reasons for recycling (e.g., conserving resources) composed the only factor which was similar across the four communities. This factor was also perceived to be the most important reason for recycling by respondents from all four communities. The results of the study supported the notion that convenient, voluntary recycling programs that rely on environmental concern and conscience for motivation are useful approaches to reducing waste.     

An assessment of household willingness to pay for curbside recycling: a comparison of payment card and referendum approaches

Curbside recycling is a tool that communities use to reduce the need for landfill space. This study provides contingent valuation estimates of household willingness to pay (WTP) to continue a curbside recycling program in the face of budget cuts. Comparisons of two forms of the contingent valuation method (CVM) are provided: a single bounded referendum and a payment card. Neither approach emerges as unambiguously superior. Response rates were virtually identical. Both approaches show that support for curbside recycling is highly sensitive to price. Regression results from the payment card provided a more thorough identification of socio-demographic variables associated with WTP than the referendum, but the explanatory power of the two regressions did not differ significantly. The referendum estimates of mean WTP exceed those from the payment card, although the disparities are less than those typically reported in the CVM literature. Local policy makers cited the CVM results as influencing their decisions regarding funding options for the future of the program, and seemed to appreciate the fact that the two approaches provided a fairly narrow range of estimates of WTP. In an era when more of the burden of financing of environmental programs is being shifted to the local level, use of CVM to estimate the WTP of consumers for highly disaggregated goods and services designed to achieve environmental improvement will likely become more relevant to local decision makers who are interested in understanding their constituents' views.     

Environmental injustice of informal e-waste recycling in Agbogbloshie-Accra: urban political ecology perspective

This paper provides additional empirical knowledge of injustice embedded in the urban governance of informal-sector electronic waste (e-waste) recycling in Ghana. It uses Urban Political Ecology and Environmental Justice perspectives to explain how divergent interest and power among diverse actors in the e-waste sector engender social and environmental (in)justice in Accra. Using the case study approach, this paper reveals that the persistent struggles over interest and power which characterise the governance and management of informal e-waste recycling generate inequity, false accusations, misrecognition, disrespect, devaluation, neglect, exclusion, and abuse of freedom and rights. Inclusive of the finding is the development of local resistance and social movement in defence of interests and against state aggression, oppression, domination and neglect. The study concludes to suggest that the governance of urban socio-economic and ecological space of Accra should involve coordination, participation, holistic inclusion of diverse interest, so as to minimise trade-offs and reap synergies.     

How much e-waste is there in US basements and attics? Results from a national survey

The fate of used electronic products (e-waste) is of increasing concern because of their toxicity and the growing volume of e-waste. Addressing these concerns requires developing the recycling infrastructure, but good estimates of the volume of e-waste stored by US households are still unavailable. In this context, we make two contributions based on a national random survey of 2136 US households. First, we explain how much e-waste is stored by US households using count models. Significant explanatory variables include age, marital and employment status, ethnicity, household size, previous e-waste recycling behavior, and to some extent education, home ownership, and understanding the consequences of recycling, but neither income nor knowledge of e-waste recycling laws. Second, we estimate that on average, each US household has 4.1 small (≤10 pounds) and 2.4 large e-waste items in storage. Although these numbers are likely lower bounds, they are higher than recent US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates (based on narrower product categories). This suggests that the backlog of e-waste in the US is likely larger than generally believed; it calls for developing the recycling infrastructure but also for targeted recycling campaigns.     

Who will pay? Subsidies or taxes for recycling in the heartland

Attaining recycling goals of 25 to 50% over the next few years will require substantial recycling of residential wastes. A combined program of curbside recycling of conventional post-consumer materials and collection and composting of both leaves and grass will yield a composite diversion rate of 12 to 21% by weight. But in many communities, particularly in the west central and south central states of the American heartland, implementation of such programs will result in a net increase in solid waste management costs. Case studies of four communities in Oklahoma are used to estimate the potential increase in first-year net costs that would result from implementing a combined recycling and yard waste composting program. The results are compared to survey data from Oklahoma and Florida that define the amount residents are likely to be willing to pay for the benefits of recycling. The potential to close the apparent willingness-to-pay gap through state subsidies is then assessed. Where state capital grants programs are insufficient to bridge the gap, and local officials are reluctant to impose costs that are not publicly supported, public education efforts will be needed to increase the value residents ascribe to the nonexclusive positive externalities and local nonmarket benefits of recycling.     

The influence of collection facility attributes on household collection rates of electronic waste: The case of televisions and computer monitors

In the US, household electronic waste collected for recycling is primarily by voluntary drop-off at designated collection facilities. This study examines the influence of specific collection facility attributes (recycling fees charged, number of days open, and driving distance) on the household collection rate of e-waste in the US state of Maine. Data were collected for household computer monitor and television collection for 92 municipal waste transfer facilities representing 30% of the state's population for one year. Results suggest that recycling fees are negatively correlated with the number of televisions and computer monitors collected; furthermore, the more frequently facilities were open, the more televisions and computer monitors were collected per capita. The distance from the facility had no correlation, which prompted an analysis of whether the existence of a curbside collection system in the municipality was influential. Results show a negative correlation between computer monitor and television collection and a municipality having recycling (but not e-waste) curbside collection. Based on the results of this study, policymakers may be able to increase the collection rate of household e-waste by eliminating or lowering recycling fees, expanding collection days and hours to increase convenience, and/or considering curbside collection of e-waste.     

A model recycling program for Alabama

Solid waste disposal is becoming a difficult problem for many states. Since 1960, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been increasing at a rate of 1% per year. More than 75% of the waste is comprised of recyclable materials. Several states have mandated recycling to decrease the volume of waste intended for disposal. Those mandated programs are very popular, but depend on many political, social, and economic factors for success. While Alabama has the manufacturing infrastructure to support a mandated recycling program, no recycling legislation has been promulgated. At this time recycling is only being done on a voluntary basis. A mandatory program with the proper support, education and funding could allow Alabama to recycle much of the 5.2 million tons of waste that are generated within its borders each year.     

The influence of adhesives on recycling

The finiteness of many resources made it necessary to think about how to save them by developing resource-saving technologies, e.g. to recycle materials. To execute the idea of recycling, it is necessary to think about a material recycling of the used products when designing them. This means that all additives of the process have to be designed in the way they do not disturb the later material recycling. Today, adhesives play a decisive role in the production of almost every good, especially for mass-produced articles and therefore it is important to choose adhesives that do not disturb the recycling of the primary materials. In recycling processes which take place at high temperatures (e.g. glass or metal recycling), the influence of the adhesives usually formed by organic polymers can be ignored. In the field of low temperature recycling technologies, the question whether an adhesive is recycling-friendly or not can only be answered by knowing its application and the recycling process. If the recycling processes are known, it is easy to chose suitable adhesives. For plastic and paper recycling, there are a lot of adhesives today that fulfill the requirements of recyclers. In order to simplify recycling for the future, adhesives with “switches enclosed” are being developed which will allow us to disbond system components into separate parts after use for reuse or material recycling.     

Development of a framework to implement a recycling program in an elementary school

This study developed a system to plan, evaluate, implement, and monitor a waste reduction and source-separation program, which was then tested through a field study in a New York City elementary school. Despite efforts to implement integrated waste management in elementary schools, appropriate planning tools that document performance and support program development are lacking. To fill this gap, a system for analyzing existing programs was developed. After identifying the phases required for a successful program, a scoring system was developed to quantify the performance of existing programs. To assess existing protocol, recommendations from leading municipalities were reviewed, and the performance of existing programs was quantified within the scoring system. The existing protocol was found to contain similarities, but an overarching approach was needed to connect the provisions with programs that have been successfully deployed. From this analysis, a scoring system was developed to take into consideration the major elements needed for a waste reduction and source-separation plan, colloquially referred to as a recycling plan, as well as the specifics of implementation. This system allows for the review of programs already developed, and can pinpoint limitations prior to implementation. The framework was evaluated through the test case school, with both waste audit data and diagrams. From the lessons learned, successful techniques and recommendations for utilizing this framework were created.     

Investigating household preferences for kerbside recycling services in London: a choice experiment approach

Recent developments in national and European Union waste management policy have prompted considerable interest in alternative waste management programs, such as recycling, which could divert a portion of the municipal solid waste stream from landfills. This paper examines household preferences for kerbside recycling services and uses a stated preference choice experiment method to estimate households' valuation of such services. Using a sample of 188 households in the London area, the empirical analysis yields estimates of the willingness to pay for the number of 'dry' materials collected, the collection of compost, textile collection and the frequency of collection.     

Impediments to refractory recycling decision-making

This paper focuses on organizational impediments to the successful implementation of industrial recycling programs. Even if a technologically viable and mutually beneficial solution were to exist, there are a number of organizational impediments that make it unlikely to succeed unless the benefits are very large and apparent. These impediments stem from the difficulty in identifying potential partners and involving the appropriate individuals within the firms that understand the technical requirements, value the strategic benefits and are receptive towards establishing the industrial recycling relationship. This dilemma applies to many industrial recycling opportunities, but solutions do exist. One way to avoid some of these obstacles is to use a middleman, or broker, who can play several crucial roles to establish the relationship. This paper describes the impediments and key broker roles, and provides a case study dealing with refractory recycling. It provides a case study that documents a recycling relationship between an aluminum-manufacturing firm that produces a large volume of spent refractories and a regional portland cement producer that is using the spent refractories as an alternative raw material source. This paper also provides a thorough literature search in the area of refractory recycling. Finally, the case study provides an opportunity for analysis and reflection on the implications of these findings to industrial firms, industrial societies and governmental agencies that seek to encourage successful recycling operations.     

California households' willingness to pay for ‘green’ electronics

Concerns about rapid increases in the volume of electronic waste (e-waste) and its potential toxicity have sharpened policy makers' interest for extended producer responsibility to encourage manufacturers of consumer electronic devices (CEDs) to ‘design for the environment’. This paper examines consumer willingness to pay for ‘green’ electronics based on a 2004 mail survey of California households. Using ordered logit models, it was found that significant predictors of willingness to pay for ‘greener’ computers and cell phones include age, income, education, beliefs about the role of government for improving environmental quality, as well as environmental attitudes and behaviors, but neither gender nor political affiliation. Although most respondents are willing to pay only a 1% premium for ‘greener’ CEDs, innovation and EU directives may soon make them competitive with conventional CEDs.     

Socially optimal and fund-balanced advanced recycling fees and subsidies in a competitive forward and reverse supply chain

Advanced recycling fees (ARFs) and government subsidy fees are important for curtailing the consumption of new products and encouraging recycling and disposal of end-of-life (EOL) products. We introduce a model consisting of a leader (the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA) and two groups of followers (MIS firms and recyclers) consisting of manufacturers, importers and sellers, and recyclers which compete in both consuming and recycling markets. The EPA determines the ARFs paid by the MIS firms and the fees subsidizing recyclers to maximize the social welfare in closed-loop supply chains where the MIS firms and recyclers attempt to maximize their respective profit functions. To compare with current practice, we describe a conceptual fund balance model to determine the ARF and subsidy fee on the basis of the balance between total collected ARFs and expenditure of subsidies. Using numerical examples for the laptop computer market in Taiwan, we demonstrate that our results outperform the current practice.     

Determining the socially optimal recycling rate

What municipal recycling rate is socially optimal? One credible answer would consider the recycling rate that minimizes the overall social costs of managing municipal waste. Such social costs are comprised of all budgetary costs and revenues associated with operating municipal waste and recycling programs, all costs to recycling households associated with preparing and storing recyclable materials for collection, all external disposal costs associated with waste disposed at landfills or incinerators, and all external benefits associated with the provision of recycled materials that foster environmentally efficient production processes. This paper discusses how to estimate these four components of social cost to then estimate the optimal recycling rate.     

Motives as Predictors of the Public's Attitudes Toward Solid Waste Issues

/ Surveys focusing on solid-waste-related issues, conducted over a period of several years, provided data from independent samples of residents of a Midwestern, USA, community. The collection of these data yielded useful information about the relationship between residents' recycling motives and their attitudes toward solid waste management in light of several changes in the solid waste infrastructure of the community over that time. The initial survey assessed baseline beliefs and attitudes, while later surveys were conducted after the implementation of a community educational program and a curbside recycling program. The findings indicated that for recyclers and nonrecyclers, different motives predicted endorsement of solid waste programs and policies. Although a similar percentage of recyclers and nonrecyclers were in support of various proposed programs and policies, concern for the environment was found to be positively related to nonrecyclers' support of proposed programs, particularly before these programs were implemented. Prior to program implementation, motives other than environmental altruism were found to be related to recyclers' support of the programs. Additional findings support the idea that educational programs and increased accessibility to recycling opportunities affect the relationship between people's attitudes toward solid waste management and their recycling motives.     

Hong Kong citizens' attitude towards waste recycling and waste minimization measures

In a street survey conducted in Hong Kong, it was found that Hong Kong people generally support waste recycling and minimization measures. The results showed that statistically there are associations between sex, accommodation type, education levels and age on one hand and people's attitude toward some waste recycling and minimization measures on the other. A significant number of the surveyed subjects would feel uneasy during the generation of waste if they knew that the recyclable materials would not be recycled. However, this feeling of uneasiness will lessen considerably if the materials are being recycled. With the feeling of uneasiness being lessened, a deterring factor on consumption was weakened. Thus it is plausible that when recycling is more widely carried out, the actual volume of consumption will increase if the urgency of waste minimization is not widely understood. It was also discovered that in an economically prosperous Hong Kong, people can be more supportive to slightly more expensive green products than in Western countries in recession.     

Differentiation of determinants of low-cost and high-cost recycling

The bulk of research on recycling has been devoted to disentangling factors that affect it. Based on the low-cost hypothesis, we suggest that psychological factors differentially influence behaviors that are relatively less costly to perform compared to behaviors that are more costly to perform. Recycling has often been viewed as low-cost behavior, neglecting that recycling in different waste categories may vary in cost. The aim of the present study was to apply and extend the low-cost hypothesis by investigating whether beliefs about environmental consequences, knowledge, and norms differentially affect low-cost and high-cost recycling. A survey of 418 participants showed that knowledge, social norms, and personal norms were related to both low-cost and high-cost recycling, but the relation was significantly stronger for high-cost recycling. Personal norms partially mediated procedural knowledge and social norms in both low-cost and high-cost recycling. The findings emphasize the need to regard recycling as a multiform behavior and to analyse its determinants separately for different waste categories.