Identifying barriers to efficient recovery and sustainable end of life management of electronic waste

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is defined as discarded or obsolete electronic devices such as computers. E-waste presents a challenge to domestic and global waste infrastructure because of its large quantities, short product life, and decreasing product size [1]-[3]. These changes are due to constantly changing product characteristics and rapid technological innovation. E-waste is known to contain valuable materials such as gold and copper, which can generate revenue from recycling e-waste and recovering materials. State of the art recycling technologies available to recover materials from e-waste; however, these technologies require significant capital investment and are not widely used in emerging economies where large quantities of discarded products are predominately found [1], [5].