E-plastic Waste: A Review of Waste Stream Management Challenges and Opportunities for Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

E-plastic waste receives little attention despite its significance as a proportion of e-waste at 20-40%, depending on specific equipment. The waste stream is characterized by low re-use and recycling, following its perceived; low value, limited recycling technology, sagging global prices for recycled products and associated intrinsic toxicity. Unlike the lucrative precious metals in e-waste, e-plastic waste is viewed as a residual waste after recovery of valuable e-waste components. Thus, the waste stream receives little attention often associated with crude disposal methods such as burning and open dumping oblivious of potential health and environmental impacts. The global sharp rise in e-plastic waste necessitates advocacy and campaign for efficient and effective disposal methods sensitive to environmental sustainability. The growing technology in manufacturing Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) that is not easily recyclable, repairable, or reusable, aggravates the challenge of e-plastic waste management. Currently, the common e-plastic waste management techniques include; recycling, incineration, bioremediation, pyrolysis, landfilling and re-use in construction as aggregates. This study evaluates the challenges and opportunities around e-plastic management practices such as; recycling, pyrolysis, incineration, land filling, bioremediation and use in aggregates while analyzing sustainability of the techniques. The study highlights the toxicity associated with e-plastic waste and its imposed challenge to general e-waste handling. The study recommends up scaling of regulatory framework and policies for efficient management of e-plastic waste to avert the looming health and environmental impacts.