Current status and strategies of Electronic waste management in Bangladesh

The production of electric and electronic equipment (EEE) is one of the fastest growing areas. This development has resulted in an increase of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). Recycling of WEEE is an important subject not only from the point of waste treatment but also from the recovery of valuable materials The current practices of e-waste management in Bangladesh suffer from a number of drawbacks like the difficulty in inventorisation, unhealthy conditions of informal recycling, inadequate legislation, poor awareness and reluctance on part of the corporate to address the critical issues. The consequences are that (i) toxic materials enter the waste stream with no special precautions to avoid the known adverse effects on the environment and human health and (ii) resources are wasted when economically valuable materials are dumped or unhealthy conditions are developed during the informal recycling. This paper gives readers an overview on the e-waste topic—how e-waste is defined, what it is composed of. The paper highlights current status and strategies to address this emerging problem, in the light of initiatives in Bangladesh. The paper presents a waste management system with shared responsibility for the collection and recycling of electronic wastes amongst the manufacturers/assemblers, importers, recyclers, regulatory bodies and the consumers.