A THESIS ON THE IMPACTS OF E-WASTE ON ENVIRONMENT ALONG WITH THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT IN PERSPECTIVE OF BANGLADESH.

Abstract

In the 21st century, electronics have become an indispensable part of the everyday life amongst all spheres of people irrespective of their economic conditions. Due to the daily advancement of technology every day, people are shifting their preferences towards their consumption of the products, and the discarded electronics are of no significant value to the user anymore and regarded as E-wastes. The pace of e-waste generation is increasing daily, and this massive volume of garbage production is increasingly being seen as a global concern. The reason behind this concern is the issues raised by the generation of this huge amount of wastes, its handling and impacts upon the environment and the management framework and infrastructures to handle these wastes and its efficiency. The aggregation of data and analysis helps us analyse the adverse impacts of this generation of E-wastes upon the environment and human health. The informal and inappropriate disposal methods of this E-wastes upon the environment may result in the pollution of all the components of the ecosystem, such as air, water and soil through the various hazardous components of the composition of the E-wastes, such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, ferrous etc. The impacts and the management are the two key related issues, as an appropriate management system may reduce the impacts upon the environment significantly. This has been the key for the developed countries, but still a concern for the developing countries like our where there are significant barriers to overcome to yet establish an appropriate framework. To analyse the barriers and the recommendation of an appropriate management framework, historic data and researches were analysed using the available literature, policies and legislation, visits to concerned authorities and institutes, consulting management and recycling structures and finally, a questionnaire survey to gather the mass public opinion of all groups of people regarding the matter. This study helps to analyse the efficient ways of handling and managing E-wastes and creating public awareness considering the perspective of our country and how it can reduce the impacts upon the environment and human health.