Abstract
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE or e-waste) contains both valuable and hazardous substances and there is great demand for metal scrap. To better understand both material recovery and the environmental impacts by informal recycling of e-waste, and to find potential ways to improve the process, we carried out a field survey at an informal recycling site in the Philippines. We identified the Au recovery process used at the site and evaluated the layout of the recycling site. We collected 31 soil samples at the recycling site and analyzed the metal contents of each sample to clarify the metal distribution within the site. We determined that valuable substances (such as Au), as well as hazardous substances (such as Pb), were scattered throughout the soil at the informal recycling site. The results of our cluster analysis indicated that Au, Ag, Pb, and Sb were categorized in the same group. Improvements are needed in the metal recovery process and in hazardous substance emission control in the informal recycling.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Oguchi M, Sakanakura H, Terazono A (2013) Toxic metals in WEEE: characterization and substance flow analysis in waste treatment processes. Sci Total Environ 463–464:1124–1132
Oguchi M, Murakami S, Sakanakura H, Kida A, Kameya T (2011) A preliminary categorization of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment as secondary metal resources. Waste Manag 31:2150–2160
StEP Initiative (2009) On the revision on EU’s WEEE directive – COM(2008)810 final. http://www.step-initiative.org/files/step/_documents/StEP_TF1_WP_WEEERecast_rvsd_22March2010.pdf. Accessed on 17 July 2015
Aizawa H, Yoshida H, Sakai S (2008) Current results and future perspectives for Japanese recycling of home electrical appliances. Resour Conserv Recycl 52:1399–1410
Jang Y-C (2010) Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management in Korea: generation, collection, and recycling systems. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 12:283–294
Chung SS, Zhang C (2011) An evaluation of legislative measures on electrical and electronic waste in the People’s Republic of China. Waste Manag 31:2638–2646
Chi X, Streicher-Porte M, Wang MYL, Reuter MA (2011) Informal electronic waste recycling: a sector review with special focus on China. Waste Manag 31:731–742
Sepúlveda A, Schuelp M, Renaud FG, Streicher M, Kuehr R, Hagelueken C, Gerecke AC (2010) A review of the environmental fate and effects of hazardous substances released from electrical and electronic equipments during recycling: examples from China and India. Environ Impact Assess Rev 30:28–41
Fujimori T, Takigami H, Agusa T, Eguchi A, Bekki K, Yoshida A, Terazono A, Ballesteros FC Jr (2012) Impact of metals in surface matrices from formal and informal electronic-waste recycling around Metro-Manila, the Philippines, and intra-Asian comparison. J Haz Mat 221–222:139–146
Keller M (2006) Diploma thesis at ETH. Assessment of gold recovery processes in Bangalore, India and evaluation of an alternative recycling path for printed wiring boards. http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/*/59244. Accessed on 17 July 2015
JOGMEC (2012) 4. Au. Mineral resources material flow 2011. 41 (in Japanese), http://mric.jogmec.go.jp/public/report/2012-05/4.Au_20120619.pdf. Accessed on 17 July 2015
Fujimori T, Takigami H (2014) Pollution distribution of heavy metals in surface soil at an informal electronic-waste recycling site. Environ Geochem Health 36:159–168
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (K2347 and 3Â K143010). We thank Melissa Cardenas of Environweave and Hidefumi Yokoo and Hidetaka Takigami of NIES for their sincere cooperation in the analyses.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Japan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Terazono, A., Oguchi, M., Yoshida, A., Medina, R.P., Ballesteros, F.C. (2017). Material Recovery and Environmental Impact by Informal E-Waste Recycling Site in the Philippines. In: Matsumoto, M., Masui, K., Fukushige, S., Kondoh, S. (eds) Sustainability Through Innovation in Product Life Cycle Design. EcoProduction. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0471-1_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0471-1_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0469-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0471-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)