4.

Recycling of e-waste

The conventional e-waste processing and recycling is basically a five-step process [21]:

1. Generation and Stockpiling

Many different “economic actors” purchase, use, and then stockpile or discardelectronic waste.
These range from manufacturers such as MNCs to large and smallbusinesses, households,
institutions, and non-profit organizations.

2. Collection

There are a wide variety of possible collection alternatives for this e-waste. Avariety of entities are
providing these services including the electronics industry,private or nonprofit recycling services,
and the public sector through the solid wastemanagement and recycling infrastructure.

3. Handling & Brokering

The next link in the cycle is the handling and brokering services. Here computers,TVs, monitors
and other collected electronics are consolidated and made ready forprocessing and/or sorted to
determine what equipment can be refurbished or reused aswhole units and what equipment must
be disassembled for commodity processing.

4. Processing

After electronic equipment is dismantled, it is then processed into either feedstockfor new
production or refurbished into new equipment. Outputs from de-manufacturing activities include
scrap commodities such as glass, plastics, and metals

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– the primary elements from which all electronic hardware is made. For export, and toa lesser
extent national processing markets, there are significant issues associated withthe environmental
and health practices of current service providers in this part of thecycle.

5. Production

The final step in this cycle is to turn the processed commodities or refurbished wholeelectronics
back into new products for sale and consumption by end users. There are manydifferent players
and industries involved in this production process. The recycling fractionis miniscule compared
with the production of product using virgin materials. Thesubstances procured by recycling may be
used for several purposes, even for manufacturingthe very same equipments they were derived
from.