Contents

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………......02

1.1. E-WASTE TYPE…………………………………………………….………………………………………02

1.2. E-WASTE COMPOSITION………………………………………………………………………....………02

2. E-WASTE MECHANISM IN PAKISTAN……………………………………………………..…………03

2.1. E-WASTE POLICIES…………………………………………………………………………………….….03

2.2. E-WASTE MANAGEMENT………………………………………………………………………….……..03

2.3. E-WASTE TREATMENT………………………………………..……………………………………….…04

3. CURRENT E-WASTE SITUATION IN PAKISTAN…………………………………………………….05

3.1. FLOWS OF E-WASTE………………………………………………………………………………..……..06

4. CHALLENGES FOR E-WASTE IN PAKISTAN………………………………….……………………..07

5. SOLUTIIONS & WAY FORWARD……………………………………………...………………………..08

5.1. RREGULATORY MEASURES……………………………………………………………………………..08

5.2. ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE………………………………………………………………………………..09

5.3. TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS……………………………………………………………..…….09

5.4. PUBLIC AWARENESS………………………………………………………………………………..……10

6. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………………………………….10

7. REFERENCES…………………………………………………….…………………………………………11

0
 ELECTRONIC WASTE ISSUE IN PAKISTAN

1. INTRODUCTION
Electronic waste or simply E-waste is any electronic and electrical equipment which is out of use for being
replaced with a new model purchase, breakage or just discarded. 1 Usually these equipment are found in
workplaces or at homes occupying spaces. The substitute to this is to sell them if they are in repairable state for
refurbish.
Electronic waste (e-waste) products have exhausted their usefulness value through either, replacement,
redundancy, or breakage and include both “brown goods” such as televisions, radios, computers, and cell
phones and “White goods” such as, washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves. The use of new electronic
equipment has exponentially increased due to the information and technology revolution, and the growing
volumes of obsolete products has also produced by it. Electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing waste
streams. Electronic waste posses combinations of extremely toxic substances that cause danger to health and
the environment. Out of which many materials are recoverable, making it a different kind of waste compared
with traditional municipal waste.2
Almost 50 to 80 % of electronic waste generated in the West including the US is exported to many developing
countries including Pakistan, Taiwan India, China and a number of African countries according to a recent
report of Basel Action Network (BAN) which is working to combat the exports of toxic waste.
Developed countries ‘dump’ their electronic waste to developing countries as formal recycling of e-waste is
very expensive. On the other hand, in developing countries cheap labour and informal recycling methods are
easily available everywhere. 3

1.1. Electronic waste types:

 Cell phones
 Audio/video equipment
 Televisions
 Scanners and copiers
 Mouse, keyboards, and other electronic devices
 Personal electronic devices
 Monitors and laptops
1
E-waste definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste
2
E-waste management: Kiddie, naidu,H. wong, Electronic waste management approaches: An overview, waste
management(2013), 33
3
Sajid, Muhammad & Syed, Jabir Hussain et al. Assessing the generation, recycling and disposal practices of electronic/
electrical- waste (E-Waste) from major cities in Pakistan. Waste Management. (2018).
1
1.2. Electronic waste composition:
The composition of electronic waste varies and differs in products across different categories. It contains more
than 1000 different substances of both hazardous and non- hazardous categories. It often contains several bio
accumulative, persistent, and toxic substances which includes heavy metals such as lead, nickel, chromium,
mercury and persistent organic pollutants.
Scrap from IT and telecommunication systems contain a huge amount of precious metals than scrap from
household appliances. For example, a mobile phone contains more than 40 elements, Special metals such as
lithium, cobalt, indium and antimony, base metals such as copper and tin, and precious metals such as silver,
gold and palladium.4

2. E-waste mechanism in Pakistan:

2.1. Electronic waste policies:

Pakistan is signatory to various international treaties and convention related to the chemicals and hazardous
wastes. This makes us mandatory to treat with such wastes as per law or conventions. Pakistan has also made its
own policy on e-waste treatment. Following are the national legal instruments in Pakistan that cover the
electronic waste.5

 Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-Boundary Movement of Hazardous waste and their Disposal
 Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent for Certain Hazardous Chemicals
 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
 Section 13 of The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997: prohibits the import of hazardous waste
and Section 14 disallows handling of hazardous elements.
 Government of Pakistan imposed 25 percent tax on computer screens.
 National Environment Policy 2005
 Solid Waste Management Rules
 Draft Hazardous Waste Management Rules
 FBR is managing import / Export control system related to different chemicals and waste.6

2.2. Electronic waste management:

The finest option for dealing with electronic waste is to reduce the volume. Designers should make it sure that
the product is built for re-use, repair or upgradeability.
Stress should be laid on use of easily recoverable, less toxic, and recyclable materials which can be taken back
for disassembly, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and reuse. Recycling and reuse of material are best of
potential options to reduce e-waste.
Elements of electronic waste management:

4
Sajid, Muhammad & Syed, Jabir Hussain et al. Assessing the generation, recycling and disposal practices of electronic/
electrical- waste (E-Waste) from major cities in Pakistan. Waste Management. (2018).
5
Policies related to E-waste in Pakistan: Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
6
Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
2
Major components of e-waste management system are:
1. E-waste collection, sorting and transportation system
2. E-waste treatment system
3. E-waste disposal system
E-waste collection sorting and transportation:
In Pakistan, collection of most e-waste components and materials stay in the hands of the informal sectors.
Scavenging or the informal sector is the prime collection scheme of electronic waste. Little concern is given to
the quantification of the e-waste collected because in reprocessing stages, collection of e-waste is mostly
undertaken by the unorganized or informal sector of scrap dealers/traders. Resultantly, this information is
invisible to the statistics collection system, which makes quantification of e-waste very complicated.
In Pakistan local generation of e-waste is calculated about 38kt per year. The study reveals that 50kt of
electronic waste is being imported as scrap to Pakistan.
Three major e-waste collection channels are:

 Municipal collection channels

 Retailer take back
 Producer take back

In Pakistan, the computers and other outdated electronic goods are imported under the excuse of second-hand
equipment. A very small fraction of the items imported are usable. After removing the working machines and
usable parts, the bulk of the shipment is sent to the recycling industry. Hundreds of workers, mostly teenage
children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling the electronic scrap and separate valuable components from it.
During the dismantling of electronic scrap, various highly toxic elements like lead, cadmium, barium, mercury
and chromium are released which pose significant health and environmental threats. There is no proper structure
to recycle and dispose e-waste in Pakistan, which is a serious issue.7
In Pakistan, the e-waste circuit boards are imported as second-hand material which originates from all over the
world, mainly US, Kuwait, Australia, Japan and the UK. Only 2 % of the computers can be reused while the
remaining computers, all of the plastics and metals are taken out to be re-sold. All of the work is done manually
and no protective equipment is used. Sorting is done and only 15 to 40 %of these computers can be used and the
rest is recycled.
2.3. E-waste treatment:
In most of the developing countries like Pakistan , e-waste is treated in backyard operations, by means of open
sky incinerations, cyanide leaching , and simple smelters to recover precious metals mainly copper, gold, and
silver with relatively low yields and discarding the left items with municipal solid waste at open dumps, into
surface bodies and at unlined and unmonitored landfills which results in adverse environmental and health
effects.
E-waste is mainly treated in Pakistan by:

7
Mmereki, Li, Baldwin et al. The generation, composition, collection, treatment and disposal system and impacts of E-
waste(2016)
3
 1. Informal sectors mostly
2. Manual dismantling
3. Manual separation
4. Recovery of metals by heating, burning and acid leaching of e-waste scraps in small workshops.8

Informal recycling scale:

In order to recover valuables from e-waste hazardous recycling operations are carried out in informal facilities.
Recycling techniques like open burning, physical dismantling, , acid bath, and use of blow torches is practiced
in open air and in small workshops as well in e-waste recycling areas in Pakistan. Workers dismantle all types
of equipment without any protective respiratory equipment or special clothing of any kind. According to the
demand of scraper main parts of the computer are separated and then treated by employees. Recovery of
valuable metals often from TVs and monitors like copper are the main interest whereas other parts of monitors
are dumped/burnt openly or sold at a very cheap price. The recycling of circuit boards is carried out in a both
Both primitive and hazardous ways are carried out for the recycling of circuit boards.
E-waste disposal system:
Disposal of e-waste is mainly carried through land filling. Mostly discarded electronic goods end up in landfill
sited along with other municipal waste or are openly burnt which results in release of toxic and carcinogenic
substances into the atmosphere. The disposal of e-waste by informal sectors is very undeveloped so far as the
safe techniques employed and practices are concerned, resulting in low recovery of materials.
Pakistan does not have guidelines and information campaigns on the fate of the electronic waste. Especially,
less sophisticated disposal systems are used, from open burning and dumping to uncontrolled landfill sites,
which pose significant environmental pollution and occupational exposure to e-waste derived chemicals.
E-waste management key decisions:

 Use current collection/logistics systems or develop new e-scrap reverse logistics

 Direct use or refurbishment
 Component recovery or raw material recovery
 Recycling and refining or treatment and final disposal
 Import and export, considering local infrastructure or ban e-waste movement.

3. Current Electronic Waste Situation in Pakistan:

Currently in Pakistan, computers and other outdated electronic goods are imported as second-hand equipment.
A small number of these items imported are usable out of thousand’s imported items and after removing the
working and usable parts, the remaining referred to as e-waste is sent to there cycling industry where a number
of low paid workers, including children, earn their livelihoods by dismantling the electronic scrap and extracting
valuable components like tubes, boards etc. E-waste consists of a variety of highly toxic elements like lead,
mercury, cadmium and chromium which are released during the dismantling of these used computers.

8
Treatment of E-waste in Pakistan: Iqbal, Mehreen& Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review
of status, research needs and data gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015) 308-318
4
Electronic and electrical waste is a heterogeneous mixture of plastics, metals, glass, and ceramics, as well as
other toxic chemicals, such as flame retardants, PCBs, metals, and various other hazardous compounds. E-
waste, therefore, needs to be discarded properly to minimize emissions of hazardous compounds potentially
causing adverse effects to environmental and human health. Developing countries like Pakistan are considered
particularly vulnerable because recycling is often carried out informally and because additional e-waste is
typically imported from developed countries9. This electronic waste dumping has become a critical issue not
only for environmental but for human health as well. One of the challenges in this industry is that people
involved with recycling are not trained nor prepared to handle the recycling process, hence causing additional
damage to the environment.10

3.1. Flow of E-waste in and within Pakistan:

Pakistan along with several other developing countries has become a dump site for up to 46% of the world’s e-
waste, worth nearly U.S $9 billion, which is dumped each year through both legal and illegal trading channels of
the waste which is classified as used material. The source of these electronic goods are mostly advanced
countries like US, European countries and China. The following figure also shows the flow of E-waste across
the world and specifically to Pakistan.11

Due to a rapid increase in population and along with it the purchasing capacity of the people, there is an ever
increasing demand for electronic goods in Pakistan, especially for home appliances like TV, refrigerator, AC etc
, telecommunication, IT, and computers. All the major components in electronic equipment are either imported
or smuggled and, only assembled in Pakistan, which means that the entire electronics and electrical industry of
Pakistan is running on the imported parts.
According to a study, Karachi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi are the major hotspots of imported
e-waste in Pakistan. The survey also showed that the recycling of these goods includes people using big open

9
Iqbal, Mehreen& Syed, Jabir Hussain et al. E-Waste Driven Pollution in Pakistan: The First Evidence of Environmental
and Human Exposure to Flame Retardants (FRs) in Karachi City. Environmental Science & Technology(2017).
10
Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
11
Iqbal, Mehreen& Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs and data
gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015).
5
plots and houses in populated areas of these major cities to break-down, separate-out and burning/heating of
various components of computers, printers, screens and power supply units etc.12
Currently in Pakistan there is no proper system in place to recycle and dispose e-waste in Pakistan, which is
why E-waste is a serious issue. Due to rapid growth in usage of electronic equipment in the past few years, e-
waste management is being considered as a fast-growing global issue. In developing countries like Pakistan, the
main factors causing increased flooding of e-waste is because of:

 Cheap labour
 Tolerant rules/regulation13

4. Challenges for proper E-waste management in Pakistan:

Pakistan faces many challenges in the way of proper management and disposal of electronic waste.
Following are some of them listed:

 Lack of Awareness: there is a lack of awareness regarding the dangers and proper management system
of e-waste.people involved with recycling are not trained, nor prepared to handle the recycling process,
e-waste disposal systems are not in place thus spilling large amounts of dangerous elements present in
these electronic goods openly causing immense harm to the environment and human health.
 In Pakistan, the e-waste circuit boards imported as second-hand material, out only 2 percent of these
computers could be reused, while the remaining machines, all of the metals and plastics are taken out to
be re-sold, and all of this work is done by hand, and no protective equipment is used. The warehouse
working conditions are terrible, and workers are exposed to toxic fumes from burning hardware.
 Little attention from government and non-government environmental bodies on this issue.
 Regulatory issues: Inadequate regulatory measures and strategies along with weak implementation of
law in Pakistan. The imports of e-waste are unregulated, there is no monitoring on e-waste recyclers and
smugglers.
 Lack of coordination among the different Stakeholders and Government departments. No proper system
to regulate and monitor the import of refurbished computers. There is lack of funding available for the
implementing the various provisions of the Basel Convention.14
 Lack of records: there are no accurate records of how much electronic goods are actually imported
every year. Along with the information/data that how much of this is recycled and dumped. Also, there
are no proper inventories/registries of Hazardous Waste including E-waste.
 Inefficient recycling: much of the e-waste recycling done in Pakistan is informal, in which platinum,
gold and other valuable components are extracted while the other non-valuable and difficult to extract
components chemicals like toner and most of the plastic contents are left and discarded as it is.
 Research: Not much research has been done in this area to study the management, policy and impacts of
e-waste in Pakistan. There is lack of technical expertise in this field.

12
Sajid, Muhammad & Syed, Jabir Hussain et al. Assessing the generation, recycling and disposal practices of electronic/
electrical-waste (E-Waste) from major cities in Pakistan. Waste Management. (2018).
13
Iqbal, Mehreen & Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs and data
gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015).
14
Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
6
  Price issues: Pakistanis prefer to purchase used computers from the markets that are offered to them
after selection from the e-waste dump sites instead of buying a brand new computer because of the
affordable prices of used electrical appliances. Same is the case with other electronic goods.15

5. Solutions and Way forward:

Currently Pakistan is facing an emerging problem of E-waste, apparently with limited policies and regulation to
effectively mitigate this issue. More accurate and up-to-date data on the amounts of e-waste imported,
manufactured or consumed in Pakistan is required. There is also a lack of accurate data that how much of this
waste is dumped and how much is recycled or recovered. Since China and India has now imposed ban on the
imports of e-waste, the risk of the import of e-waste into Pakistan have increased. To avoid a possible
worsening of this situation in Pakistan, urgent actions are needed to be taken at governmental as well as
individual level. Increased attention and strengthened efforts from the government are needed to mitigate illegal
imports and informal recycling of e-waste in Pakistan. 16
Since electronic goods are an essential part of today’s life thus, they cannot be eliminated or reduced and with
time demand increases that requires upgradation of these appliances as well, but certain actions are required in
order to avoid the large scale impacts of e-waste dumping which effect both environment and humans. These
actions can be categoriesed in four areas:
5.1. Regulatory measures:
For the control and management of e-waste the first step is to make and implement a system that regulated and
monitors the e-waste movement across the country along with its management and disposal. And to do this the
government must take regulatory measures like:
1. The government of Pakistan should enforce the rules that already exist, such as the Basel Convention,
which restricts the import and trans-boundary movement of hazardous substances.
2. Apart from this government should devise laws and regulations specific toe-waste, that will solely
address the issues related to e-waste.
3. Some national level legislations should be devised that will addressing recycling and disposal of e-waste
in Pakistan. The legislations will be related to:

a) The establishment of some standards and certifications system for second hand appliances so that
the used goods can be checked at the source and the un-usable can be discarded directly without
incorporating them in the distribution cycles directly to recycling plants.
b) Similarly, proper standards following the international systems must be devised for the recycling
and disposal enterprises to ensure that the safety and the environmentally sound processing of e-
waste is done,
c) Encourage importation and consumption of electrical and electronic items only that complies
with the international regulations.
d) Promote the development of the best available technology for e-waste management in Pakistan.

Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13

15

Iqbal, Mehreen& Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs and data
16

gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015).

7
 e) Make the e-waste collection, storage, and environmentally friendly recycling and disposal system
efficient by making provisions for the adequate funding in this area.
f) Take measures to establish formal e-waste recycling and disposal facilities in the major cities
which are also considered hotspots of e-waste.
g) Some rules and requirement for producers must also be made in order to make the components of
electrical items safe, such that after disposal they don’t produce hazards to the environment and
heath. This involves using non-hazardous elements and chemicals thus, encouraging the use of
green technology.17
5.2. Economic assistance:
E-waste contains many valuable as well as hazardous substances. The unregulated and informal recycling
methods used in Pakistan for e-waste only recovers the most valuable and easily extractable materials like
copper wirings, lead soldering and gold-plated parts. While the rest of the difficult to extract or less valuable
component such as toner cartridges, de-soldered printed wiring boards, and plastic bodies are often discarded or
simply burnt openly. This is a waste of useful resources. If it is treated properly this waste recycling can
generate jobs for the locals as well as conserve valuable natural resources.
1. Establishing formal recycling facilities will provide opportunities for both individual workers as well as
small scale local enterprises, as waste is traded among collectors, scrapers, second-hand dealers,
consumers and processors thus making a source of income for many.18
2. The financial benefits of formal e-waste recycling with save the waste to be dumped in landfills or
incineration .Such methods employ only a few people and, far from generating income, lead to many
unproductive expenses such as transportation costs, indirect health costs and many other issues
3. Recycling e-waste properly will not only create jobs, but it will also help recover raw material which can
used to make refurbished and recycled electrical and electronic equipment at low cost thus, saving cost
and raw materials for manufacturing new products
5.3. Technological improvements:
Pakistan lacks appropriate and advanced technology and expertise to establish a viable industrial base in
electronics sector19 . Pakistan majorly relies on imported spare parts of electronics which are later assembled
locally while some companies have initiated the domestic production recently. Some technological
improvements can make the recycling system efficient by:
1. Providing proper technical assistance to the local manufacturers and importers of electronics spare parts
by advising them on the new efficient processes that will reduce the recycling costs and extract more
materials from the waste.
2. Using renewable and eco-friendly products should be encouraged and electronic devices should be
designed to ensure clean, safe and environmentally sound recycling. Focus should be on green product
design and processes.
3. Encouraging research on development of technology and equipment for effective recycling. Recycling
and refurbishment industries should be strengthened by collaborating with international companies.20

17
Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
18
Umair, Shakila & Anderberg, Stefan & Potting, José. Informal Electronic Waste Recycling in Pakistan. The Journal of
Solid Waste Technology and Management. (2016). 42. 222-235.
19
Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
20

8
 4. Government should also introduce take back or buy-back systems in which the end user has to pay a
recycling fee and recycling is executed by the manufacturing company of that specific product, which
results in recycling of all e-waste generated in general.
5.4. Public Awareness:
The most important solution to the e-waste crisis is to eliminate hazardous chemicals from the equipment and to
save the general public and workers from the emissions resulting from recycling of e-waste. But such changes
require time and changes in whole processes, so before that happens people need to be aware of the hazards of
e-waste:
1. Recyclers, manufacturers, scrapers and general public must be educated regarding the potential threat to
public health and environment posed by e-waste, and awareness must be raised for waste management.
2. Workers involved in e-waste collection and processing activities must be properly trained and educated
with occupational health and safety. What protective measures must be adapted during the dismantling
processes so that neither the worker nor the environment is affected.
3. Creating awareness through TV advertisements and newspaper articles can also help in educating the
general public about hazards of e-waste as well as need for eco-friendly recycling to conserve natural
resources and sustainable use of available resources.21

6. Conclusions:
E-waste being an emerging and highly dangerous issues must be properly tackled. In order to do so, firstly
proper rules and regulation related specifically to the electronic waste must be mad by the government and
must be strictly implemented all over the country, import of e-waste must be banned or controlled in order to
reduce the amount of waste to be treated. Research and studies related to e-waste must be encouraged in
order to open new ways for treating this hazardous waste. The policy and management system must be
enhanced and updated with time. Small scale local recycling facilities must be encouraged in order to treat
the waste efficiently and properly without negatively affecting the environment and human health. Such
laws and regulations can be borrowed from developing countries and by simply following the signed
conventions and treaties Pakistan can manage large amounts of e-waste effectively only if proper
management and policy is followed and implemented. Not only should government take this issue seriously,
but the public must also be awared of this dangerous issue and must be educated about the impacts such
hazardous waste can cause. 22

Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13

21

Iqbal, Mehreen & Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs and data
22

gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015).

9
7. References
 Kiddie, naidu,H. wong, Electronic waste management approaches: An overview, waste management(2013), 33
 Mmereki, Li, Baldwin et al. The generation, composition, collection, treatment and disposal system and impacts
of E-waste(2016)
 Zaigham Abbas, E-Waste Management in Pakistan (2010), 13
 Iqbal, Mehreen & Breivik, Knut et al. Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs
and data gaps. Environmental Pollution. (2015).
 Umair, Shakila & Anderberg, Stefan & Potting, José. Informal Electronic Waste Recycling in Pakistan. The Journal
of Solid Waste Technology and Management. (2016). 42. 222-235.
 Sajid, Muhammad & Syed, Jabir Hussain et al. Assessing the generation, recycling and disposal practices of
electronic/ electrical-waste (E-Waste) from major cities in Pakistan. Waste Management. (2018).

10