Abstract
The purpose of the study is to identify the existing problems in the field of electronic waste management and to consider the possibilities and prospects of their legislative regulation. The method of political and legal analysis and the legal forecasting method made it possible to trace the evolution of international legislation in the field of management and disposal of electronic waste, the dynamics of its development, and make a forecast regarding possible vectors of its development. The research aims to answer the question of what are the existing problems in the field of e-waste management within their interdependence with the “circular economy” concept and what are the possibilities and prospects for their legislative regulation. The study analyzes the perspective directions of the formation of international policy and legal regulation in the field of electronic equipment waste management and disposal. The issues of the transfer of electronic waste to developing countries, the difficulties associated with the lack of proper legal regulation and enforcement in these countries, the protection of the labor rights of workers in the field of electronic waste disposal were considered. In addition, the practice of application and prospects for introducing into the legislation the principle of extended producer responsibility are considered. This study is intended to contribute to a better understanding of current trends in the field of electronic waste management in order to demonstrate the need to improve the existing international legal framework, adapt it to modern challenges and show the main directions of its changes.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data will be available in request.
Change history
19 November 2020
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-020-09518-z
03 November 2022
This article has been retracted. Please see the Retraction Notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-022-09588-1
References
Abdimomynova, A., Kolpak, E., Doskaliyeva, B., Stepanova, D., & Prasolov, V. (2019). Agricultural diversification in low-and middle-income countries: Impact on food security. Montenegrin Journal of Economics, 15(3), 167–178.
Akormedi, M., Asampong, E., & Fobil, J. N. (2013). Working conditions and environmental exposures among electronic waste workers in Ghana. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 19(4), 278–286. https://doi.org/10.1179/2049396713Y.0000000034
Alizade, V. A., Volevodz, A. G., & Tatarinov, M. K. (2019). Legal security in fuel and energy complex: Statement of problem. SOCAR Proceedings, 3, 97–122. https://doi.org/10.5510/OGP20190300403
Amankwah-Amoah, J. (2016). Global business and emerging economies: Towards a new perspective on the effects of e-waste. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 105, 20–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.01.026
Asante, K. A., Amoyaw-Osei, Y., & Agusa, T. (2019). E-waste recycling in Africa: risks and opportunities. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 18, 109–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2019.04.001
Awasthi, A. K., Li, J., Koh, L., & Ogunseitan, O. A. (2019). Circular economy and electronic waste. Nature Electronics, 2(3), 86–89. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-019-0225-2
Baldé, C. P., Forti, V., Gray, V., Kuehr, R., & Stegmann, P. (2017). The Global E-waste Monitor 2017. Bonn, Geneva, Vienna: United Nations University (UNU), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Solid Waste Association (ISWA).
Bayanova, A. R., Kuznetsov, V. V., Merculova, L. V., Gorbunova, L. N., Pervozvanskaya, O. A., Shalamova, O. O., & Vorobyova, C. I. (2019). Student performance interrelation with gadget use at lessons. Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques, 7(3), 432–437.
Borisova, V. V., Panfilova, E. E., Zhukov, P. V., Matulis, S. N., Matveev, V. V., & Teymurova, V. E. (2019). Information support in the enterprise risk management. International Journal of Management and Business Research, 9(1), 158–169.
Circular Economy. (2018). Implementation of the circular economy action plan.WECOOP2, European union. https://www.greeninvest-ca.eu/content/circular-economy. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Circular Economy. (2020). European union circular economy package. https://ringmajandus.envir.ee/en/european-union-circular-economy-package. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Dato, P. (2017). Economic analysis of e-waste market. International Environmental Agreement Politics, Law and Economics, 17(6), 815–837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-017-9350-4
Doughty, D. H., & Roth, E. P. (2012). A general discussion of Li ion battery safety. Electrochemical Society Interface, 21, 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1149/2.F03122if
Esenduran, G., Atasu, A., & Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2019). Valuable e-waste: Implications for extended producer responsibility. IISE Transactions, 51(4), 382–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/24725854.2018.1515515
European Commission. (2017). The role of waste-to-energy in the circular economy. Communication from the commission to the European Parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions. Brussels, 26.1.2017 COM 34 final. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1581603094761&uri=CELEX:52017DC0034. Accessed 17 March 2020.
European Union. (2009). Directive 2009/148/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. Official Journal of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:330:0028:0036:EN:PDF. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Evangelopoulos, P., Kantarelis, E., & Yang, W. (2019). Waste electric and electronic equipment: Current legislations, waste management, and recycling of energy, materials, and feedstocks. In M. T. Taherzadeh, J. Wong, K. Bolton, & A. Pandey (Eds.), Sustainable resource recovery and zero waste approaches (pp. 239–266). Cham: Elsevier.
Geisendorf, S., & Pietrulla, F. (2018). The circular economy and circular economic concepts—a literature analysis and redefinition. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(5), 771–782. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.21924
Goodship, V., Stevels, A., & Huisman, J. (2019). Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) handbook. Sawston: Woodhead Publishing.
Greenpeace (2016). Dumping 4.3 million Samsung phones is an environmental disaster warns Greenpeace. https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/1259/dumping-4-3-million-samsung-phones-is-an-environmental-disaster-warns-greenpeace/. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Greenpeace (2017). You did it! Samsung will finally recycle millions of Galaxy Note 7s. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/7072/you-did-it-samsung-will-finally-recycle-millions-of-galaxy-note-7s/. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Harper, G., Sommerville, R., Kendrick, E., Driscoll, L., Slater, P., Stolkin, R., et al. (2019). Recycling lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles. Nature, 575, 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1682-5
Heacock, M., Kelly, C. B., Asante, K. A., Birnbaum, L. S., Bergman, Å. L., Bruné, M. N., et al. (2016). E-waste and harm to vulnerable populations: A growing global problem. Environmental Health Perspectives, 124(5), 550–555. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1509699
ILO. (2019a). Decent work in the management of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste). Issues paper for the global dialogue forum on decent work in the management of electrical and electronic waste (E-waste). Geneva, 9–11 April 2019. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---sector/documents/publication/wcms_673662.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2020.
ILO. (2019b). Urgent action needed to better manage e-waste. https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_686640/lang--en/index.htm. Accessed 17 March 2020.
ITU (2020). Creating a circular economy for ICT equipment. https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/backgrounders/Pages/e-waste.aspx. Accessed 17 March 2020.
ITU-D Study Group 2. (2017). Final report. Question 8/2. Strategies and policies for the proper disposal or reuse of telecommunication/ICT waste material. 6th Study Period 2014–2017. ITU telecommunication development sector. https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/stg/D-STG-SG02.08.1-2017-PDF-E.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Khabrieva, T. Y., & Chernogor, N. N. (2018). The law in the conditions of digital reality. Journal of Russian law, 1(253), 85–102.
Kuhre, W. L. (2018). ISO 14001 Certification: Environmental Management System. Prentice Hall.
Kumar, S., & Singh, V. (2019). E-Waste: Generation, environmental and health impacts, recycling and status of e-waste legislation. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 6(1), 592–600.
Leahy, S. (2017). China’s booming middle class drives Asia’s toxic e-waste mountains. The guardian, 16. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/16/chinas-booming-middle-class-drives-asias-toxic-e-waste-mountains. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Leblank, R. (2019). E-waste and the importance of electronics recycling. The balance small business. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-and-the-importance-of-electronics-recycling-2877783. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Leclerc, S. H., & Badami, M. G. (2020). Extended producer responsibility for E-waste management: Policy drivers and challenges. Journal of Cleaner Production, 251, 119657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119657
Liu, N., & Middleton, C. (2017). Regional clustering of chemicals and waste multilateral environmental agreements to improve enforcement. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 17(6), 899–919. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-017-9372-y
Lukyanets, A. S., Nguen, T. K., Ryazantsev, S. V., Tikunov, V. S., & Pham, H. H. (2015). Influence of climatic changes on population migration in Vietnam. Geography and Natural Resources, 36(3), 313–317.
Mazahir, S., Verter, V., Boyaci, T., & Van Wassenhove, L. N. (2019). Did Europe move in the right direction on e-waste legislation? Production and Operations Management, 28(1), 121–139. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12894
Musin, A. (2019). Circular economy. How mining companies have to earn money with a new business approach. Kapital. https://kapital.kz/economic/81981/ekonomika-zamknutogo-tsikla.html. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Nnorom, I. C., & Osibanjo, O. (2008). Overview of electronic waste (e-waste) management practices and legislations, and their poor applications in the developing countries. Resources Conservation and Recycling, 52(6), 843–858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2008.01.004
PACE. (2019). A new circular vision for electronics time for a global reboot. The platform for accelerating the circular economy. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_A_New_Circular_Vision_for_Electronics.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Perkins, D. N., Drisse, M. N. B., Nxele, T., & Sly, P. D. (2014). E-waste: a global hazard. Annals of global health, 80(4), 286–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2014.10.001
Rick, A. (2019). China’s e-waste worth $23.8 billion by 2030. Greenpeace Asia. https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/1397/chinas-e-waste-worth-23-8-billion-by-2030-2/. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Robinson, B. H. (2009). E-waste: An assessment of global production and environmental impacts. Science of the total environment, 408(2), 183–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.09.044
Ryder, G., & Zhao, H. (2019). The world’s e-waste is a huge problem. It’s also a golden opportunity. World Economic Forum, 24(1), 1–5.
Sakai, S., Yano, J., Hirai, Y., Asari, M., Yanagawa, R., Matsuda, T., et al. (2017). Waste prevention for sustainable resource and waste management. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 19, 1295–1313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-017-0586-4
Semuels, A., & Fresno, C. (2019). The world has an e-waste problem. Time. https://time.com/5594380/world-electronic-waste-problem/. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Seth, N. (2019). Turn toxic e-waste into a source of ‘decent work’, UN labour agency urges. Un News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/04/1036781. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Tetteh, D., & Lengel, L. (2017). The urgent need for health impact assessment: Proposing a transdisciplinary approach to the e-waste crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Global Health Promotion, 24(2), 35–42.
Tsindeliani, I. (2019). Public financial law in digital economy. Informatologia, 52(3–4), 185–193.
UNECE (2017). UNECE Working Paper Series on Statistics, Issue 3, March 2017. https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/publications/2017/Issue3_Waste.pdf. Accessed 17 March 2020.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2017). Implementation of Basel declaration on environmentally sound management of priority waste streams. https://www.informea.org/en/implementation-basel-declaration-environmentally-sound-management-priority-waste-streams-electronic. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Viegas, C., Dias, M., Almeida, B., Caetano, L. A., Carolino, E., Gomes, A. Q., et al. (2020). Are workers from waste sorting industry really protected by wearing filtering respiratory protective devices? The gap between the myth and reality. Waste Management, 102, 856–867. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.12.001
WHO Regional Office for Europe. (2018). Circular economy and health: opportunities and risks. https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/374917/Circular-Economy_EN_WHO_web_august-2018.pdf?ua=1. Accessed 17 March 2020.
Yang, H., Ma, M., Thompson, J. R., & Flower, R. J. (2018). Waste management, informal recycling, environmental pollution and public health. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 72(3), 237–243. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2016-208597
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
The original online version of this article was revised: In the original publication of the article, the second author’s name was published incorrectly.
This article has been retracted. Please see the retraction notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-020-09518-z
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Ilyassova, G., Nukusheva, A., Arenova, L. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Prospects of legal regulation in the field of electronic waste management in the context of a circular economy. Int Environ Agreements 21, 367–388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-020-09514-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-020-09514-3