ABSTRACT
Global waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generation was 41.8 million tons
(Mt) in 2014, of which 9.5, 7.0 and 6.0 Mt belonged to EU-28, USA and China, respectively
(StEP, 2015), and is likely to increase to 50 Mt in 2018 (Baldé et al., 2015). Low lifespan of
electronic devices, perpetual innovation in electronics (Ongondo et al., 2015) and affordability
of the devices (Wang et al., 2013) resulted in an unprecedented increase of WEEE. Despite the
growing awareness and deterring legislation, most of the WEEE is disposed improperly, mostly
landfilled (Cucchiella et al., 2015) or otherwise shipped overseas (Ladou and Lovegrove, 2008)
to be treated in substandard conditions. Illegal shipping of such waste is a very important
problem, currently dealt at an international level. When exported to the developing economies,
the costs of WEEE treatment are externalized(Mccann and Wittmann, 2015).
