ABSTRACT
The most common problem confronted in day-to-day life is the generation of large amounts of electric and electronic wastes (e-wastes). E-waste growth is fueled by the use of electronic and electrical equipment—especially personal computers (PCs), used batteries, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mobile phones, refrigerators, liquid crystal display (LCDs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and so on—and their rapid rate of obsolescence. The disposal of e-wastes into the environment is potentially harmful because those wastes contain toxic components such as lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, and brominated flame retardants. Their disposal also leads to the loss of valuable resources such as gold and copper. Properly treating e-waste in an ecofriendly manner can turn it into a primary or secondary resource. Available existing methods such as thermal, pyrometallurgical, and hydrometallurgical processes continue to be challenged by economic, technical, and ecological issues. Increased interest in reducing of e-waste and e-waste resources via the biohydromatallurgical route is environmentally sound with a huge potential to lower operational costs and energy requirements. This chapter addresses issues related to e-waste and its formation and disadvantages, as well as best practices and regulations related to e-waste reduction and metal recovery using biological methods.
