ABSTRACT
Generation and dumping of e-waste is considered as a growing problem in the developing countries. E-waste mainly consists of several toxic as well as valuable materials which are reported to cause severe health and environmental impacts. This chapter discusses the different sources of e-waste and the resultant health and environmental impact. Different policies related to e-waste management, its recycling, and recommendations have been also described in details in the current chapter. At present, several techniques including both chemical and biological leaching have been employed for the extraction of metal values from e-waste. However, both the processes have their own limitations. Biological leaching can be considered as environmentally friendly and economical process however, cost effective in nature but it is long term process as compared to chemical methods. New extraction procedure using nanotechnology is rapidly emerging as a suitable alternative for extraction of metal values which has been discussed in this current chapter along with other standard protocols. The chapter also deals with the issues related to all these metal extraction techniques and feasibility of them in treatment of e-waste for extraction of metal values.
