A systematic review on sustainable E-waste management: challenges, circular economy practices, and a conceptual framework
Management of Environmental Quality
ISSN: 1477-7835
Article publication date: 15 December 2023
Issue publication date: 1 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Waste generated from electrical and electronic equipment, collectively known as E-waste, remains a persistent environmental, economic and social problem. Sustainable E-waste management (EWM) has numerous benefits, such as preventing electronic waste from entering landfills, reducing the need for virgin materials by recovering valuable materials from recycling and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Circular economy (CE) practices are considered the initial steps toward sustainable EWM, but some hurdles have been reported in the adoption of these practices. Therefore, the current study aims to identify the common CE practices, sustainability of the EWM process and the challenges in EWM, and to develop a conceptual framework for effective EWM.
Design/methodology/approach
Very few studies have proposed frameworks that acknowledge the challenges and CE practices of EWM. To fill this gap, a systematic literature review (SLR) was performed, and 169 research articles were explored.
Findings
A total of seven challenges in the adoption of effective EWM were identified: rules and policy, infrastructure, consumer behaviour, informal sectors, community culture, technology and economy. Eight common CE practices were also found for effective EWM: reuse, recycle, remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, reduce, recover and repurpose.
Originality/value
A conceptual framework guiding sustainable EWM was proposed, which includes solutions for the identified challenges, and CE practices with sustainable benefits.
Keywords
Citation
Gaur, T.S., Yadav, V., Mittal, S. and Sharma, M.K. (2024), "A systematic review on sustainable E-waste management: challenges, circular economy practices, and a conceptual framework", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 858-884. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-05-2023-0139
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited