TITLE:
Review: Current Status of Recycling of Waste Printed Circuit Boards in India
AUTHORS:
Rashmi Kumar, Dahyalal. J. Shah
KEYWORDS:
Printed Circuit Boards; India; E-Waste; Informal Recycling
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
23,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Printed
Circuit Boards (PCBs) are an integral part of any electronic equipment. The
growth of e-waste as end-of-life electronic equipments at an exponential rate is
producing large quantities of discarded PCBs. In India, current recycling and
processing of PCBs is managed almost entirely by the informal sector or the
unskilled labor (95%). The crude recycling activities cause irreversible health
and environmental hazards and the loss of valuable materials due to the poor
recovery of base and precious metals. With the disclosures of the recycling
being done by unskilled labor, alternative recycling strategies are being
sought with the aim of higher recovery of materials in an environment friendly
manner. There is an urgent need to establish effective and efficient methods
for recycling the metals presented in the waste PCBs. In this study, the
existing methods practiced for recycling of waste PCBs in India and the management
strategies for handling them are assessed.