E Waste Management Processes In Malaysia Environmental Sciences Essay

E Waste Management Processes In Malaysia environmental Sciences EssayWith rapid technological advancement, increasing demand of electric and electronic as substantially as short lifespan of the products has lead to the increase in e- counterbalance generation. Hence, E- redundance generation has catch a concern. E- glom commission requires variant approach examine to conventional perplexity of traditional gass. This is beca manipulation of E- vaunt complex characteristic where its contain hazardous substances which pose risk to human health and environment. Understanding E-waste forethought and to determine the best(p) approach is a difficult task due to lack of study in Malaysia and reliable data on management formation. This paper aimed to assess the online practice of E-waste management in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The data pre directed in this paper derived mostly from the secondary sources of various literatures and reference with briny stakeholders in e-waste m anagement were conducted in influence to understand the current issue and problem in e-waste management. Managing E-waste in Malaysia is challenging due to its hazardous characteristic and the generation currently at an alarming estimate where it is reported that E-waste go out be judge to soprano output in next five course of instructions. in that locationfore, the cooperation from all level of management from attain stakeholders is needed in order to ensure the risk of E-waste idler be control at the minimum level.Keywords Electrical and electronic waste, E-waste, managementIntroductionIn view of the imagery 2020 aim for Malaysia, the countrys wish to become a respectabley develop nation in the social class 2020 has meant that Malaysia is not and encourages economic and social growth, besides also environmental issues be addressed (Pelle Getke, 2008). One of the major environmental problems in Malaysia is the production of new waste in the waste streams namely gal vanising and electronic waste.Electrical and electronic waste, also known as electronic waste or galvanizing and electronic equipment (WEEE), or in short blackguarded e-waste is consist of electric or electronic products that can be reason into white goods or bulky waste such(prenominal) as refrigerators, washing machines and brown goods such as computers, televisions, mobile phones, etc when comes to its hold back of life for their current owner (D.S Khetriwal, 2007). It also can be define as waste lineaments that consist of broken or unwished electronic appliances.E-waste is one of the fastest ripening waste issues in the world where it forms 1% of solid waste on an average in developed countries and is expected to grow to 2% by 2020 (UNEP, 2007). The quantities of e-waste atomic number 18 predicted to grow substantially in future both in industrialized countries and in developing countries, with the potential to triple their e-waste by 2010 (UNEP, 2008) which is no exempt ion for Malaysia. With manufacturers continue to update and invented new electrical and electronic equipments, this has caused the lifespan of old product tend to decrease and this also enough one of the factor contributes to the rapid growing of waste in today world. Statistics on the total quantity of e-waste generated per stratum in Malaysia is indistinguishable. However, e-waste generation is directly related to to number of appliances used in the country (IMPAK, 2006). Table 1 shows the amount in unit on electrical and electronic product in Malaysia for year 2003.Table 1 The amount of electrical and electronic product for year 2003Product arrive (Unit)Computer4, 183,684Mobile Phones11,124,000Television4.500,000Radio9,400,000Refrigerator3,500,000selective information source Era Hijau, 2008, discussion section of EnvironmentWith the growth of electrical or electronic equipments consumed in this country, the management of waste volition be a key issue that needs to be urgentl y addressed especially in e-waste management. The problems that can be determine are the absence of proper tool and standards of giving medication where it often end up in the waste streams either through cycle or landfill (ToxicLink, 2003). It can be assumed that the disposal of obsolete electrical and electronic products is fundamentally driven by the production of new ones where it implies that the growth in global electronic production of 4.4% in 2002, 6.8% in 2003 de founder payoff in similar growth in e-waste management (William, 2005). Without proper management system especially in disposal processes, hazardous materials contained in e-waste can be release into the environment and this will potentially give adverse effect to human health (M. Macauley, 2003). Therefore, it is very important to rescue a better e-waste management in order to reduce it effects to both human health and environmental ecosystem in the future.Current status of E-waste management in MalaysiaDev eloping countries unremarkably lack of proper storage spaces or disposal area for e-waste causing their e-waste mixed in domestic landfill, burned with household waste or stored in the attic for years. This problem also occur in Malaysia where most of e-waste end up in landfill as there is no mechanism of proper cycle or safe disposal. The disposal of e-waste in uncontrolled way can pose risk to environment and human health where there are growing of e-waste winding up unnoticed in landfill (NST, 2007). Besides that, many facilities are unable to process e-waste due to constraints in space and handling problem (EQR, 2006). The vivacious pile upion and disposal system is inadequate in handling such wastes. This is because the management of e-waste is different with management of solid waste. According to D.S Khetriwal (2007), conventional waste management policies suited to overcompensate traditional waste types and cannot be applied in the case of e-waste due to its characteri stic which contains both highly toxic substances as come up as valuable materials which can be recovered.Malaysia already has existing regulation on munimentd wastes where e-waste were categorized under SW110 in jump Scheduled of Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005, but this regulation not directly dealing with e-waste from household. Currently, there is no mechanism of proper separatism or disposal system to encourage creation reuse and discard e-waste. The continue generation of e-waste over time, together with lack of incorporated mechanism of institutional framework and inadequate radix causing e-waste management not hearty set up. Even though at present electrical or electronic appliances are rarely prone of inadequate manner, but with little regulation in place, this has created hazards to local populations, as well as to the environment.Study area and data collectionThe number of electrical or electronic industries in Malaysia is rising. Thus, inc reased in the consumption of electrical and electronic products is due to its utility in our everyday life. This indirectly explained why the song of electrical and electronic waste is increasing. As the urbanization continues to take place, the management of waste is a major public health and environment concern in urban areas of many developing countries. The concern is serious, particularly in the capital cities.Therefore Shah Alam, Selangor is chosen as the starting point for the research. Shah Alam is the capital city for the show of Selangor where it consists of well planned and modern town with the state administrative centre in a spacious and pleasant environment. Shah Alam is an urban city in Petaling and Klang territorial dominion which is fixed well-nigh 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the countrys capital, Kuala Lumpur. In 1978, it replaced Kuala Lumpur as the capital city of the State of Selangor due to Kuala Lumpurs incorporation into a Federal Territory in 1974. Shah Alam was the first planned city in Malaysia by and by in calculateence in 1957. Shah Alam has a similar urban layout to Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya with housing areas occupying most of the city (55.2km) and commercial centres scattered around the different seksyen (sections). There are about 56 sections in total within 24 zones.Shah Alam is the State of Selangor capital city, has experienced a rapid urbanization and industrialization in the last decade. Urban area where chosen because of the highest communication services are concentrated in urban areas canvass to rural areas and most of the development still concentrated in urban areas. The production of E-waste in this area can be assumed as kind of high and the management of E-waste by waste generators, recyclers and disposal are crucial. Figure 3.2 shows amount of E-waste generated in Shah Alam is the highest compare to other(a)s area in the State of Selangor.Figure 3.2 Amount of e-waste generated in Selangor Area in 2009Source DOE Shah Alam report, 2009Personal interview were conducted with relevant stakeholder that consist of regulatory framework government officials responsible for E-waste management process, as well as senior managers within the E-waste recycle industries (SW. Chung, R.Murakami-Suzuki, 2008) in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. As this is exploratory research, many stakeholders have been approached and interviews were conducted to obtain the understanding on e-waste management issues and problem, opinions and their view. sooner meeting the respondents, information has been searched for knowing the involvement of stakeholders in the e-waste management (M. Schluep et al., 2008). The interviews were conducted with stakeholders that were responsible with the management of e-waste in Shah Alam and also directly tortuous in e-waste management in Malaysia. On the other hand, the respondent were chosen based on convenience sampling where only person that willing to cooperate in this study will be interviewed. This type of sampling technique was chosen due to limited time and finance. After the interview, the interviews are transcribed and the transcript of each interview was sent back to the interviewee (s) for comment and come on questions (P. Manomaivibool, 2009). Secondary data was extracted from a collection of key documents. These documents were stack away through library and document searches from many stakeholders including government agencies, industriousness and business. Collections of key documents consist of documents in the form of military issues such as reports, journals, books, and internets. The data gathers are source from report of e-waste strain project in Malaysia, annual publication of IMPAK magazine by Department of Environment (DOE), Malaysia and environmental quality report of DOE, Malaysia.The data presented in this paper derived mostly from the secondary sources of various literatures and interview with main stakeholders in e-wast e management were conducted in order to understand the current issue and problem in e-waste management in Shah Alam, Selangor and Malaysia generally.Trend of e-waste generationFigure 1 Quantities of e-waste generated in Selangor, MalaysiaTable 1 Number of e-waste contractors in Selangor, Malaysia.200720082009Number of contractor in Selangor272827Data source DOE, Selangor report, 2007, 2008, and 2009.In the e-waste inventory project of Malaysia report, e-waste is expected to increase in five year forwards and further. This is because at that time the level of public awareness regarding e-waste is increasing due to e-waste had become an important environment issues in 21st century. The other factor that whitethorn contribute to the increase of e-waste is due to technologies advancement where people lifestyle change where the replacing of old product with new ones that much better, affordable and easy to use in the future. Even nowadays people are depending on gadgets such as computer s and mobile phones in communicating with people around the world. This data only reflects the e-waste that is lay in as disassembled components from industries (Malaysia Inventory Report, Accessed on 11/10/2009).Data on quantities of e-waste generated in Shah Alam were gathered from inventory recorded by e-waste contractors for Department of Environment, Selangor using a consignment notes. The increase of e-waste quantities generated give impact to the management of e-waste. The main intention in e-waste management is to reduce the e-waste generated from ending up in landfill site and to reduce the cost of managing e-waste where it contain both highly toxic substances and valuable materials.In 2005, Malaysia has issue e-waste as an environmental concern and marked it as new category of scheduled wastes. sooner Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005, there are no regulations for e-waste but in Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 1986, the discarde d batteries containing lead, mercury, nickel or lithium from battery manufacturing plants are coded under scheduled waste S271. However, E-waste is defined as used electrical and electronic equipments categories as scheduled waste in First Schedule of Environment (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005 and been coded as SW110 after takes effect on 15 August 2005.When e-waste become new category of scheduled waste in Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005, contractors in Selangor that involved in e-waste recycling and processing are bound to obtain demonstrate from Department of Environment, Selangor. With the enforcement of EQSWR 2005, the occupation of e-waste inventory were carrying out by DOE, Selangor began in 2007. The number of e-waste contractors license under DOE is about 27 contractors in 2007 and 28 contractors in 2008 but reduce back to 27 contractors in 2009.There are twain factors contribute to this reduction firstly because of economy crisis in 2008 an d effected e-waste generated in 2009. This has show in the graph where the amount of e-waste generated in 2008 decrease from 10916 MT/year to 10369 MT/year in 2009. From the literatures sources, when the economic crisis happens, firstly affected is the electronic industry. As a result, the production of electronic product decreasing as well as the quantities of e-waste generated. And secondly because of competition between these contractors result in some of them become passive and some are active. Moreover too many players but the volume e-waste collected is not enough and the high costs for e-waste become a burden to these e-waste contractors. Also according DOE Shah Alam ships officer, they do not have any data or quantity for each e-waste generated. For this time being, the only data exist is for the whole of SW110 wastes.Figure 1 Quantities of e-waste generated in Shah Alam, SelangorTable 2 Amount of e-waste (MT/year) generates and number of e-waste contractor in Shah Alam, Se langor.200720082009Number of contractor in Shah Alam91012Data Data source DOE, Selangor report, 2007, 2008, and 2009.E-waste generation is different with other hazardous household waste and scheduled waste generated by industries and business sources. The generation is not regular. Its depending on how the individual handle they product during the equipment on the job(p) lifespan. There are no reports on types of e-waste generated from household as this waste end up mixed with other waste goes to landfill or informally handle by illegal collectors or scrap collectors.Malaysia has issue e-waste as an environmental concern and marked it as new category of scheduled wastes in 2005. Before Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005 takes effect, there are no regulations for e-waste. However in the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 1986, the discarded batteries containing lead, mercury, nickel or lithium from battery manufacturing plants are coded under s cheduled waste S271 12. However, E-waste is defined as used electrical and electronic equipments categories as scheduled waste in First Schedule of Environment (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005 and been coded as SW110 after takes effect on 15 August 2005. When e-waste become new category of scheduled waste in Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005, contractors in Selangor that wanted to involved in e-waste recycling and processing are bound to obtain license from Department of Environment, Selangor. With the enforcement of EQSWR 2005, the activity of e-waste inventory were carrying out by DOE, Selangor began in 2007.Figure 1 show that the amount of e-waste generated in Shah Alam is increasing from 5331 MT/year in 2007 to 5388 MT/year in 2009. Amount of e-waste collected by e-waste contractors in Shah Alam is assumed to be all or major portion of e-waste generated in Shah Alam eventually goes to the nearby recyclers and or disposal facilities. However, the generati on of e-waste depends on the consumption and production of electrical or electronic product in that year. Currently, the number of e-waste contractors in Shah Alam was increase from only 9 contractors in 2007 to 12 contractors in 2009 as showed in Table 2 where it consist of one large recuperation facility and other is partial recuperation facilities. However, there are still unknown and unlicensed contractors in Shah Alam operating e-waste collection, recycling and processing. One of the identify company is Scrap Computer Trading Sdn Bhd that located in Shah Alam area. The increase quantities of e-waste each years and without proper management system especially during disposal process, the hazardous materials contain can release into the environment will potentially give adverse effect to human health 15.In the e-waste inventory project of Malaysia report, e-waste is expected to increase in five year ahead and further. This is because at that time the level of public awareness r egarding e-waste is increasing due to e-waste had become an important environment issues in 21st century. The other factor that may contribute to the increase of e-waste is due to technologies advancement where people lifestyle change where the replacement of old product with new ones that much better, affordable and easy to use in the future. Even nowadays people are depending on gadgets such as computers and mobile phones in communicating with people around the world. This data only reflects the e-waste that is collected as disassembled components from industries (Malaysia Inventory Report, Accessed on 11/10/2009).Data on quantities of e-waste generated in Shah Alam were gathered through inventory recorded by e-waste contractors for Department of Environment, Selangor using a consignment notes. The increase of e-waste quantities generated give impact to the management of e-waste. The main objective in e-waste management is to reduce the e-waste generated from ending up in landfill site and to reduce the cost of managing e-waste where it contain both highly toxic substances and valuable materials.Current Status on E-waste management in Shah Alam, SelangorShah Alam is one of well planned city the residential areas were located on the site of federal highway and industrial zone on the other. Table 3 shows the e-waste generators, type of e-waste collected by e-waste collectors in Shah Alam, Selangor. Generators in Shah Alam consist of electrical and electronic manufacturers, assemblers, individual consumers, government organizations, corporate users such as banking sectors, etc.Table 3 E-waste generators, type of e-wastes and e-waste collectors in Shah Alam, Selangor.E-waste generatorsType of E-wasteE-waste collectorManufacturing IndustriesDisassemblies such as metal scrap, ICT board, rejected wires, etcLicense e-waste contractor under Department of EnvironmentGovernment organization, institution upstanding unit of e-wastes such as computers, telephone, printers , etcAlam Flora Sdn BhdLicense e-waste contractor under Department of EnvironmentIndividual households, publicsSub-unit of e-waste or whole unit of e-wasteShah Alam City Council (MBSA)Types of e-waste generated depend on type of generator and each quantity generated or collected are different from each other. E-waste generate from multinational electrical and electronic manufacturing industries such as Panasonic Sdn Bhd, JVC (M) Sdn Bhd and larger business such as banking sectors, ICT sectors, etc are well collected by licensed contractors. However e-waste generated by individual household uncommonly collected because of quantities of e-waste produce is in small amount. This is because individual households not are regular generator for e-waste compare to business. According to Macauley et al 2003, generally electronics wastes generated by businesses more(prenominal) homogeneous which are comprise of large quantities than electrical waste generated by households 13.ConsignmentNotes (InventoryTrackSystem)Sell to other recyclers or local/domestic securities industryPartial Recovery FacilitiesLicence CollectorGeneratorKualiti Alam Sdn BhdFull recovery facilitiesDisposal of e-waste residueTreatmentAlam Flora Sdn Bhd, Local AuthorityCollect from the publicRecyclable materials such as metals scraps and plastic scrapsUnlicensed collectorUnknown2nd raw materialsSell to the manufacturersFigure 2 E-waste management in Shah Alam, SelangorE-waste management practice in Shah Alam, Selangor, MalaysiaE-waste collectionE-waste management in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia is summarized in Figure 2 above from the waste generation until the disposal of the waste. E-waste derived from manufacturers normally consists of disassembled components such as plastic scraps, metal parts and wires which are collected mostly by license e-waste contractors.E-waste generate from domestic area were collected by waste concessionaires such as Alam Flora Sdn Bhd, Solid Waste Management Sdn Bhd. A ccording to Alam Flora officer, they have launched a campaign for collection of e-waste from the public started in year 2006 and focuses only to the unit of computer waste. However for e-wastes collected from the domestic areas will not undergo any separation process because absence of segregation facility and therefore e-wastes collected will be sent straight to landfill site. Alam Flora Sdn Bhd does not run any facility related to collection of schedule wastes and metals because the value for recycling materials is low and the cost for it proper management is high compare to management of conventional wastes. For Shah Alam residents that wanted to discard their E-waste, Alam Flora also provided call and pick up services.Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) is a local authority in Shah Alam has involved in 3Rs campaign but they focus is not specifically on e-waste. MBSA do not send e-waste to the landfill but e-waste collected to recycling inwardness for further disposal. MBSA indirectl y involved in e-waste management for Shah Alam. MBSA has provided a recycling center for Shah Alam community to dispose their bulky wastes and reusable wastes that include e-wastes. This recycling center known as Shah Alam Recycling Center located in Sekyen 17, Shah Alam, Selangor. With the initiatives located by MBSA to this community it can be a starting point for e-waste from households to be managed properly.E-waste recyclingAt present, there are about 12 licensed e-waste contractors in Shah Alam which are responsible in collecting and recycling e-waste. According to DOE of Shah Alam, Shah Alam has 11 registered e-waste contractors with only one company having full recovery licenses. The listed e-waste contractor can be found at DOE website. The rest with partial recovery licenses only allowed carrying out collection, disassembly, segregation, and packing. However, only approved full recovery licenser is allowed to conduct cute metal recovery by utilizing chemicals and electro lysis processes.E-waste collected were dismantled and separated into various part or components which also consist of recyclable and non-recyclable items. The recyclable item unremarkably after processing will be packed for resale locally or export to other countries. Sometimes the recyclable part or component will be distributed to other companies for reuse.E-waste collected by license contractor will be further send whether to partial recovery facilities or directly to full recovery facilities. Partial recovery e-waste contractor also act as a middleman in collecting e-waste from the generators. Usually they used their own expatriation to collect e-waste from the waste generators according to tender sign. Recycling process that carry out in partial recovery facilities include manually dismantle into part or component and segregate them into recyclable or non recyclable components. Type of component that usually can be extracting from e-waste is metal scraps such as cooper, steel and aluminum. For plastic scrap usually this type of waste will be sold to other recyclers from domestic trade or local market as secondary raw materials. However, for material that had been separate, sorted and crushed in partial recovery facility still considered as scheduled wastes where it need to further treated at prescribed premises.At full recovery facilities, they provide services where most of the item will be recovered for better end products. Beside physical treatment process, chemical treatment (stripping) will be used in order to minimize waste from ending up in landfill sites. The products from e-waste recovery become secondary raw materials for other uses in manufacturing sectors.Disposal of E-wasteE-waste generate in electrical and electrical industry were mostly disposed in the provide bins as either provided by the waste generator or the waste contractor depend on types of E-waste disposed. With the structure mechanism of E-waste management by the industries, th e waste disposed is recorded using consignment notes where the quantities of E-waste produced is inventory. Some of non recyclable part or component of E-waste will be treated either in full recovery facilities or disposed at Kualiti Alam facilities.DOE also has given license to Kualiti Alam in collecting e-waste as they are one of the responsible agencies in Malaysia that handle scheduled wastes. The final product of e-waste recovery is the e-waste residues. These residues will be sent to sanitary landfill in Bukit Nanas together with other wastes that are not recyclable and non hazardous for further disposal processes.Obstacles in e-waste managementData from the interview are analyzed. During the analysis, code were renames, clustered and group into four issues and problem discussed by the respondents about e-waste management. In the management aspect, e-waste is very complex because of it tendency to cause serious environmental problem in developing countries as in Malaysia. Obst acle identified is technical issues, lack of trained personal, legislation, financial, infrastructure and awareness.Technical IssuesThe waste generators were responsible with the management of their own scheduled waste include e-waste. Unlike solid waste management where theres by now have a structured mechanism. According to name must not be reveal, the volume of the electrical and electronic waste is depends on the EE production and current economy status. Another problem is they cannot afford for the other technology or equipment to process electrical and electronic waste pull man power. However, there also some manufacturers in Selangor still selling e-waste to unlicensed collector or recycler because the price offer is high. E-waste contractors in Selangor, mostly collect e-waste from EEE industry but not for household e-waste.Lack of improper e-waste disposal, this is because the waste generators do not have suitable places to dispose their waste. In Malaysia, there are still small number of facilities who involves with e-waste processing and recovery. Waste collected from manufacturers or large business were dismantle and separate into various parts and components for resale or recycle or recovery locally while household e-wastes were discarded in municipal bins and disposed off in landfill. Lacking of environmental standards and advanced recycling technologies where most of partial recoveries adopted very simple and uncultured methods in order to achieve higher return as much as possible. From the interview conducted with the partial recovery companies, there are two reasons the collectors cannot afford for a better recycling technologies a) The equipment is too expensive and b) The volume of e-waste is small while there are a numbers of collectors out there. If they bought the facilities, it will waste their time and money just like the incinerator case. Currently as in Selangor and Malaysia as general, e-waste were collected while only precious meta ls are extracted.The recycling processes usually have low recycling rates as for the informal sector where the major storm for recycling is precious material extraction due to which the other hazardous components are usually dumped in landfill and fate sometimes unknown. However for the formal recycling units the efficiency is less as the collections targets are not met and lack of efficient technologies. According to Dato Nadzri Yahaya, theres an informal sector is going-on where they involved in collecting e-waste dumps with other household waste. The garbage contractors with they own initiative will informally sort out waste that can be recycle such as plastics, aluminum, e-waste, etc in the beginning other non-recyclables waste sent to the landfill sites. However, disposal of E-waste from household is an issue where these wastes dispose in the municipal bins together with other wastes as there is still no segregation unlicensed collector where they collect this waste and proces s only certain part or component of E-waste and treatment for others is unknown. Even the television for warning put together with other waste outside the resident premises, after couple of hours, the waste gone and the fate of the waste is unidentified.Financial IssueThere is not much to discuss about financial issues because this paper focus more to management per se. In Malaysia, E-waste has been treated same as scheduled waste except it is not to dangerous and contaminated if directly contact with this wastes. Currently, there is no financial scheme or initiatives given to the e-waste recyclers by government. According to officer from Kualiti Kitar Alam, the recyclers especially scrap collector that not control or license under DOE buy e-waste from waste generators with high price and the treatment for the waste collected by this parties is unknown. Sometimes, most of the waste contractors consist of illegal contractors or recyclers.Legislation IssueMalaysia already has existin g regulation on scheduled wastes where e-waste were categorized under SW110 in First Scheduled of Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005, but this regulation not directly dealing with e-waste from household. Currently, there is no mechanism of proper segregation or disposal system to encourage public recycle and discard e-waste. The continue generation of e-waste over time, together with lack of structured mechanism of institutional framework and inadequate infrastructure causing e-waste management not well set up. Even though at present electrical or electroni