Understand The Key Technology Advances That Have Been Made In The Area Of Electronic Waste...

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50916) has announced the addition of the new Frost & Sullivan Report "Advances in Electronic Waste Recovery (Technical Insights)" to their offering.

Scope

Electronic waste -- or e-waste as

it is usually called -- is formed as a result of technology explosion. Countries have been using a huge amount of different types of electronic and electrical equipments for a very long period. For instance, electronic and electrical equipments such as personal computers, washing machines, mobile phones, printers, scanners, fax machines and the like have penetrated well into most arts of the world. Till the last decade, no attention was paid on how these were used or how waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) were disposed of. Typically, these equipments were either refurbished and reused, following which they were disposed of, usually in landfills, or incinerated to obtain valuable metal components present in the WEEE. Burning or pyrolysis of WEEE resulted in toxic emissions such as dioxins and furans. Environmental scientists found such treatments posed severe health hazards to living beings in the near vicinity of the incineration site. Another important issue raised was the contamination of the ground water table due to the leaching of toxic substances such as lead, arsenic, and chromium present in e-waste that is dumped in the landfill. The issue of e-waste as a cause for concern came up in discussions, but by then, tonnes of toxic materials had already been dumped in landfills. However, in an effort to protect the environment and to establish sustainable electronics manufacturing, the concept of electronics waste recovery has gained prominence.

The concept of e-waste recovery can be viewed as a favourable option for two reasons. First and foremost, it reduces the burden of environmental pollution and secondly, it prevents material loss. For instance, it enables recovery of valuable materials such as gold, platinum, silver, copper, glass, and high-value plastics from used electronic equipments, which otherwise would not have been brought back in to the manufacturing stream again. This will also ease the burden on the demand of other non-renewable material resources such as crude oil, metal ores, and the like. This research service deals with the key technology advances that have been made in the area of electronic waste recovery. It provides a detailed analysis of the current global scenario of the electronics recycling industry and includes technology drivers, restraints, and trends. This study tracks the developments (in North America, Europe, and Asia) that have occurred in the three major material recovery areas of metals, plastics, and glass. Additionally, the legislation on e-waste that has been enacted in different regions of the world is included in this research service.

In some countries, the regulations have forced the producers of electrical equipment to take the responsibility for the end-of-life (EOL) recycling of their own products. A perfect example is the WEEE directive from the European Union that has set collection, recovery, and recycle targets for electronics recycling to be met by the manufacturer when marketing products to member nations of the European Union. These directives have, in essence, brought a new dimension of improved business ethics in the electronics manufacturing industry.

Initiatives from major corporate companies have also been featured in this study, which proves that electronic manufacturers have accepted the concept of electronics recycling and are trying to explore ways to make it a profitable affair.

The study has identified key emerging technologies that are relevant with respect to e-waste in the near future. The research service provides a complete list of the key industry participants and related patents. Relevant Frost & Sullivan's Decision Support Database Tables have also been included.

For more information, visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c50916