Exploring E-Waste Resources Recovery in Household Solid Waste Recycling
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2020
Abstract
The ecosystem of earth, the habitation of 7.53 billion people and more than 8.7 million species, is being imbalanced by anthropogenic activities. The ever-increasing human population and race of industrialization is an exacerbated threat to the ecosystem. At present, the global average waste generation per person is articulated as 494 kg/year, an enormous amount of household waste (HSW) that ultimately hits3.71x1012kg of waste in one year. The ultimate destination of HSW is a burning issue because open dumping and burning as the main waste treatment and final disposal systems create catastrophic environmental limitations. This paper strives to contribute to this issue of HSW management that matters to everyone's business, specifically to developing nations. The HSW management system of the world's 12th largest city and 24th most polluted city, Karachi, was studied with the aim of generating possible economic gains by recycling HSWs. In this regard, the authors surveyed dumping sites for sample collection. The sample was segregated physically to determine the content type (organic, metals, and many others). Afterward, chemical analysis on AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry) of debris and soil from a landfill site was performed. HSW is classified and quantified into major classes of household materials. The concentrations of e-waste Cu], industrial development indicator Fe], and the main component of lead-acid storage batteries Pb] are quantified as 199.5, 428.5, and 108.5 ppm, respectively. The annual generation of the aforementioned metals as waste recovery is articulated as 1.2 x 10(6), 2.6 x 10(6)and 6.5 x 10(5)kg, respectively. Significantly, this study concluded that a results-based metal recovery worth 6.1 million USD is discarded every year in HSW management practices.
Keywords
household solid waste, metal recovery value, socio-economic benefits, waste composition of Karachi-Pakistan, waste management, waste recycling
Divisions
nanotechnology
Funders
Universiti Malaya (Grand No. RU001-2018, ST030-2019),Deanship of Scientific Research, King Faisal University (Grant No. R.G.P 2/85/41)
Publication Title
Processes
Volume
8
Issue
9
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND