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Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan

Received: 29 September 2015     Accepted: 11 October 2015     Published: 27 October 2015
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Abstract

Electronic-waste (E-waste) management is one of the global emerging issues. The current study has been carried out to evaluate the existing computer waste management (CWM) in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Study focuses on managerial gap analysis and determination of potential occupational impacts from current CWM practices. System observation and waste quantification are the tools used in field, while interviews and questionnaire based surveys were also conducted. The results reveal that approximately 624.15 tons of computer waste (CW) is generated in the twin cities per year. Approximately 825kg of monitors and 1125kg of CPUs wastes are generated in Twin cities per day. Associated authorities like CDA, Ministry of Climate Change and EPA were interviewed for legal compliance. There is the lack of rules implementation on E-waste management. However, legislations made by concerned authorities exist in the country but are not practically enforced. Further concerns observed during the study include lack of using basic PPEs and employing child labor in their adolescence. Implementation of existing laws along with basic occupational health and safety rules in the system may play a better role to attenuate the load of waste from the very important cities of Pakistan.

Published in American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 4, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13
Page(s) 279-284
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Computer Waste Management (CWM), Health and Safety, Generation, Legislation, Administration, Hazards, Electronic-Waste

References
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[3] Chung, S.-W., & Murakami-Suzuki, R. (2008). A comparative study of e-waste recycling systems in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan from the EPR perspective: implications for developing countries. Kojima. Chiba.
[4] Cronin, M. T., Jaworska, J. S., Walker, J. D., Comber, M. H., Watts, C. D., & Worth, A. P. (2003). Use of QSARs in international decision-making frameworks to predict health effects of chemical substances. Environ. Health Perspect., 111(10), 1391.
[5] EPA, P. (1997). Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997. Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Environment. 25p.
[6] Fasih, T. (2007). Analyzing the impact of legislation on child labor in Pakistan (Vol. 4399): World Bank Publications.
[7] Godwin, D. L. (1993). Basel Convention on Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes: An Opportunity for Industrialized Nations to Clean up Their Acts, The. Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y, 22, 193.
[8] Joseph, K. (2007). Electronic waste management in India–issues and strategies. Paper presented at the Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Sardinia.
[9] Leung, A., Cai, Z. W., & Wong, M. H. (2006). Environmental contamination from electronic waste recycling at Guiyu, southeast China. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 8(1), 21-33.
[10] Mittal, D., Goel, N., & Rani, R. (2012). E-Waste: A Hidden Threat to Global Environment and Health. VSRD International Journal of Science and Technology, 2(3), 271-275.
[11] Pirzada, M. D. S., & Pirzada, F. N. (2010). E-Waste: An Impending Challenge. Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology.
[12] Saoji, A. (2012). E-Waste Management: An Emerging Environmental and Health Issue in India. National Journal of Medical Research, 2(1), 107-110.
[13] Sawhney, P., Henzler, M., Melnitzky, S., & Lung, A. (2008). Best practices for E-waste Management in Developed Countries. Adelphi Research, Austria.
[14] Skinner, A., Dinter, Y., Lloyd, A., & Strothmann, P. (2010). The Challenges of E-Waste Management in India: Can India draw lessons from the EU and the USA. ASIEN, 117, 7-26.
[15] Umair, S., Björklund, A., & Petersen, E. E. (2013). Social life cycle inventory and impact assessment of informal recycling of electronic ICT waste in Pakistan. Paper presented at the Hilty L, Aebischer E, Andersson G, Lohmann W, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainability ETH Zurich.
[16] Umair, S., Björklund, A., & Petersen, E. E. (2015). Social impact assessment of informal recycling of electronic ICT waste in Pakistan using UNEP SETAC guidelines. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 95, 46-57.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Yawar Abbas, Fiza Sarwar, Muhammad Idrees, Ishtiaque Hussain, Syed Umairullah Jamil, et al. (2015). Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan. American Journal of Environmental Protection, 4(6), 279-284. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13

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    ACS Style

    Yawar Abbas; Fiza Sarwar; Muhammad Idrees; Ishtiaque Hussain; Syed Umairullah Jamil, et al. Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan. Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2015, 4(6), 279-284. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13

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    AMA Style

    Yawar Abbas, Fiza Sarwar, Muhammad Idrees, Ishtiaque Hussain, Syed Umairullah Jamil, et al. Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan. Am J Environ Prot. 2015;4(6):279-284. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13,
      author = {Yawar Abbas and Fiza Sarwar and Muhammad Idrees and Ishtiaque Hussain and Syed Umairullah Jamil and Attarad Ali},
      title = {Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
      volume = {4},
      number = {6},
      pages = {279-284},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20150406.13},
      abstract = {Electronic-waste (E-waste) management is one of the global emerging issues. The current study has been carried out to evaluate the existing computer waste management (CWM) in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Study focuses on managerial gap analysis and determination of potential occupational impacts from current CWM practices. System observation and waste quantification are the tools used in field, while interviews and questionnaire based surveys were also conducted. The results reveal that approximately 624.15 tons of computer waste (CW) is generated in the twin cities per year. Approximately 825kg of monitors and 1125kg of CPUs wastes are generated in Twin cities per day. Associated authorities like CDA, Ministry of Climate Change and EPA were interviewed for legal compliance. There is the lack of rules implementation on E-waste management. However, legislations made by concerned authorities exist in the country but are not practically enforced. Further concerns observed during the study include lack of using basic PPEs and employing child labor in their adolescence. Implementation of existing laws along with basic occupational health and safety rules in the system may play a better role to attenuate the load of waste from the very important cities of Pakistan.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Administrative and Legislative Scrutiny of Existing Computer Waste Management Practices in Pakistan
    AU  - Yawar Abbas
    AU  - Fiza Sarwar
    AU  - Muhammad Idrees
    AU  - Ishtiaque Hussain
    AU  - Syed Umairullah Jamil
    AU  - Attarad Ali
    Y1  - 2015/10/27
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13
    T2  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JF  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JO  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    SP  - 279
    EP  - 284
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5699
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150406.13
    AB  - Electronic-waste (E-waste) management is one of the global emerging issues. The current study has been carried out to evaluate the existing computer waste management (CWM) in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Study focuses on managerial gap analysis and determination of potential occupational impacts from current CWM practices. System observation and waste quantification are the tools used in field, while interviews and questionnaire based surveys were also conducted. The results reveal that approximately 624.15 tons of computer waste (CW) is generated in the twin cities per year. Approximately 825kg of monitors and 1125kg of CPUs wastes are generated in Twin cities per day. Associated authorities like CDA, Ministry of Climate Change and EPA were interviewed for legal compliance. There is the lack of rules implementation on E-waste management. However, legislations made by concerned authorities exist in the country but are not practically enforced. Further concerns observed during the study include lack of using basic PPEs and employing child labor in their adolescence. Implementation of existing laws along with basic occupational health and safety rules in the system may play a better role to attenuate the load of waste from the very important cities of Pakistan.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Environmental Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bahria University, Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

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