DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2015.164
title: The electronic waste management systems: a comparison of the e-waste management policies, processes and practices among selected countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion

description: Waste electrical and electronic equipment or e-waste is one of the fast growing wastes in the solid waste stream in urban environment worldwide. It has become a widely recognized social- and environmental-problem; therefore, proper management of e-waste is vital to protecting the fragile environment from its improper disposal. This study employed a set of quantitative criteria to analyze policies, processes and practices of the respective e-waste management systems adopted in China, Laos and Thailand. Questionnaire surveys of electrical and electronic equipment retailers and consumers were conducted to determine current status of the policy, process and practice of the e-waste management and the knowledge of environmental impacts of e-waste disposal as it relates to mobile phones in these three countries. Results of the survey showed that there were no significant differences in the levels of respondents' satisfaction toward the take-back systems adopted by manufacturers (S202) (F=2.702, p&gt;0.05). However, significant differences were observed in the levels of respondents' satisfaction toward manufacturers using recyclable or reusable materials (S201) (F=3.459, p&lt;0.05) and toward the incentives provided to retailers and consumers to practice reuse and recycle of e-waste (S203) (F=6.394, p&lt;0.01) among the three countries surveyed. A total of 5, 3 and 6 variables relating to Policy (P1), Process (P2) and Practice (P3), respectively, were analyzed and their weighted averages were calculated. The results showed that for P1 average and P3 average, Laos was the highest among the three countries, followed by Thailand and China. For P2 average, however, China was the highest and then followed by Laos and Thailand. Results of P1 average, P2 average and P3 average were factored into an equation to obtain a sum of the weighted averages (Ptotal) for each of the three countries, which showed that China had the highest score of Ptotal (0.141) among the three countries, followed by Laos (0.132) and Thailand (0.121). The survey results also revealed that gender was positively correlated with respondents’ knowledge of the status of environmental conditions (P104) (r=0.077, n=1994, p&lt;0.01) and negatively correlated with their knowledge of how to improve environmental conditions (P105) (r=-0.067, n=2037, p&lt;0.01). The results further demonstrated that the increase in age was positively correlated with respondents’ concern over environmental conditions (P103) and P105. Similarly, the increase in respondents’ educational level was positively correlated with P105. However, the increase in respondents’ income was negatively correlated with P104. Therefore, an effort to bridge the knowledge gaps through initiating proper educational programs in the three countries was necessary. This, coupled with strong enforcement of e-waste related laws, would be the most reliable way to prevent deterioration of the environment in a country. This PPP approach could be a useful tool to decision makers for quantitative analysis and weighing of complex issues associating with e-waste management in a country before a sound decision is rendered. It could also be useful for comparing e-waste management systems or other systems with multiple variables adopted by different countries or entities. Based on the results of this study, a comprehensive e-waste management system was proposed.