Course - IE 500
Term Paper Assignment #1

Rohan Sahebrao Shingare - #50092653 Shrenik Sanjay Luniya - #50095921 Siddharth Verma - #5009

Energy and Waste management

In today’s fast paced world every country is extensively using their natural resources. There is a decline seen in the energy reserves all around the world. Humans are exploiting the non-renewable sources of energy to its fullest without keeping in mind the needs of future generations. World Bank statistics show that due to rapid urbanization the waste generated by people around the world has increased and governments have to implement certain policies and come up with innovative strategies to manage these wastes which would lead to huge increase in budget to overcome the waste management difficulties.
The waste generated comprises of human, industrial, medical, agricultural, etc. All this affects the environment and the ecosystem. The creation of sustainable environment is the need of the hour, but do we have proper infrastructure to make use of these resources, do governments have sufficient budgets and technologies to come up with unconventional ways of producing energy, these are some of the questions which need to be answered. There is desperate need to promote sustainability and to come up with solutions and ideas through which we can generate energy from the waste generated which would provide a cleaner and a pollution free environment. The idea is to minimize the use of natural resources and to preserve them and focus more on alternative methods. Electrical & Electronic equipment is one of the largest growing waste streams globally, According to solve the E-waste problem (StEP) Initiative showed that in year 2011-12 almost 48.9 million metric tons of used electrical and electronic products waste generated. Hence, for a sustainable environment and the economic recovery of valuable material for reuse, the efficient recycling of electronic scrap has become necessary.
In most developing countries due to lack of adequate infrastructure to manage e-wastes safely, these wastes are buried, burnt in the open air or dumped into surface water bodies, which are not efficient way and are highly polluting. Countries are evolving systems for the collection and environmentally sound disposal of this E-waste. The question that HOW MUCH E-WASTE EXISTS AND IS EXPECTED TO BE GENERATED IN THE FUTURE, Current level of e waste generated versus amount of reuse, recycle, the question that would be answered in our paper is different current e-waste management practices. Outcome of this paper will be to determine if there is a need to improve current practice of e-waste management of country based on total E-waste generated and amount of that recycled, reused. Suggest alternatives to current practices of e- waste management.

Literature Review
The amount of e-waste that is being generated in the USA and in the EU, as well as in developing countries, has increased significantly over the last 10 years [1]. At the same time, rapid changes in information and communication technologies, the concomitant increasing versatility of most electronic devices together with the downward trend in prices have led to a drastically reduced lifespan for most electronic equipment. In 2008, the number of personal computers had already surpassed 1 billion, the overwhelming majority of which have already reached the end of their life, or will reach it soon [4]. An overview on the dreadful ill-effects of e-waste on environment and human health and management approaches that are being currently used in certain countries there is no single tool is adequate but if put together several management tools like Life Cycle Assessment (LSA), Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Multi criteria analysis (MCA) & Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) can be interacted in unison to deal with the issue of e-waste management [6].
End of life management of e- waste considered one of the