Abstract
This article proposes a model for managing e-waste in India using systems thinking approach. The plot of the article begins by the idea of reducing the environmental pollution caused by e-waste in the hands of the informal sector. This can be done by formalizing the disposal stage of the electronic products. The idea can reap results when the registered e-waste agencies be a part of the supply chain activities and thereby ensures reverse logistics model of handling e-waste. Currently, the amount of e-waste generated in the country is higher than the total capacity of the registered recyclers in the country. Even then, most of the recyclers are not functioning at full capacity, which is counter intutive. The government norms are not commanding which leads this waste becoming hazardous to human health. The article uses system dynamics approach proposing one solution to reduce this menace. The causal loop diagram gives a holistic picture of the problem in hand and the stock and flow diagram validates the integrated model of e-waste management system.
Introduction
The Central Pollution Control Board, India (CPCB) Guidelines, 2008, defined electronic waste (e-waste) as waste generated from used electronic devices and household appliances that are not fit for their originally intended use and are destined for recovery, recycling and disposal. E-waste is added into the list of hazardous waste system recently and is drawing attention due to its rapid growth which is a result of the digital revolution. Currently, there does not exist an efficient system for e-waste processing and thereby most of the e-waste ends up in hands of the informal sector. The primary concern of e-waste falling into this sector is the usage of inefficient or polluting techniques for processing materials and resorting to unauthorized and illegal methods to handle waste.
According to Department of Electronics and Information Technology, India (DeitY), the total production of Electronics & IT-ITeS Industry is estimated to be around ₹933,550 crore with a growth of 13.5 per cent during 2014–2015 compared to ₹822,530 crore achieved in 2013–2014. The report of DESA/UNSD, United Nations Comtrade database states that the amount of e-waste imported to the country on an average is around 1017699.233 metric ton during the period of 5 years (2010–2014). There exist around 138 registered e-waste dismantlers/recyclers with a total capacity of 349154.6 metric ton per annum (MTA) across 12 states in the nation as per CPCB. A UN report identifies that India is the fifth biggest producer of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014 with about 1.7 million metric tons. Thereby the total capacity of the registered units is comparatively very less to cater the e-waste accumulated in our country.
There have been a few legislative norms in the country pertaining to e-waste but it is not performing well and since most of these norms basically cater to identify which kind of products can form e-waste, there is little knowledge on the process of how to manage e-waste. This article tries to model the concept of extended producer responsibility introduced in ‘The e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 (Sabha, 2015)’ rules by placing the main responsibility of e-waste management on the producer of the electrical and electronic equipment.
The onus of e-waste management does not lie on the producer alone and the end-users (customers) also have an equal role to play, thereby a reverse logistics mode can be thought of in the process of managing e-waste. An efficient model catering to the reverse logistics from the customer to the producer can curb unauthorized/illegal collection of e-waste and hence can help in conserving the environment to a large extent.
The model proposes every producer or a consortium of producers to have a recycling unit associated in the supply chain which ensures the materials that form e-waste are re-utilized by the producers. The producers can follow a buy back policy, that is, the customers can return their used devices back to the producers and in turn avail discount on the new product they are willing to buy. This can serve as an incentive for customers to return the product to the producers rather than discarding it in landfills, the producers can be assured of customer loyalty because the customer is availing a benefit for the return of the used products. This reverse logistics mechanism ensures proper management of e-waste and hence reduce the involvement of informal sector of collection in the process chain. The producers can also provide better customer service to the customers in terms of the old devices being adaptable to the new features provided by the manufacturer or service upgradation accordingly to extend the life of the electronic equipment.
According to a newspaper (ToxicsLink, 25 December 2013), a study ‘e-waste management in India—Role of state agencies’ done by Toxics Link reveals that most of the Indian states have failed to implement e-waste rules in the country which came into being in 2011. There by this article is an attempt to understand the events, patterns, structures and finally the integrated model of e-waste management in India using the systems thinking approach is proposed.
A systems thinking approach is commonly reffered as the fifth discipline. It is the discipline that integrates the disciplines, fusing them into a conherent body of theory and practice (Senge, 1990).
Literature Review
India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Although the penetration of India’s market for consumer durables is substantially lower than that of developed countries, the size of India’s market in absolute terms is larger than that of many high-income countries (Sinha-Khetriwal, Kraeuchi, & Schwaninger, 2005). Emerging economies such as China and India are large generators of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and have the fastest growing markets for electrical and electronic equipment (Widmer et al., 2005). The useful life of consumer electronic products is relatively short, and decreasing as a result of rapid changes in equipment features and capabilities (Kang & Schoenung, 2004). Today, India is burdened with the colossal problem of e-waste which is either internally generated or illegally imported, causing serious problems to human health and environment.
Since 1990, the first phase of economic liberalization, the problems associated with e-waste in India have started manifesting (Wath et al., 2010). The Indian information technology (IT) industry has been one of the major drivers of change in the economy in the last decades and has contributed significantly to the ‘digital revolution’ being experienced by the world. At the same time, it is responsible for the generation of the bulk of e-waste in the country (Pinto, 2008). The rapid uptake of IT around the world coupled with the availability of new design and technology in the electronic sector is causing the early obsolescence of many electronic items used around the world today (Widmer et al., 2005). Till 2006, the world’s production of e-waste was estimated at 20–50 million tons per year, representing 1–3 per cent of the global municipal waste production of 1,636 million tons per year (Robinson, 2009). In the year 2008, Ladou and Lovegrove estimated that 1 billion computers will stop working in the next five years. Short innovation cycles of hardware have led to a high turnover of devices. The lifespan of central processing units in computers dropped from 4 to 6 years in 1997 to 2 years in 2005 (Babu, Parande, & Basha, 2007). Thus, with the decrease in the average lifespan of EEEs, planet Earth will certainly have to take the load of more and more volume of e-waste in the coming years.
An important case in point is urban waste management in developing countries where state-led formal infrastructure is woefully inadequate, with insufficient coverage and weak operational standards (Cohen, 2006; Wilson, Velis, & Cheeseman, 2006). In most such economies, the informal sector traditionally plays an important role in waste processing by scavenging, sorting and recycling different kinds of waste (Wilson et al., 2009). The consumption of electronic gadgets and subsequent waste generation is also mounting in emerging economies experiencing rapid economic growth, such as China and India (Widmer et al., 2005). WEEE processing is problematic as a result of the sheer volume of waste generation and toxic constituents, such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury (Tsydenova & Bengtsson, 2011). However, in most developing countries, e-waste is usually channelled into the unregulated informal domain of backyard disposal and recycling (Manomaivibool, 2009; Nnorom & Osibanjo, 2008). In India, a major hub of e-waste recycling, the informal sector is responsible for the management of 90 per cent of the e-waste generated in the country (MAIT-GTZ, 2007). Along with the domestic WEEE, illegally shipped e-scrap from developed countries is also processed in the informal sector (BBC, 2003; Greenpeace, 2009).
Methodology
Causal loop modelling is the most commonly used phase of the systems thinking approach. To begin with causal loop modelling through causal loop diagrams (CLDs), the behaviour over time (BOT) graphs are analyzed. The BOT graphs are the representation of the problem in hand. It shows the behaviour of the certain actors in the problem under consideration over the period of years. This behaviour is kind of intutive which drives the researcher to develop a model for the scenario.
Here, we begin with ploting the BOT graphs of various actors involved in e-waste management activity. First, we consider the forcasted sales data and the e-waste-generated data from Ahmed, Panwar and Sharma (2014), and ploted them to obtain the BOT graphs in Figure 1.
The graph represents the ever-increasing number of sales of electronic devices and the generated e-waste for the duration of 2007–2016. The devices that are considered here are laptops, desktop PCs, mobiles and TVs. This graph was expected as the sales of the devices after a lime lag gets converted into e-waste and moreover, the e-waste is higher than the sales as there are unauthorized sources that get e-waste imported from other countries of the world. Figure 2 represents the import and export of the e-waste for a time period of 2010–2014.
The diagram gives alarming results of e-waste being imported at 1.5 million metric tons in 2011–2012. The capacity of our registered recyclers is only about 0.3 million metric tons. Even when these recyclers run on its full capacity it may not be able to cater to such huge demands of the recycling.
This leads to the number of registered recyclers/dismantlers in our country (shown in Figure 3).
The number of registered recyclers came down drastically after 2011 perhaps because many of the recyclers were not following environmentally sound measures of managing e-waste and thus may not have got the certificate to continue to work or the owners of recycling units felt the business was not be lucrative any more. This led to the informal sector getting involved in the recycling process.
The informal sector recycles the e-waste in unhealthy and environment unfriendly ways which affects the society and cause failure of the e-waste management system model on the whole. As per previous studies, 95 per cent of e-waste is in the hands of the informal sector and only 5 per cent with the formal sector. The BOT showing this seen in Figure 4.
To reduce the environmental impact, the government has to make the processing of e-waste in the informal sector environmentally sound. In short, formalize the informal sector but this can happen only through legal rules. The rules on protecting the environment through proper processing of e-waste and plastic waste has come only in 2011. However, the measures on protecting the environment started from 1998 but these measures are not sufficient enough for curbing the environmental pollution the wastes are causing. Figure 5 shows the legal laws that have been mandated by Government of India over the years
The counter intutive behaviour is the ever-increasing generation of e-waste as well as the import of e-waste which is beyond the scope of our registered recyclers. Moreover, the e-waste management rules have been imposed from 2012 and there is no change in the trend of the e-waste generation. It is time to look into what and where are things going and how can things change.
There are 12 loops in the CLD (see Figure 6) and are numbered, explaining the symbols of system dynamics in a brief, the arrow indicates whether the sequence of events, it can be a + sign indicating an increase in the value of the component and one side of the arrow will increase the value of the component at the other side of the arrow (Reinforcing Loops), similarly if a – sign indicating an increase in the value of the component in one side of the arrow will decrease the value of the component at the other end of the arrow (Balancing Loop). ‘R’ or ‘B’ inside a loop indicates whether the loop is reinforcing or balancing loop.
Consumer loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 1 is considered as consumer loop. To begin with manufacturers release products to the market leads to a positive effect for consumers to procure more of these products which will demand for better products which will have to be catered by manufacturers and that will have an effect on the companies’ image which forces them to release products as per the demands of the customer. The reasons for this reinforcing loop can be attributed to the economic status of people that had increased their standard of living.
Manufacturers loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 2 is named as manufacturers loop. To begin with manufacturers release products to markets will fetch revenues for the company which helps the company to adapt to newer technologies, with the new technology, newer design of products are made which increases the company’s image. This results in newer products being released to the market.
Disposal loop: The balancing loop numbered 3 is called the disposal loop. Not all the released products are sold, even after promotions and discounts there might be few pieces back in the warehouses, these could be defect pieces or pieces unsold in the market. The life time of these devices is an average of 5 years after which it become obsolete and disposed. The devices which customers procure also are disposed to make way for newer products. These devices get accumulated as landfills or incinerated which results in environmental pollution. Since climate changes are a point of concern in the society, there will be instant media coverage that will affect the company’s image. This will result in the output production and which will have equivalent effect on the devices that are disposed.
Technology loop: The balancing loop numbered 4 is called the technology loop. With adoption of newer technologies at the manufacturing end, the older versions of the product become obsolete. These devices follow the disposal loop and get accumulated as landfills or incinerated which results in environmental pollution. Since climate changes are a point of concern in the society, there will be instant media coverage that will affect the company’s image. This will result in the output production and which will have equivalent effect on the devices that are disposed.
Health loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 5 is the health loop. As the e-waste is being accumulated or incinerated which results in environmental pollution affects the health of people in the surrounding areas as well as the employees of these informal sector affecting the employees work rate which directly affects the productivity of the informal sector unit which results in the accumulation of e-waste as landfills.
Poverty loop: The balancing loop numbered 6 is the poverty loop. The environmental pollution affects the health of the people and thereby will not be able to work resulting in poverty and if this comes to the notice of media the company’s image is affected and it follows the disposal loop.
Government manufacturing loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 7 is the government manufacturing loop. The environmental pollution stage affects the health of the people which will grab the government’s attention, this will being in environmental standards for manufacturing products. Such enforcement on the standards gives rise to the green products which will reduce the environmental pollution.
Government import loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 8 is government import loop. The issue of health of people will grab the government’s attention and this will lead to stringent means to curb the import of e-waste from the world to the hands of informal sector. These laws will reduce the e-waste getting accumulated which result in reduction in environmental pollution thereby has a positive impact on the health of the people and thereby the government is assured of the security of the society.
Recycling unit loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 9 is the recycling loop. The disposed products are sent to authorized e-waste agencies, this unit separates the goods that have to go to the recyclers or dismantlers. The goods that go to the recyclers are recycled and sold in the secondary market. These goods are procured by the customers and the loop is feedback again after delay when the goods are disposed.
Dismantling unit loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 10 is the dismantling unit loop. The disposed products are categorized by the e-waste agencies and the goods that can be dismantled are sent to the dismantling unit. The output of a dismantling unit is raw materials that can be used by the manufacturing units to produce products.
Take-back loop: The reinforcing group numbered 11 is the take back loop. In this scenario the customers are incentivized to return back the product to the retailers, who then dispose the e-waste to authorized e-waste agencies. This measure can ensure the reduction of e-waste falling in the hands of the informal sector. The e-waste agency will either send it to the recycling unit or the dismantling unit appropriately.
Raw materials loop: The reinforcing loop numbered 12 is the raw materials loop. The manufacturers demand for large amounts of raw materials for the production of new products. These increasing demands are subsided by reduction in the availability of raw materials which reduces the number of products released to the market.
These different loops of the CLD have considered the current and futuristic scenarios of e-waste management system in India. The CLD has been able to portray the negative effects of e-waste system and able to capture the need for efficient e-waste management system.
The stock and flow diagram (see Figure 7) is a simplistic representation of the e-waste management scenario we propose. The symbol represents the flow or the rate of change of the process and the box represents the stock or the level of the process. The arrows indicate the direction of flow of materials. We propose the involvement of e-waste agencies in the supply chain. The reason for this consortium is to ensure the confinement of e-waste in the formal sector. The main contributors to e-waste are either the manufacturer or the customers. On one hand, the manufacturers dispose the waste during production in the surrounding environment. On other hand, due to the lack of awareness among the customers and no proper avenue for disposing their electronic goods, the household goods land up in the hands of the informal sector.
The stock and flow diagram validates the proposal of including an e-waste agency as a part of reverse logistics in the supply chain. The diagram is a quantification of the qualitative idea represented in CLD. We use the iThink 9.1.3 software for validating the model. The stocks and the rates in the diagram are quantified using real time data or either approximations of the same. The graphs shown below represent the different values of the rates and stocks respectively.
Figure 8 indicates the values of the stock over time; it shows values of the products in market (1), procurement of devices at the customer end (2), output of the e-waste agency (the units from the dismantler and the recycler) (3) and finally products in the secondary market (4).
Figure 8 also indicates there is exponential increase in the products in the market and the procurement of products at the customers end. The e-waste agency outputs initially will have large accumulated waste inputs there by these units will either dismantle it to raw materials or the recycle it to newer products. Over the years depending upon the e-waste so generated the graphs move in random fashion. The products in the secondary market keep increasing indicating that these agencies can generate alternate devices from the e-waste disposed.
Figure 9 indicates the values of the rates over time, it shows values of the conversion to finished alternate goods (1), conversion to raw materials (2), disposal rate (3), manufacturing rate (4) and finally productivity of the workers in the e-waste agency (5).
Figure 9 indicates output of e-waste agencies, that is, either alternate goods or raw materials are converted at the same rate. The disposal and the productivity of the workers are at the same rate, indicating that depending on the presence of e-waste these rates change accordingly. The manufacturing rate of producing products into market follows a step function. Once the demand is identified the manufacturer steps up its production process as depicted in Figure 9.
The presence of e-waste agency in the supply chain ensures the wastage of the manufacturing unit during production can be feedback to recover the raw materials. Certain incentives to the customers can ensure they give back old goods to the retailer. The retailer has a better point of contact with the customer who later can give it back to the e-waste agency for processing. The raw materials obtained from these agencies can be lent back to the suppliers who indeed can sell to the manufacturers for production processes. This mechanism can reduce the accumulation of e-waste in the hands of the informal sector. Thereby ensuring reduction in the environmental pollution as environment secure means of process e-waste is considered in the formal sector.
Conclusion
This article proposes a model for e-waste management in India using systems thinking approach. The model involves a consortium containing e-waste agencies in the supply chain. The benefits are qualitatively described in the CLD and quantitatively validated using the stock and flow diagram. The outputs of the model are depicted using the graphs reemphasizing the benefits of the proposed idea. Future scope of study would include the operationalization of the proposed model.