Mapping Informal E-Waste Hubs from Academic and News Literature
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Mapping Informal E-waste Hubs from Academic and News Literature An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science Submitted by: Brigid R. Auclair Gwyneth C. Ormes David A. Smith Nicholas J. Tourtillott Project Advisors: Professor Joel J. Brattin Professor John-Michael Davis Date: July 9th, 2020 This report represents the work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, please see http://www.wpi.edu/academics/ugradstudies/project-learning.html page. I Abstract Globally, workers improperly recycle E-waste in informal hubs, damaging the environment and the health of their community. No one has previously published an extensive list of E-waste hubs, which has caused a disproportionate amount of research in a handful of hubs. Through a content analysis of academic literature and regional news, we mapped 23 hubs worldwide, identified gaps in the topics and locations of E-waste research, and compared the two media sources. II Acknowledgments We would like to express our gratitude to Professor Brattin and Professor Davis, our IQP advisors, for their patient guidance, useful critiques and essential support throughout this research project. We would also like to thank Professor Butler, our ID 2050 professor, for helping our team develop our project from an idea into something achievable. III Authorship Name Sections Written Sections Research Accomplished Edited Brigid R. Introduction All sections Analyzed and coded academic articles from 2020, Auclair Section 2.3.1 2017, 2014, 2009 Section 3.0 Section 3.2.3 Analyzed and coded articles from Chinese news Section 4.2 websites Section 5.1 Section 5.2 Gwyneth C. Section 2.2 All sections Analyzed and coded academic articles from 2018, Ormes Section 3.1.2 2012, 2011 and 2007-2000 Section 3.2.1 Section 3.2.2 Analyzed and coded articles from Vietnamese Section 3.2.3 and Nigerian news websites Appendices Analyzed and coded worldwide NGOs Created and managed database SQL database David A. Smith Executive All sections Analyzed and coded Academic articles from Summary 2016, 2015, 2008 Section 2.0 Sections 2.1 Analyzed and coded articles from Indian news Section 3.0 websites Section 5.3 Section 3.3 Analyzed and coded regional NGO reports Section 4.2 Nicholas J. Abstract All sections Analyzed and coded academic articles from 2019, Tourtillott Introduction 2013, 2010 Section 2.3.2 Section 3.1 Analyzed and coded articles from Vietnamese Section 3.3 and Ghanaian news websites Section 4.1 IV Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... II Authorship ..................................................................................................................... III Table of Figures............................................................................................................ VI Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... VII 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 2 Background ...............................................................................................................4 2.1 Metrics of E-Waste .............................................................................................4 2.1.1 Quantity of E-waste ......................................................................................5 2.1.2 Value of E-waste ..........................................................................................6 2.1.3 The Basel Convention ...................................................................................8 2.2 Environmental and Health Impacts of Informal E-waste Recycling.....................8 2.3 Informal E-waste Hubs ..................................................................................... 10 3 Methods .................................................................................................................. 13 3.1 Review Current Literature of E-waste Hubs ...................................................... 13 3.2 Analyze NGO Reports and Regional News ....................................................... 16 3.2.1 Regional News Sources .............................................................................. 16 3.2.2 Translating Sources .................................................................................... 17 3.2.3 Reviewing NGO Reports ............................................................................ 17 3.3 Mapping Locations of Informal E-waste Hubs .................................................. 18 4 Results and Analysis ................................................................................................ 20 4.1 The State of Informal E-waste Discussion ........................................................ 20 4.1.1 The Academic Discussion on Informal E-waste .......................................... 24 4.1.2 Regional Media Discussion on Informal E-waste ........................................ 28 4.1.3 NGO Discussion on E-waste ....................................................................... 32 4.2 Geographic Patterns ......................................................................................... 33 5 Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................................... 34 5.1 Current E-waste Research and News Coverage ................................................. 34 5.2 Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................. 36 5.2.1 Verifying Lesser-Known Hubs & Filling Research Gaps ............................ 36 5.2.2 Continuing our News Research ................................................................... 37 V 5.3 Final Thoughts ................................................................................................. 38 6 References ............................................................................................................... 39 Appendix A: Density and Regional Maps ...................................................................... 42 Appendix B: Additional Maps from Academic Literature .............................................. 52 Appendix C: List of Informal E-waste Hubs Found and Breakdown Between Academic, News, and NGO Sources ........................................................................................................... 67 Appendix D: List of Locations Found and Breakdown Between Academic, News, and NGO Sources ............................................................................................................................ 70 Appendix E: Key of Locations That Have Been Combined or Have Multiple Names ..... 82 Appendix F: Code Counts Across Academic, NGOs and News Media ........................... 84 Appendix G: Keywords Identified Across an Academic and Media Review................... 85 Appendix H: News Websites Used in Our Media Search ............................................... 87 Appendix I: List of NGOs Reviewed ............................................................................. 90 Appendix J: SQL Database Relational Model ................................................................ 91 Appendix K: Academic Citations................................................................................... 92 Appendix L: News Citations ........................................................................................ 106 Appendix M: NGO Report Citations ............................................................................ 111 VI Table of Figures Figure 2.1 Composition and flow of E-waste ..................................................................6 Figure 2.2 Represents the flow of E-waste between key players in the informal recycling sector ............................................................................................................................. 11 Figure 4.1 Distribution of academic articles across codes .............................................. 21 Figure 4.2 Distribution of news articles across codes ................................................... 21 Figure 4.3 Counts of most specific locations named in academic literature and news media [This figure continues in Appendix D]................................................................. 23 Figure 4.4 Comparison of the percentage articles referencing common themes between well-researched informal E-waste areas and the overall average .................................... 27 Figure 4.5 Comparison of the percentage articles referencing common themes between media country and the overall average ........................................................................... 31 VII Executive Summary As consumerism progresses, people discard seemingly obsolete devices and replace them with newer models--creating over 50 million metric tons per year, which is 7.3kg of waste per person (Forti et al., 2020). Electronic waste (E-waste) grows at a rate of 3-5% a year, faster than other waste streams,