Investigating Methods of Electronic Waste Management and Recycling ofEver-Increasing Electronic Wastes with Emphasis on Eco-Friendly Processes

Electronic waste (E-waste) consists of obsolete electrical or electronic devices. Electronic waste recycling is of importance when it comes to protecting resources and environment. Today, nearly 1.3 billion tons/year of waste is produced worldwide, which is expected to increase to 4.3 billion tons/year by 2025. E-waste from old PCs is predicted to increase to 500 percent over a decade, and by 2020, compared to 2007, the disposal of cell phones will be increased by almost 18 times. Understanding and distinguishing different components of E-waste can help their efficient recycling. Sophisticated electronic devices contain approximately 60 different elements, which include valuable and hazardous materials. The most valuable component of E-waste is PCB, which contain many hazardous materials besides valuable metals. To prevent human and environmental poisoning, it is necessary to analyze the properties and compounds of different materials in E-waste and to find ways of re-managing it using healthy and environmentally friendly processes. In this paper, we focus on the general E-wasteland problems, such as the classification of E-waste, its constituents, various eco-friendly waste manage me n t and recycling processes, as well as considering valuable metals extraction. Despite many efforts to develop the recycling technology, this technology has many disadvantages due to the complexity of E-waste treatment systems. Therefore, the disadvantages of each process are discussed by considering technical problems and environmental protection level.