title: Life cycle assessment of electronic waste treatment.
abstract: Life cycle assessment was conducted to estimate the environmental impact of electronic waste (e-waste) treatment. E-waste recycling with an end-life disposal scenario is environmentally beneficial because of the low environmental burden generated from human toxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, and marine ecotoxicity categories. Landfill and incineration technologies have a lower and higher environmental burden than the e-waste recycling with an end-life disposal scenario, respectively. The key factors in reducing the overall environmental impact of e-waste recycling are optimizing energy consumption efficiency, reducing wastewater and solid waste effluent, increasing proper e-waste treatment amount, avoiding e-waste disposal to landfill and incineration sites, and clearly defining the duties of all stakeholders (e.g., manufacturers, retailers, recycling companies, and consumers).
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, PR China; Shandong University Climate Change and Health Center, Public Health School, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China. Electronic address: hongjing@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jinglan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenxiao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Shandong University, Shanda South Road 27, Jinan 250100, PR China.
authors.forename: Yutao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China. Electronic address: xiangzhi@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiangzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D016208:Databases, Factual; D059029:Electronic Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D017745:Incineration; D059027:Recycling / Q000379:methods*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities
keywords: E-waste; End-life disposal; Heavy metal; Improper treatment; Recycling