E-waste dismantling: Profitable at the cost of occupational hazard?

Abstract

The Objectives of this study are to (i) determine the profit obtained and the occupational hazard faced by dismantlers per day in the two major e-waste recycling sectors (formal and informal) in developing countries like India, China, and Africa, (ii) compare the profits obtained in these two sectors by taking the dismantling processes of two computer electronics systems: CRT monitor and CPU as a case study, in order to identify which sector obtains greater profit, (iii) identify the ratios of profit/occupational hazard (`P' index) and dismantler salary/occupational hazard (`S' index), in order to identify which sector carries out more efficient dismantling, (i.e., employ dismantling techniques that provide a better tradeoff between the profit obtained and the occupational hazard faced) and (iv) understand how the retrieval process of more number of parts within an organised dismantling process which uses appropriate dismantling techniques influences both the profit obtained and the occupational hazard faced in the formal sector compared to those in the informal sector where fewer parts are retrieved using crude dismantling techniques.