Analysis and Evaluation of the Behavior and Awareness of the Lebanese Society Regarding Electronic Waste Management

Abstract

This paper presents a part of research into e-waste and e-cycling in Lebanon; it describes the status quo of today's governmental and NGO's actions, tools, and intentions about e-waste. The research questions answered throughout this paper are two: the first one wonders if the Lebanese society and government are aware of the e-waste hazards and whether there is any action taken, on the governmental level, to avert an environmental catastrophe. Whereas the second one is concerned with finding out, what Lebanese think about e-waste and whether they are willing to fight against it? Answers to the first question resulted from interviews. The authors have visited Company A and NGO B, the first is concerned with collecting waste in greater Beirut while the second aims at spreading awareness to e-waste's dangers on governmental and social levels alike. Question two was discussed throughout surveys filled by random individuals from Lebanese society. The answers to both research questions came in a way that proves both hypotheses assumed at the beginning of the research, namely that e-waste poses a great threat to the Lebanese environment and that laws must be implemented to regulate collection and disposal of electronic appliances; also, e-cycling initiatives must be encouraged to reduce the quantities of generated e-waste. Hypothesis two if environment friendliness and affinity to right e-waste disposal depend on the educational level of any given citizen has been proven to be true while analyzing the answers in the survey.