Evaluation of sustainable e-waste collection method for urban and rural region of India.

Electronic waste is one of the most challenging waste streams to manage. It has become a significant concern in developing countries due to the ever-increasing volume of generation coupled with deficient growth in collection and processing infrastructure. For the various stakeholders, it is of paramount importance to adopt a robust and sustainable collection method for hazard mitigation. The prevalent e-waste collection methods are categorized under four major heads, namely take-back, retail store, door-to-door and curbside collection. The e-waste collection problems are analysed from various perspective, based on literature that cited developing country-specific survey and data that includes India. Economic sustainability and potential risk are included as attributes in the evaluation scheme. We attempt to establish a decision-making model. Discussion with the field experts and decision-makers (DMs) provided the weights for various attributes and sub-attributes. A fuzzy linguistic scale is used to take care of ambiguity in DMs' opinion. Fuzzy- Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) is used to determine the importance of various attributes and sub-attributes, while Fuzzy-VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (FVIKOR) is used to determine the rank of the alternatives. Based on the analysis, 'take-back collection' and 'retail store based collection' are found the most suitable options for urban and rural regions respectively. The attributes, social awareness and economical sustainability are found to have the highest significance in both cases. Implementation of a collection method is an expensive activity, and the proposed Fuzzy-Multi Attribute Decision Making attempts to capture various attributes and their complex interplay to arrive at a decision on optimum e-waste collection option(s) in a specific locality.

Analysis of Critical Success Factors to Design E-waste Collection Policy in India: A Fuzzy DEMATEL Approach.

The design of an e-waste collection policy is challenging, especially for a country like India, where the economy is a developing state, and there is a large diversity in socio-economic factors. The e-waste collection policy impacts the various stakeholders such as the manufacturer, the raw material producers, the assemblers, the retailers, the generator (households and bulk consumers), the scrap dealers, the smelters, the recyclers, and the regulators. The design of an e-waste collection policy needs to consider the appropriate set of Critical Success Factors (CSFs), which will maximise the e-waste collection providing business sustainability to the stakeholders while satisfying the environmental regulations in the operating locations. Twenty-three CSFs identified and categorised in six implication dimensions for the e-waste collection policy framework based on a literature survey and experts committee view. The fuzzy DEMATEL approach is employed to analyse the CSFs to design an e-waste collection policy in India from a comprehensive perspective. Cause and effect interrelationship is established among the CSFs, and also their impacts are evaluated to segregate the CSFs into cause group (prominent influencing and independent) and effect group (influenced and dependent). The CSFs such as technology involvement, green practices, environmental program, certification and licensing, public ethics and stakeholder's awareness for circular economy are prominent influencing CSFs for e-waste collection policy in India. The current study is expected to provide a platform for policymakers to design the e-waste collection policy.