Evaluation of e-waste management systems in Malaysia using life cycle assessment and material flow analysis

Abstract The complexity of managing electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) prompted the need to evaluate the environmental performance of current e-waste management in Malaysia, focusing on future monitoring and planning. In this study, the environmental performance of four management options was evaluated based on the infrastructure currently available in Malaysia. Those options include 1) landfill disposal, 2) direct incineration with energy recovery, 3) materials recovery without energy recovery, and 4) materials recovery with energy recovery. These alternatives were evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA). Two simple performance indicators, waste reduction rate (WRR) and environmental cost-benefit ratio (eCBR), were developed to interpret the study findings. Due to the lack of sufficient data on-site e-waste management and recycling in Malaysia, information from a variety of sources was utilized. Moreover, the focus of this study was limited to one specific type of e-waste – the printed wire board (PWB) from mobile phone. Surprisingly, our study concluded that direct incineration with energy recovery was the best of the four management options evaluated for e-waste management. The study results ran contrary to our initial expectations and the results of previous LCA studies on e-waste management. Because our interpretation of the study results had several limitations, recommendations were made to improve the evaluation of e-waste management and for more accurate and reliable analyses to assist in the future development of sustainable e-waste management practices. This study's findings could serve as a useful reference to the many stakeholders working to develop sustainable e-waste management in Malaysia.

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