Open AccessBarriers and critical success factors towards sustainable hazardous waste management in electronic industries – A review
Author(s) -
Y. H. Chin,
He Yong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/669/1/012029
Subject(s) - hazardous waste , cleaner production , waste management , electronic waste , business , sustainability , sustainable development , household hazardous waste , mobile incinerator , municipal solid waste , engineering , waste collection , ecology , political science , law , biology
This study reviews existing literature to determine the barriers and critical success factors (CSFs) towards sustainable hazardous waste management in electronic industries. Sustainable hazardous waste management can considerably reduce the volume of wastes going to landfill sites and can therefore reduce the burden to the environment in terms of pollution prevention and greenhouse gaseous reduction. This goal is achievable through efforts, such as waste recovery, waste-to-energy technology and waste-to-raw material conversion. Hazardous waste in Malaysia mainly comes from recovery facilities, metal refinery, metal finishing and coating, cement manufacturing, petroleum refinery and chemical, electrical and electronic industry. The electrical and electronic industry is a major contributor of hazardous waste generated in Malaysia. Some hazardous wastes, such as heavy metal sludge, generated by electrical and electronic industries can be utilised as alternative fuel for cement industries. The residue produced subsequently can be utilised as raw material for cement manufacturing. Despite the economic and environmental benefits of sustainable hazardous waste management efforts amongst industries, they remain relatively weak. The identified barriers include (1) complexity of legal requirements, (2) lack of systems and tools, (3) hazardous waste quantity and quality, (4) lack of awareness about environmental and sustainability issues, (5) poor partnership/networking, (6) public resistance, (7) financial constraints, (8) lack of information and (9) insufficient environmental resources. Nevertheless, the benefits gained from adopting sustainable hazardous waste management will continuously encourage an increasing number of organisations to devote efforts onto it. The success of this initiative depends on a few critical factors, including (1) readiness of hazardous waste beneficiary, (2) economic and environmental benefits, (3) stakeholders’ pressure, (4) adoption of ISO14001, (5) effects on corporate image, (6) commitment from the top management and (7) incentives and reward.