~ 101 ~ The Pharma Innovation Journal 2020; SP-9(11): 101-106 ISSN (E): 2277- 7695 ISSN (P): 2349-8242 NAAS Rating: 5.03 TPI 2020; SP-9(11): 101-106 © 2020 TPI www.thepharmajournal.com Received: 15-09-2020 Accepted: 23-10-2020 Ankit Shukla Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Anil Patyal Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Sanjay Shakya Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Smita Singh Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Choodamani Chandrakar Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Corresponding Author: Ankit Shukla Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu University, Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India E waste management: A brief review Ankit Shukla, Anil Patyal, Sanjay Shakya, Smita Singh and Choodamani Chandrakar DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/tpi.2020.v9.i11Sb.5374 Abstract Since the discovery of automated computational devices, electronics have taken over the lifestyle of whole world. They are now a very important component of day to day life and with the ever-growing demand and supply the problem of E waste have also became a huge concern over the years. E waste contain varying harmful pollutants ranging from heavy metals to organic and inorganic pollutants, which when released in the environment cause great damage. Management of these E waste have been a priority in the recent years with many policies aiming to decrease the hazardous contamination and effective reusability of end of life electronics. There are many management options available which are used to deal with this problem. All the management options have their own importance and drawbacks and, in this review, we are going to take a look on these management options along with their salient features. Keywords: E waste, management, disposal 1. Introduction Information and communication technology have now become a part of every aspect of life of population and became an industry with one of the largest reaches to the masses. As one the fastest growing industry in the world (Radha. G., 2002; DIT, 2003) [45, 12] the use of computers, cell phones, and other ICT equipment is expanding all over the world. Accompanying to their benefits disposal after their end-of-life has many challenges. This increased demand has resulted in an exponential increase in the waste produced by these electronics which is commonly termed as E waste. There is a considerable growth in E waste production in last decade which is contributed mainly by increase in demand and production of cheaper electronic items. It has been estimated that by year 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to internet which is more than 6 times the population of world today (ILO, 2019) [27] . E waste is relatively small portion of solid waste produced which amount to 2.1 billion metric tons waste produced per year, but E waste defers from other solid waste like household waste, wood and paper waste in that it contains hazardous and toxic substances like heavy metals, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, along with various useful and precious metals (ILO, 2019) [27] . The hazardous material leaches into the environment and cause environmental deterioration with diseases like lead poisoning, hormonal imbalances, and cancer. Most of the problem which is related to E waste arises due to faulty disposal and recycling methods employed for these end of life products. Most common method of E waste disposal consist of waste dumping in landfills, incineration, extended producer’s responsibility, and recycling by formal and informal sectors. All these methods have their pros and cons and due to their drawbacks leaching of harmful substance in the environment occurs resulting in environmental pollution. Along with this there is a loss of many precious and rare earth minerals (e.g., gold, silver, palladium, titanium, vanadium) which are very scarce in earth. Dumping in landfills and incineration is mostly done in developed countries because of excessive waste production and high labour cost, thus recycling becomes tedious and economically unsound. Recycling of E waste is mainly done by informal sector of underdeveloped and developing countries like Brazil, Ghana, China, India to which E waste is exported by USA, Britain, European countries. In these developing and developed nations due to lack of resources and technology, heavy environmental pollution and occupational exposure to hazardous substances occur which when combined to poverty and lack of health infrastructure leads to devastating social problems (Lines et al., 2016; Barba-Gutiérrez et al., 2008) [33, 4] . But along with obstacles there are opportunities like recovery of precious and rare earth metals which can provide raw materials to the market with a lower environmental footprint than mining.