روش سه مرحله ای برای اجرای سیستم مدیریت موثر پسماندهای الکترونیکی در ترکیه A three-stage methodology for initiating an effective management system for electronic waste in Turkey

Abstract Due to both consumption and obsolescence rates of new technology and shorter life cycles of electronic products, the volume of electronic waste (e-waste) is significantly increasing. While managing a great amount of e-waste, government institutions face compelling problems because of the economic and environmental concerns. This study uses a three-stage methodology to initiate the e-waste management activities in context of a collection campaign in Istanbul, explaining the potential benefits and underlying reasons. The problem includes selecting a superior set among a large but finite number of alternatives. Since itis hard to utilize advanced compensatory methods to solve these problems, a three-stage methodology is proposed for systematically reducing the number of alternatives. In this study, we employ the methodology to determine the locations of collection nodes in Istanbul. The main reason that we select Istanbul, is the requirement of an urgent intervention to deal with the large quantities of e-wastes. The result of this study will strongly assist the authorities to configure well-structured strategies for future e-waste management system. ۱٫ Introduction The global consumer electronics market is the fastest growing market around the world. Some electronic products, such as mobile phones and laptops, become outdated before its expected life ends. Any innovative challenge expedites the consumption of these products and causes an exponentially increasing electronic waste problem. Since an electronic waste includes both precious and toxic materials, it is economically and environmentally importantto minimize the negative environmental effects and to maximize the positive outcome by recycling valuable ingredients, simultaneously. This study proposes an e-waste collection campaign for Istanbul by explaining the potential benefits and underlying reasons. The main reason for selecting Istanbul depends on requirement of recovery processes regarding its demographics and infrastructural systems. Demographics are concerned with the great amount of population, high penetration rate, higher education level and high-income level of its residents. Young and rapidly growing population have a great demand for new technologies causing the higher utilization rate of the technological devices and a huge quantity of e-waste, which is generated at the end of use. Hence, city planners should build an integrated system including proper collecting, recycling and discard/reuse processes as stated in EU Directives. Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) emphasize the necessities for a separate e-waste collection system. Directive defines “separate collection” as a precondition for ensuring specific treatment and recycling of WEEE and is necessary to achieve the chosen level of protection of human health and the environment. For this purpose, it states that convenient facilities should be set up for the return of WEEE, including public collection nodes, where private households should be able to return their waste at least free of charge. Distributors have an important role in contributing to the success of WEEE collection. In this context, collection nodes could be set up at retail shops for very small WEEE, which should not be subject to the registration or permit requirements of Directive 2008/98/EC. City planners/directors should settle systems in order to minimize the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste. They should inform their residents to achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE by adopting appropriate training programs and legislations.As referred by WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU, we propose a separate collection system for EOU/EOL mobile phones for Istanbul city. A separate and specialized collection system should be considered by local authorities regarding the small product size, the specified handling/storage requirements, the economic and security features ofthe products. This study emphasizes the importance and the need of location determining of e-waste collection nodes for an urban planning system. Hence, a methodology is formed to determine the proper locations for collecting of e-waste products in an economical and accessible manner. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the statement of e-waste problem in Istanbul; Section 3 represents the new methodology in taking account ofthe use of city’s resources for setting up collection nodes. In Section 4, a case study is presented a separate collection system for Istanbul. Section 5 concludes some suggestions and recommendations for a separate e-waste collection system.