REVIEW OF LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literatures that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:

Conceptual Framework

Theoretical Framework

2.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

e-Waste

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. In developed countries it, on an average, equals 1% of the total solid waste. The increasing “market penetration” in developing countries, “replacement market” in developed countries and “high obsolescence rate”, make e-waste one of the fastest waste streams. It includes items such as televisions (TV), computers, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), plasmapanels, printing-scanning devices, mobile phones as well as a wide range of household, medical and industrial equipments which are simply discarded as new technologies become available. Huge quantities of these wastes are discarded every year and since these wastes contain toxic and carcinogenic compounds can pose high risk to the environment. In computer lead and cadmium are used in circuit boards, lead oxide and cadmium in cathode ray tube monitors, mercury in switches and flat screen monitors, cadmium in computer, polychlorinated biphenyls in older capacitors, transformers and batteries. At present, Indians use about 14 million PCs, 16 million mobile phones and 80 million televisions. So, there is a pressing need to address e-waste management particularly in developing countries like ours. The presence of valuable recyclable components, in electronic wastes, attracts informal and unorganised sectors towards it but the unsafe and environmentally risky practices adopted by them pose great risks to health and environmentThe electronic industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry (Radha, 2002; DIT, 2003). During the last decade, it has assumed the role of providing a forceful leverage to the socio - economic and technological growth of a developing society. The consequence of its consumer oriented growth combined with rapid product obsolescence and technological advances are a new environmental challenge - the growing menace of “Electronics Waste” or “e waste” that consists of obsolete electronic devices. It is an emerging problem as well as a business opportunity of increasing significance, given the volumes of e-waste being generated and the content of both toxic and valuable materials in them. The fraction including iron, copper, aluminum, gold and other metals in e-waste is over 60%, while plastics account for about 30% and the hazardous pollutants comprise only about 2.70% (Widmer et al., 2005). Solid waste management, which is already a critical task in India, is becoming more complicated by the invasion of ewaste, particularly computer waste. E-waste from developed countries find an easy way into developing countries in the name of free trade (Toxics Link, 2004) is further complicating the problems associated with waste management. The paper highlights the associated issues and strategies to address this emerging problem, in the light of initiatives in India.Industrial revolution followed by the advances in information technology during the last century has radically changed people's lifestyle. Although this development has helped the human race, miss-management has led to new problems of contamination and pollution. The technical prowess acquired during the last century has posed a new

challenge in the management of wastes. For example, personal computers (PCs) contain certain components, which are highly toxic, such as chlorinated and brominated substances, toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. The hazardous contents of these materials pose an environmental and health threat. Thus proper management is necessary while disposing or recycling e-wastes.

Waste Management

Any substance that is discarded is known as waste. It is a valuable raw material located at a wrong place. Many of the wastes, at present used in uneconomic manner or left completely unutilised, are causing great hazards to human environment. It can be converted into useful product by making use of appropriate processing technology. These wastes are of various types and can be categorized as hazardous and nonhazardous. These can be further subdivided into municipal wastes, electronic wastes, bio-medical wastes and Industrial wastes. Many studies have been carried out in various parts of the world to establish a connection between health and hazardous wastes. Certain chemicals if released untreated, e.g. cyanides, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls are highly toxic and exposure to these can lead to disease or death. Some studies have detected excess prevalence of cancer in residents exposed to hazardous waste.

Impact Of e-Waste

Electronic wastes can cause widespread environmental damage due to the use of toxic materials in the manufacture of electronic goods (Mehra, 2004). Hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium in one form or the other are present in such wastes primarily consisting of Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), Printed board assemblies, Capacitors, Mercury switches and relays, Batteries, Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), Cartridges from photocopying machines, Selenium drums (photocopier) and Electrolytes. Although it is hardly known, e-waste contains toxic substances such as Lead and Cadmium in circuit boards; lead oxide and Cadmium in monitor Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs); Mercury in switches and flat screen monitors; Cadmium in computer batteries; polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in older capacitors and transformers; and brominated flame retardants on printed circuit boards, plastic casings, cables and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cable insulation that releases highly toxic dioxins and furans when burned to retrieve Copper from the wires. All electronic equipments contain printed circuit boards which Sardinia 2007, Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium are hazardous because of their content of lead (in solder), brominated flame retardants (typically 5-10 % by weight) and antimony oxide, which is also present as a flame retardant (typically 1-2% by weight) (Devi et al, 2004). Landfilling of e wastes can lead to the leaching of lead into the ground water. If the CRT is crushed and burned, it emits toxic fumes into the air (Ramachandra and Saira, 2004).

These products contain several rechargeable battery types, all of which contain toxic substances that can contaminate the environment when burned in incinerators or disposed of in landfills. The cadmium from one mobile phone battery is enough to pollute 600 m3of water (Trick, 2002). The quantity of cadmium in landfill sites is significant, and considerable toxic contamination is caused by the inevitable medium and long-term effects of cadmium leaking into the surrounding soil (Envocare, 2001). Because plastics are highly flammable, the printed wiring board and housings of electronic products contain brominated flame retardants, a number of which are clearly damaging to human health and the environment. Impacts of informal recycling the accrued electronic and electric waste in India is dismantled and sorted manually to fractions such as printed wiring boards, cathode ray tubes (CRT), cables, plastics, metals, condensers and other, nowadays invaluable materials like batteries. It is a livelihood for unorganized recyclers and due to lack of awareness, they are risking their health and the environment as well. The valuable fractions are processed to directly reusable components and to secondary raw materials in a variety of refining and conditioning processes. No sophisticated machinery or personal protective equipment is used for the extraction of different materials. All the work is done by bare hands and only with the help of hammers and screwdrivers. Children and women are routinely involved in the operations. Waste components which does not have any resale or reuse value are openly burnt or disposed off in open dumps. Pollution problems associated with such backyard smelting using crude processes are resulting in fugitive emissions and slag containing heavy metals of health concern. CRT breaking operations result in injuries from cuts and acids used for removal of heavy metals and respiratory problems due to shredding, burning etc. They use strong acids to retrieve precious metals such as gold. Working in poorly ventilated enclosed areas without masks and technical expertise results in exposure to dangerous and slow poisoning chemicals. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in older capacitors and transformers; and brominated flame retardants on printed circuit boards, plastic casings, cables and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cable insulation can release highly toxic dioxins and furans when burned to retrieve copper from the wires.

Effects Of E-Waste Constituent On Health

Health Risks

Recycling of waste carries health risks if proper precautions are not taken. Workers working with waste containing chemical and metals may experience exposure to toxic substances and have sever health issues at the range of physical disorders, disabilities etc. Toxic exposure even sometimes may become fatal. Therefore, disposal of healthcare wastes and toxic metal wastes require special attention in order to avoid major health hazards.

Source of e-wastes

Constituent

Health effects

Solder in printed circuit boards, glass panels and gaskets in computer monitors

Lead (PB)

•Damage to central and peripheral nervous systems, blood systems and kidney damage.

•Affects brain development of children.

Relays and switches, printed circuit boards

Mercury (Hg)

•Chronic damage to the brain.

•Respiratory and skin disorders due to bioaccumulation in fishes.

Chip resistors and semiconductors

Cadmium (CD)

•Toxic irreversible effects on human health.

•Accumulates in kidney and liver.

•Causes neural damage.

Corrosion protection of untreated and galvanized steel plates, hardener for steel housings

Hexavalent chromium (Cr) VI

•Asthmatic bronchitis.

•DNA damage.

Cabling and computer housing

Plastics including PVC

•Reproductive and developmental problems.

•Immune system damage.

•Interfere with regulatory hormones

Impacts Of e-Waste On The Environment

Impact on air

One of the most common effect of E-waste on air is through air pollution. For example, a British documentary about Lagos and its inhabitants, called Welcome to Lagos, shows a number of landfill scavengers who go through numerous landfills in Lagos looking for improperly disposed electronics which includes wires, blenders, etc., to make some income from the recycling of these wastes. These men were shown to burn wires to get the copper (a very valuable commodity) in them by open air burning which can release hydrocarbons into the air.

Impact on water-

When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead, barium, mercury, lithium (found in mobile phone and computer batteries), etc., are improperly disposed, these heavy metals leach through the soil to reach groundwater channels which eventually run to the surface as streams or small ponds of water. Local communities often depend on these bodies of water and the groundwater. Apart from these chemicals resulting in the death of some of the plants and animals that exist in the water, intake of the contaminated water by humans and land animals results in lead poisoning. Some of these heavy metals are also carcinogenic.

Impact on soil-

Burning of e-waste on an open landfill for obtaining gold and other precious metals produce fine particulate matter from the smoke produced and cause cardio-vascular and pulmonary ailments for children in that specific area.The wind pattern of a particular area carry toxic particles and they enter the soil-crop-food pathway affecting both humans and animals as they enter the food chain.The mother boards have abnormal level of mercury and

improper disposal may cause skin and respiratory diseases.Drinking water contaminated with lead affects the central and nervous system and causes poor brain growth, dwarfism, hearing disability and impaired formation and function of blood cells. Toxic heavy metals and chemicals from e-waste enter the “soil-crop-food pathway,” one of the most significant routes for heavy metals’ exposure to humans. These chemicals are not biodegradable—they persist in the environment for long periods of time, increasing the risk of exposure.These dangers posed by improper disposal on the environment ultimately have impacts on human beings -human cost; the health effects of these toxins on humans include birth defects (irreversible), brain, heart, liver, kidney and skeletal system damage. They also significantly affect the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body. When computer monitors and other electronics are burned, they create cancer-producing dioxins which are released into the air we breathe. If electronics are thrown in landfills, these toxins may leach into groundwater and affect local resources. Thus improper disposal of e-waste not only has effects on the environment, it indirectly and ultimately poses grave dangers to humans and livestock.

Waste Management Strategies

The best option for dealing with E wastes is to reduce the volume. Designers should ensure that the product is built for re-use, repair and/or upgradeability. Stress should be laid on use of less toxic, easily recoverable and recyclable materials which can be taken back for refurbishment, remanufacturing, disassembly and reuse. Recycling and reuse of material are the next level of potential options to reduce e-waste (Ramachandra and Saira, 2004). Recovery of metals, plastic, glass and other materials reduces the magnitude of e-waste. These options have a potential to conserve the energy and keep the environment free of toxic material that would otherwise have been released. The Policy shall address all issues ranging from production and trade to final disposal, including technology transfers for the recycling of electronic waste. Clear regulatory instruments, adequate to control both legal and illegal exports and imports of ewastes and ensuring their environmentally sound management should be in place. There is also a need to address the loop holes in the prevailing legal frame work to ensure that e – wastes from developed countries are not reaching the country for disposal. The Port and the Custom authorities need to monitor these aspects. The regulations should prohibit the disposal of e-wastes in municipal landfills and encourage owners and generators of e-wastes to properly recycle the wastes. Manufactures of products must be made financially, physically and legally responsible for their products. Policies Sardinia 2007, Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium and regulations that cover Design for Environment and better management of restricted substances may be implemented through measures.All vendors of electronic devices shall provide take-back and management services for their products at the end of life of those products. The old electronic product should then be sent back to be carefully dismantled for its parts to be either recycled or re-used, either in a separate recycling division at the manufacturing unit or in a common facility. Collection systems are to be established so that e-waste is collected from the right places ensuring that this directly comes to the recycling unit. Collection can be accomplished through collection centers. Each electronic equipment manufacturer shall work cooperatively with collection centers to ensure implementation of a practical and feasible financing system. Collection Centers may only ship wastes to dismantlers and recyclers that are having authorization for handling, processing, refurbishment, and recycling meeting environmentally sound management guidelines.Many discarded machines contain usable parts which could be salvaged and combined with other used equipment to create a working unit. It is labor intensive to remove, inspect and test components and then reassemble them into complete working machines. Institutional infrastructures, including e-waste collection, transportation, treatment, storage, recovery and disposal, need to be established, at national and/or regional levels for the environmentally sound management of e-wastes. These facilities should be approved by the regulatory authorities and if required provided with appropriate incentives. Establishment of e-waste collection, exchange and recycling centers should be encouraged in partnership with governments, NGOs and manufacturers.

Proposed Solution To e-Waste

Recycling

To handle the above mentioned issues related to excessive use of electronics equipment and their effect on the environment, environmental scientists emphasize on 3R (reduce, recycle and reuse) process as an alternative to the present e-waste management practice. For a developing society like ours, reduced use of electronics equipment being not a feasible option, we, therefore, have to emphasize on reuse and recycling processes. Besides this, different companies nowadays are looking for other eco-friendly alternatives for industrialization and sustainable development. We feel that, an integrated approach with scientific techniques can minimize the e-waste generation at the base level. Segregation of toxic substances at the root level with systematic planning can eliminate the pollution load and develop a green society. Used or unwanted electronic equipment should be discarded in a convenient and environmentally responsible manner. Computers have toxin metals and pollutants that can emit harmful emissions into the environment. Computers should never be discarded in a landfill. Computers should be recycled through manufacturer programs such as HP's Planet Partners recycling service or recycling facilities in the community. Still-working computers may be donated to non-profit agencies. The recycling methods adopted in India include open burning of circuit boards or using acid stripes which are potentially harmful. The IP chips are reused. The parts that cannot be used are sent for open dumping to extract metals like copper. PVC-coated cables are openly burnt. Nitric acid is also used to remove Gold and Platinum. Both open burning and acid baths lead to occupational exposure to pollutants and endanger the health of nearby communities. This has been linked with various health problems like Silicosis, Respiratory irritation and pulmonary oedema.

Source Of Secondary Raw Materials

If handled properly, electronic waste can be a valuable source of secondary raw materials. The impact of recent legislation such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) and the "restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment" directive (RoHS), and of current and future methods for treatment, recycling and disposal of this waste would ultimately lead to a green development and eco-friendly society. At present the main emphasis given in e-equipments designing is they are energy efficient and consume less power but time has come when the manufacturers have to give due importance on developing safe electronics equipment making use of biodegradable, less toxic and eco-friendly raw materials. The work habits of computer users and businesses can be modified to minimize their adverse impact on the global environment. Minor changes in our work habits can contribute in a larger way to the environment safety. Listed below are some small but effective steps which can be followed to make computing greener:

Printing only what is really needed.

Using recycled content paper whenever possible.

Printing on both sides of the paper.

Using recycled and used ink and toner cartridges how far it is possible.

Going for good quality efficient energy saving equipment with higher star levels.

Keeping the systems switched off when not in use instead of leaving them in standby mode as even in the standby mode, computers consumes around 10 watts of power.

Going for new equipments only when they are required but not just because a new model is available in the market.

Purchasing small systems with minimum attachments and peripherals.

Unplugging peripherals such as printer, audio system, scanner, modem etc if these are not in use.

Charging the UPS battery optimally instead of keeping it switched on for the whole day.

Green Computing

Green computing can be defined as the efficient use of computing resources. It is the name attached to the movement which represents an environmentally responsible way of computing through reduced power consumption. It is also associated with the proper use of computing resources and plays a prime role in minimizing their hazardous impact on environment. Two major issues associated with green computing are: reduction in energy consumption and pollution control. While the former can be achieved by proper use of electronic good and through development of energy efficient and less power consuming hardware, the later can be achieved through their reduced use, proper recycling policies and use of less toxic substances in manufacturing the equipment. Maximizing economic viability and ensuring sustainability are among the other aspects of green computing. Out of these above stated aspects of green computing, in this paper, we are focusing on issues related to waste management and recycling.

Eco Friendly Approach

The best practices and policies of green computing cover smart power usage, reduction of paper consumption, recommendation of new environment friendly equipments and safe recycling of old machines. In Europe, government agencies have set up a number of environmental regulations addressing waste management, recycling, disposal of certain types of waste, industrial emissions and pollution control. Electronics giants are about to come up with eco-friendly range of computers (like desktops and laptops) that aim at reducing the e-waste in the environment. Efforts are made to ensure that, besides desktops and laptops, other electronic hardware products also strictly adhere to the restricted use of hazardous substances. They are likely to be free of hazardous materials such as brominated flame-retardants, PVCs and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury, which are commonly used in computer manufacturing. The biggest single challenge before the electronics industries in the use of green materials in computer is reliability. Lead-tin solder use of today is very malleable making it an ideal shock absorber. So far, more brittle replacement solders have yet to show the

same reliability in real-world applications. Replacements like the front-runner, a tin/copper/silver alloy, also require higher melting temperatures, which can affect chip life. Here's how designers plan to make future computer more eco-friendly across its entire life span, from manufacture to recycling:

Energy-intensive manufacturing of computer parts can be minimized by making manufacturing process more energy efficient

By replacing petroleum-filled plastic with bio-plastics—plant-based

polymers— which require less oil and energy to produce in comparison to traditional plastics with a challenge to keep these bio-plastic computers cool so that electronics won't melt them.

Landfills can be controlled by making best use of the device, by upgrading and repairing in time. Making up-gradation and repairing processes easier and cheaper and by avoiding the discarding will not only control e-waste

out of dumps but also save energy and materials needed for a designing and producing a whole new computer.

High power consuming display devices can be replaced with green light

displays made of OLEDs, or organic light-emitting diodes etc.

Use of toxic materials like lead can be replaced by silver and copper that makes recycling expensive and time consuming. The process can be made more effective by recycling computer parts separately with an option of reuse or resale.

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Theory of innovation

Innovation research has emanated from many academic disciplines, and researchers therefore tend to conceptualize innovation in different ways (Read, 2000). In a broad perspective, innovation can be understood as a process of creating or modifying an idea, and develop and implement it in an organization (Zhuang, 1995; Nohria and Gulati, 1996).The output of this process can not only be new products or services but also new business models, strategies, organizational processes or management practices (Birkinshaw et al., 2011). Such innovative outcomes are often results of recombinations of existing resources and elements of knowledge (Yang et al., 2010; Hargadon, 2002; Fleming, 2001) or reconfigurations of ways in which knowledge elements are linked (Henderson and Clark, 1990), and common for all innovation processes is thus the fundamental role of knowledge access and utilization (Gressgård, 2011). In recent years, there has been a strong focus on how firms can learn from knowledge and resources outside their organizational boundaries (Lane et al., 2006), and innovation is increasingly understood as a result of the exchange of knowledge between different actors (Caloghirou et al., 2004; Hargadon, 2003; Powell, 1998). Access to various knowledge sources is, in other words, an important aspect of organizations’ innovation capabilities (Hagedoorn and Duysters, 2002; Cohen and Levinthal, 1989), and further represents a basic premise for open innovation processes (Chesbrough, 2003). Powell et al. (1996) assert in this respect that the locus of innovation has moved from the internal processes in a company to the networks, or ecosystems, in which the company is embedded. Abilities to access and utilize knowledge from external sources are also fundamental to the concept of absorptive capacity, which originally was defined as the “ability to identify, assimilate and exploit knowledge from the environment” (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989, p. 589). Many researchers have used and enhanced the concept since its introduction, and a significant contribution has been made by Zahra and George (2002, p. 186), who define absorptive capacity as “a set of organizational routines and processes by which firms acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capability”. These authors make a distinction between potential and realized absorptive capacity, and argue that organizations can acquire and assimilate knowledge (potential absorptive capacity) but might lack the ability to transform and exploit the knowledge in ways that increase profit (realized absorptive capacity). However, this reconceptualization has received criticism for leaving out important elements from the original model (Volberda et al., 2010), and Todorova and Durisin (2007) suggest to return to the traditional conceptualization by Cohen and Levinthal (1989). Despite their differences, the various conceptualizations understand absorptive capacity as a capability to address and handle changing environments, and underscore that knowledge input/access and internal processing of knowledge are fundamental (and reciprocal) elements necessary to achieve successful recombinations of existing resources and knowledge. In this respect, Vanhaverbeke et al. (2008) focus on the need to improve organizations’ absorptive capacity to increase their innovation capabilities. The growing amount of literature on open innovation has thrown light on how companies can establish structures and processes to benefit from external sources of knowledge and technology (Chesbrough, 2003; Chesbrough and Crowther, 2006; Christensen et al., 2005; Chesbrough, 2006). The strong focus on external knowledge sources, however, does not mean that the importance of internal knowledge in organizations is reduced. Quite contrary, valuable knowledge is not concentrated but may be distributed across different types of internal and external sources (Robertson et al., 2012; Robertson and Smith, 2008), and can be developed by employees working in the same organizational unit, or transferred from other units or external sources (Sammarra and Biggiero, 2008; Howells, 2006; Schmidt, 2010). Several authors have, in this respect, underlined the critical role of combining internal and external knowledge in innovation processes (Lichtenthaler and Lichtenthaler, 2009; Andersen and Drejer, 2008; Hargadon and Sutton, 1997; von Hippel, 1988). In particular, successful exploitation of knowledge residing outside existing organizational structures requires internal processes that facilitate dissemination and transmission of knowledge in the organization (Foss et al., 2011), as well as translation or conversion of external knowledge into innovative outcomes (Whelan et al., 2013). Moreover, knowledge accessed from external sources must often be augmented by additional internal knowledge and other types of resources for it to be valuable to the adopting organization (Zollo and Winter, 2002; Robertson et al., 2012; Morone and Taylor, 2010). Efficient generation and management of internal knowledge can thus be seen as a prerequisite for succeeding with open innovation strategies (Aasen et al., 2012; Kelley, 2010; Lindegaard, 2010; Van De Vrande et al., 2009). Despite this, innovation research has been less occupied with knowledge utilization processes compared to knowledge acquisition and retention (Robertson et al., 2012). According to Volberda et al. (2010), even though early definitions of absorptive capacity encompass the process of knowledge exploitation (Cohen and Levinthal, 1989, 1990, 1994), this particular aspect has received less attention compared to other elements of the concept in follow-up research. On the basis of this acknowledgement, it can be argued that increased focus on the innovation potential that external resources and knowledge represent should be followed by increased focus on internal knowledge management processes and capabilities. EDI is therefore fundamental, and should, in this context, not be understood as the work of a few specialized employees working in innovation departments, but rather as a continuous process that harnesses the skills and imagination of employees at all levels in the organization (Birkinshaw et al., 2011). This requires that attention is directed at the potential for innovation that resides in employees and leaders in organizations, including introduction of systematic approaches to general involvement of employees in innovation (Smith et al., 2008; Hallgren, 2008; Tidd and Bessant, 2009; Høyrup, 2010).