Bangladesh Sits on a Mountain of E-Waste: The Law Exists, Implementation Does Not

Smartphones, computers, laptops, televisions and refrigerators — when these essential products of modern life reach the end of their use or break down, managing them safely has become a major environmental challenge. The waste created by old and unusable electrical and electronic equipment is electronic waste, or e-waste.

E-waste contains valuable materials such as copper, iron, aluminium and gold, but some products also contain harmful substances including lead, mercury and cadmium. When old equipment is broken, burned or recycled in unsafe ways, these harmful elements can spread into soil, water and air.

Alongside disturbing the balance of the environment, this puts the health of workers engaged in waste collection and processing at risk. According to the World Health Organization, pollution from unsafe e-waste processing can create serious risks especially for children and pregnant women.

Yet e-waste should not be seen only as rubbish: with the right technology and processes, valuable metals, plastic and other materials can be recovered from it. Effective management can therefore contribute to environmental protection as well as new employment, reduced import dependence and efficient use of resources.

The global picture is worrying too. According to 'The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024', published jointly by the UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UN Institute for Training and Research, about 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated worldwide in 2022. Only 22.3 percent of it was documented as formally collected and recycled in an environmentally sound way.

The same report forecasts that if current trends continue, global e-waste could reach 82 million tonnes in 2030. In Bangladesh, too, the use of electronic products is growing fast, but collection, separation, recycling and safe disposal at the end of their life cycle are still inadequate.

Bangladesh does have a legal framework — the Hazardous Waste (E-Waste) Management Rules published on 10 June 2021. They set out the responsibilities of the parties involved, collection, processing and an environmentally sound management structure, and include the concept of extended producer responsibility. But despite the rules, effective implementation remains a major challenge.

A 2025 research report by Transparency International Bangladesh says there is no reliable national data on the country's actual e-waste generation and recycling. Citing a 2017 survey conducted through BUET for the Department of Environment, the report notes that an estimated 13.3 million kilograms of e-waste were generated in the country per year, about 3 percent was reprocessed and exported, and 97 percent of collection depended on the informal sector.

In practice, a portion of old mobile phones, computers, televisions, batteries and household appliances is sold for recycling through informal waste collectors and scrap traders. Some materials can be recovered this way, but in many cases it is difficult to ensure environmental and worker safety. Adequate waste supply, investment and institutional support for authorised recyclers are also essential.

Global experience can point the way here. Under the European Union's directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment, member states must arrange separate collection, proper processing and recycling of e-waste; producers and importers must also take financial or organisational responsibility for managing the products they market, and the European Commission regularly monitors progress.

In many countries such as Japan, responsibility for collecting old electronic products is shared among producers, importers and sellers — buyers can return an old product of the same kind when purchasing a new one. In South Korea, producers have set collection and recycling targets; failing to meet them brings a fine higher than the cost of recycling itself. India, too, has updated its producer responsibility rules and is trying to bring the informal sector into the formal system through training.

Several initiatives have been identified as priorities for Bangladesh — strengthening implementation of the rules so that the responsibilities of producers, importers, sellers, collectors and recyclers are clearly enforced; building collection centres nationwide at city corporations, municipalities, universities, shopping centres and electronics shops; and making extended producer responsibility effective in a real sense.

Alongside that, emphasis has been placed on building a safe recycling industry, bringing informal collectors and small traders into the management system with training, safety equipment and links to authorised centres, and increasing public awareness and research. Building the habit of depositing old phones, computers or batteries at authorised collection centres instead of throwing them in with ordinary waste could be the start of that change.