2.2. European Union Directive on E-Waste
Consisted in e-waste systems are interdependent components that together manage the stream of e-waste from the disposal point to where the materials are extracted through recycling processes. The process is categorized into three stages, namely: Collection, pre-treatment, treatment, and disposal [
19]. The collection, treatment and disposal are critical elements in the management of e-waste. In most developed countries, there is the existence of framed convention, directives, and laws designed at nurturing the appropriate collection, treatment, and recycling of electronic waste including the safe disposal of non-recyclable components [
20]. These include product stewardship, extended producer responsibility (EPR), advance recycling fund (ARF), and the initiative of the 3Rs: Reduce, reuse, and recycle. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill sites, the European Union promulgated two directives on the management of e-waste.
The first principle places an obligation on the producers of e-goods to take back end-of-life or waste products at no charges through EPR [
21]. The second relates to the polluter pay principle (PPP), which supports the notion that the one responsible for waste has to pay the cost of handling the waste in a proper manner [
22]. Although, the principle of the EPR allows for the manufacturers to delegate the operational end-of-life (EOL) treatment to a third party, thus creating the emergence of a new organization known as the producer responsibility organization (PRO). There is a variation on how the PRO is organized because the national translation of the WEEE directive differs from country to country [
23,
24].
The WEEE directive through the EPR which allows for PRO has been a successful implementation in the management of e-waste in Switzerland [
25]. Whereas, in Italy according to a study by Isernia et al. [
26], the results indicated that at the national level, the Italian organization for the management of WEEE and the related legislation has not been so effective in supporting and achieving the EU WEEE collection targets but the feat was recorded in some geographical areas and provinces which outperform the EU targets. Therefore, based on the results, organizations of the Italian WEEE collection system will play a vital role if guided by more awareness drive [
26]. Nonetheless, in many developing and transition countries, the treatment of e-waste is backyard operations whereby cyanide leaching, open sky incineration, and simple smelters to recover valuable metals with fairly low yields and the rest are discarded with municipal waste at open dumps, regulated and unregulated landfill sites as well as in water bodies [
27], thereby creating adverse environmental and human health effects.
2.3. E-Waste Management in South Africa
There is no specific and exclusive legislation relating to the management of e-waste in South Africa yet, but there are elements in the existing legal framework that regulates directly or indirectly certain aspects of e-waste management in the country [
18]. There are more than a few statutes that can be applied in the handling, treatment and disposal of e-waste in the country. Government policies and legislations that are imperative in regulating aspects of South Africa e-waste include the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, The National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998, Waste Management Act, 2008 (Act No.59 of 2014), Waste Amendment Act, 2008 (Act No. 26 of 2014), Second Hand Goods Act, Allied Policy Regulations, Hazardous Substances Act (Act No 5 of 1973), Health Act (Act No. 63 of 1977), Environment Conservation Act (Act No. 73 of 1989), Occupational Health Safety Act (Act No. 85 of 1993), National Water Act (Act No. 36 of 1998), Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998), Municipal Systems Act (Act No. 32 of 2000), Mineral and Petroleum Resource Development Act (Act No. 28 of 2002), Air Quality Impact Act (Act No. 39 of 2004), SAWIC Waste Policy and Regulations and Waste Management Licences Required—Section 20(b) of NEMWA 59 of 2008. Also, South Africa is a signatory member of the international context and policy of Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), WEEE Directive and the Basel Convention [
18].
Regrettably, there is an increasing accumulation of large quantities of e-waste in several households and offices as the devices become archaic and no longer function optimally, thereby creating storage and problems of disposal [
28,
29]. In urban areas of most African household, there is at least one item of electronic product ranging from cell phone and computer to a relatively large appliance such as televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines. When these electrical equipment are purchased, consumers are rarely provided with information on the handling and properly disposing of the equipment after their lifespan, thus creating ineffective e-waste management [
30]. Often, these wastes are indefinitely stored with a view of disposing of them in the future [
31]. These trends of inappropriate e-waste disposal then pose negative environmental impacts and public health risks in many African and developing countries which are further heightened by the near nonexistence of community waste collection methods and recycling amenities [
32,
33,
34]. Thus, knowledge of e-waste has been raised in several studies towards the effective management of this waste stream [
18,
32,
35,
36,
37]. Among stakeholders and households, the methods of disposing of e-waste are largely a function of knowledge and perception. Accentuated by Wang et al. [
38], “environmental awareness, attitude towards recycling, perception of informal recycling, income and cost of recycling, norms and publicity indirectly affects residents’ behavior and intention towards e-waste recycling by way of intervening variable, whereas, perceptions of informal recycling, norms, and publicity have a positive impact on e-waste.
However, in most developing countries, at household levels, there is a low safety measure and public awareness regarding the applicable management of e-waste. Knowledge and attitude studies on e-waste in countries of the global south revealed that there is a direct relationship between awareness and the willingness to recycle e-waste which is seen as a paramount position for efficient and effective e-waste management [
39,
40,
41]. Also, some developing countries such as India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh have demonstrated ineffective e-waste recycling efforts as a sizeable percentage of their population are to some extent unaware of the cautionary processes needed for handling and disposal of e-waste [
39,
40,
42]. Also pointed out in the literature, most households are willing to pay for an effective e-waste disposal measure [
41,
43].
E-waste is growing three times faster than the rate of solid waste in South Africa [
44]. E-waste accounts for nearly 8% of the total waste and about 2–3% of materials disposed of in the country’s landfill [
18]. It is estimated that each individual in the country generates about 6.2 kg of e-waste, while about 360,000 tons of e-waste is generated annually with only 12% recycled according to the Department of Environmental Affairs [
45]. Contained in the national policy and media circles, e-waste is depicted as offering both threats and opportunities. As a threat, e-waste is expressed as a contamination source to the environment, arising from improper handling and treatment where significant quantities are routinely discarded [
46,
47,
48]. Potentially, a non-negligible amount of toxic substances such as mercury, flame retardants, cadmium, lead, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are enormous in e-waste devices and poses environmental health risk through inhalation of poisonous fumes as well as chemical accumulations in food, water and soil [
49]. Furthermore, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases and illness as well as neurological and respiratory ailments may be aggravated through exposure to hazardous materials emanating from e-waste streams [
49]. Of note, while technology is utilized in the processing of e-waste in the country, it is neither state-of-the-art nor uniform. More advanced processing is done out of the country as most small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) concentrate on early-stage value chain processing [
47].
To a fair extent, the recycling industry in South Africa can be considered as established because the rates of collection for paper and tin-plate steel cans at 52% and 63% respectively is steadily growing [
50]. It has been observed in South Africa that most obsolete electronic devices are typically stored and never reaches the waste stream [
50]. The economic value that could be derived from e-waste is lost due to poor formal collection rate and also creating potential environmental consequences that could lead to illegal processing of e-waste from informal collection. It has been found that most obsolete electronics in South Africa are simply stored and never enter the waste stream [
50]. These poor formal collection rates result in economic value not being derived from e-waste, and also potentially have environmental consequences, including informal collection that can result in the illegal processing of e-waste. Although e-waste studies have been conducted in South Africa [
47,
48,
49,
51], at the household level, there are still limited studies on e-waste streams, hence there is the need for a more all-inclusiveness to help understand the knowledge and perception of e-waste in the country.