E-waste has been categorized into three main categories:

1. Large Household Appliances
2. IT and Telecom
3. Consumer Equipment

Refrigerator and Washing Machine represent large household appliances, Personal Computer, Monitor and Laptop represent IT and Telecom, while Television represents Consumer Equipment. Each of these E-waste items has been classified with respect to twenty six common components, which could be found in them.

These components form the “Building Blocks” of each item and therefore they are readily “identifiable” and “removable”. These components are metal, motor/ compressor, cooling, plastic, insulation, glass, LCD, rubber, wiring/ electrical, concrete, transformer, magnetron, textile, circuit board, fluorescent lamp, incandescent lamp, heating element, thermostat, BFR-containing plastic, batteries, CFC/HCFC/HFC/HC, external electric cables, refractory ceramic fibers, radio active substances and electrolyte capacitors (over L/D 25 mm). The kinds of components, which are found in Refrigerator, Washing Machine, Personal Computers (PC) and TVs, are described in Table 1.

Table 1: Components in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) by Category

Key:
* Present as a component
ο Possible presence as a component

The observations from the analysis of table are:

1. Radioactive substances, refractory ceramic fibers, electrolyte capacitors (over L/D 25 mm), textile and magnetron are not present in any item
2. Plastic, circuit board and external electric cables are present in majority of items. BFR containing plastic is present in refrigerator, laptop and television
3. Refrigerators are unique items because of presence of CFC/HCFC/HFC/HC, cooling, insulation, incandescent lamp and compressor
4. Heating element is found in washing machine, while thermostat is found in both refrigerator and washing machine
5. Fluorescent lamp is found only in laptop
6. Metal and motor are found in majority of items except refrigerator
7. Transformer is not found in washing machine and refrigerator
8. CRT is found in personal computer and TV, while LCD is found in PC and TV
9. Batteries are found in PC and laptop
10. Concrete is found in washing machine
11. Rubber is found in refrigerator and washing machine
12. Wiring/ Electrical is found in all the items

Large household appliance (refrigerator) may consist of electric motor, a circuit board, a transformer, capacitor, thermal insulation, switches, wiring, plastic casing that contains flame retardants etc. A typical washing machine may consist of the metal casing, concrete ballast, inner and outer drums, a motor, a pump, washing cycle controller unit, switches and other components. The latest trends in these appliances is the phase out of the use of ODS and improvement of energy efficiency. Old washing machines are likely to contain large capacitors, while in relatively new machines, variable speed motors are controlled from the circuit board. IT and Telecom equipments sector is observing a trend of “micro miniaturization”, while CRTs are being replaced by LCD screens.

The table above indicates that the range of different items found in E-waste is diverse; classifying it as a waste of complex nature. However, it shows that E-waste from these items can be dismantled into relatively small number of common components for further treatments. The composition and hazard content of each of these components is being described in following section to establish the overall hazardousness of each item of E-waste.

Source:

Central Pollution Control Board