E-cloud: A solution towards E-waste management for educational institutions

Abstract

In the era of rapidly advancing frontiers of science and technical innovations over the recent years, the generations of electronic items have remarkably increased. Due to the globalization and the upgradations, electronic waste (e-waste) is growing at a compound annual growth rate of about 30% in the country. The issue has raised an alarming situation in the form of several health and environmental hazards like land, water and air pollution, depletion of non-renewable resources and loss of precious elements. Increasing levels of CO2 emissions in the environment has severely affected the geographic conditions as well. The proposed work includes an e-waste survey carried out under the auspices of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi to gather information for spreading awareness about e-waste generation and its disposal. The present study on e-waste disposal and recycling includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches, along with a series of compiled results. The findings in the survey regarding the health hazards, environmental impacts, and existing disposal practices would be helpful not only to the country but will also be beneficial at the global level. To get an insight regarding the issue, a pilot survey was conducted prior to launching the final one. The variations in the responses of the pilot survey and suggestions by the corresponding respondents were of immense help in creating an improved version of the final survey. Based on the survey analysis, the authors have further proposed a cloud based model for the educational organizations for e-waste reduction for the effective and efficient utilization of resources. The proposed solution would be a mile stone in contribution towards the reduction of carbon footprint and e-waste generation at the global level.