The integration of formal and informal channels to manage e-waste

Roles and responsibilities could be distributed among the formal and informal sectors according to their strengths and expertise to manage e-waste best. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

E-waste formalisation is a primary requirement for sustainable e-waste management. However, the formal channel in Bangladesh is not yet well-equipped to perform such functions. 

The informal channels mitigate the capacity limitations of the formal channel; but such value additions by the informal channel are realised at the cost of economic, social, health, and environmental impacts. 

Against the backdrop of such a dilemmatic context, all-inclusive planning on integrating informal and formal channels should be the starting point towards the formalisation of e-waste management in Bangladesh. 

This article suggests possible loops of integration between formal and informal channels of e-waste management in Bangladesh by shedding light on the existing redundant and non-coordinated e-waste management functions.
  
Informal ties and dependence exist between the formal and informal sectors, where each stakeholder is involved in all types of e-waste management functions, including collection, reuse, dismantling, recycling, and disposal. 

No role has clearly been defined yet. The categorised management of hazardous and non-hazardous e-waste has also not been ensured until today. 

Although the formal sector categorically manages hazardous e-waste, their limited treatment capacity leads them to discard or dispose of the rest of the non-treated e-waste in the informal sector. Therefore, e-waste and its residuals, both hazardous and non-hazardous, are always moving in a never-ending vicious circle.
 
The functions performed by both sectors need to be coordinated by defining their roles, the material flow throughout the channel, the reprocessing and recycling responsibilities, and final disposal management. 

The idea of coordination should not be based on demeaning the informal sector's contribution or making the sector's problem invisible but rather on taking the approach of synergistic interaction, which may lessen the divide between formal and informal channels' operations.
 
Building on the idea of coordination, roles and responsibilities could be distributed among the formal and informal sectors according to their strengths and expertise. 
The collection of discarded e-waste from households and industries (who are not disposing of it properly) could be the sole responsibility of the informal channel.

 
It is also true that the collection chain of the informal channel is highly decentralised, where e-waste is exchanged among multiparty parties in different layers for different purposes (e.g, reuse, refurbishment, recycling, trading), and no segregation among hazardous and non-hazardous e-waste is done in any of these different layers. 

This implies that a mere separation of collection tasks by the informal channel would not be adequate to minimise the negative environmental impacts.
 
One can argue that municipalities can coordinate the segregation task by integrating e-waste management tasks with their existing solid waste management systems. 
However, as mentioned in the previous articles of this series, the municipalities of Bangladesh are struggling badly to manage their solid waste due to a lack of capacity, required resources, and coordination. 

Moreover, households, as one of the prime originators of e-waste, consider their cast-off as valuable and prefer to trade it for monetary gain, thereby hardly disposing of large amounts of e-waste with solid waste.
 
Against such a background, the formation of cooperatives of informal e-waste collectors (an approach suggested by the ILO to manage informal workers) could be an alternative to ensure categorised e-waste collection in a collaborative form. 

A cooperative organisation of ferriwala, gariwala, and vangari can provide the actors in this value chain with a better monetary return by reducing the numerous multiparty handovers of e-waste. 

The elimination of different layers of collectors by cooperatives may not only provide the opportunity to categorise e-waste as per its extent of hazardousness in centralised locations but also may ensure an increased amount of e-waste collection. 

For example, manual dismantling of CRT is profitable to the informal sector, but the process is not environmentally sound. Thus, if the collected valuables, like CRT, can be sold for a better monetary return than manual dismantling, the collectors may be encouraged to return them to the collection centres of cooperatives. 

In this way, the negative environmental impact can be minimised as the parallel collection and treatment-related activities of the informal channel will no longer take place.
 
The root of the problems related to informality lies not only in the boundaries of collection responsibilities but also in how the informal sector treats e-waste. 

Formalisation of the e-waste sector by minimising the environmental problem is possible if the informal sector's unscientific method of dismantling and disposal can be terminated.
 
One can disagree with this idea of removing the unauthorised recyclers on the grounds of their economic survivalism. The proposed centralised system of collection may provide them with increased potential income. 

Still, the collectors of the informal sector are used to earn money not only from the collection but also from pre-processing, dismantling, and even to some extent, recycling. 

Keeping that social repercussion in mind, it can be argued that the pre-processing jobs (done before mechanical dismantling or recycling), which are obviously free from hazards and where the informal sector is efficient, can be assigned to the informal dismantlers.
 
The dismantlers' earning gap originating from the proposed elimination can be minimised, or even the income can be substantially increased due to the specialisation and larger scale-based operation that the informal channel actors would be able to enjoy in the proposed mode.
 
Households in Bangladesh are responding positively to producers' and manufacturers' take-back programmes. Thus, the formal collection process by producers and manufacturers can continue the argument that integrated multi-channel systems can be useful to promote an all-inclusive supply of e-waste from its generators towards recycling. 

Bangladesh's proposed 'E-waste Management Rules, 2019' also attest to such collection by including the EPR (e.g, extended producers' responsibilities) in the law.
 
As discussed in our previous articles, the formal channel of collection suffers from complex and bureaucratic legal requirements to collect industry-discarded e-waste. 

Collaborative approach-led large-scale supply of e-waste and value addition in the form of pre-processing by the informal channel thus can equip the formal sector to employ all their resources only on the scaling of recycling functions.
 
The resulting improved economic gain can motivate the formal sector to further invest in infrastructure and technology. Recycling efforts on bulk volume and subsequent increased recovery can ensure an adequate local supply of secondary raw materials, thereby helping to strengthen the domestic backward supply chain for producers and manufacturers. 

However, this proposed integration effort by segregating the tasks of collection and treatment between the informal and formal sectors, respectively, can only be realised through investment, support measures, and interventions by the government.
 
As the formal sector in Bangladesh is not yet ready to recycle e-waste on a large scale, a gradual shift of recycling functions from informal to formal may be the only viable option for e-waste formalisation. 

During this transition, an effort should be made by the government, NGOs, and other stakeholders to train the informal workforce so that they develop the skills required to work in the formal recycling sector at a later time. 

The government of Bangladesh should also plan to establish centralised recycling plants like those in neighbouring countries that are eco-friendly, capable of maximum value extraction, and reduce pollution and landfill waste. 

In the future, these recycling plants can be supported by the informal workforce, which is expected to be trained during the transition of treatment functions from informal to formal. The government also needs to ensure the establishment of a formal incineration process and landfilling for final disposal.
 
'E-waste Management Rules, 2019' is proposed to be applied to every stakeholder related to e-waste in Bangladesh. However, guiding, abusing, or forcing the informal sector only on the basis of law enforcement may not be effective in the context of Bangladesh. 

While planning or implementing the proposed rules, it shouldn't be ignored that the informal sector is driven directly by income and not by social benefits. 

Thus, measures of integration need to be taken by the government in a form that motivates the informal sector to be a part of the formalisation rather than feel alienated and resist it.
 
Withdrawal of the informal sector from treatment functions and confining their role to collection in a centralised form can not only reduce the negative impact on the environment but also reduce the number of informal trades to second-hand markets at home and abroad. 

This can reduce the possibility of importing low-quality refurbished products from abroad, which are produced or refurbished with second-hand parts and components supplied by the informal sector. 

Lack of refurbished product supply and subsequent increased demand for quality products from home and abroad can lengthen the life span of the EEE, and more value can be extracted when the EEE reaches its end of life. 

To a certain extent, it could be argued that the integration between the formal and informal sectors can help to break the vicious circle of e-waste management in Bangladesh.

Nasrin Akter is a professor at the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka.

Professor Muhammad Ismail Hossain is working as the Dean of Academic Affairs, Monash and UoL-LSE programmes at Universal College Bangladesh.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.