Xue Mianqiang, Xu Zhenming
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China.
Environ Manage. 2017 Apr;59(4):693-707. doi: 10.1007/s00267-016-0812-1. Epub 2016 Dec 31.
Electronic waste is a rich source of both valuable materials and toxic substances. Management of electronic waste is one of the biggest challenges of current worldwide concern. As an effective and prevailing environmental management tool, life cycle assessment can evaluate the environmental performance of electronic waste management activities. Quite a few scientific literatures reporting life cycle assessment of electronic waste management with significant outcomes have been recently published. This paper reviewed the trends, characteristics, research gaps, and challenges of these studies providing detailed information for practitioners involved in electronic waste management. The results showed that life cycle assessment studies were most carried out in Europe, followed by Asia and North America. The research subject of the studies mainly includes monitors, waste printed circuit boards, mobile phones, computers, printers, batteries, toys, dishwashers, and light-emitting diodes. CML was the most widely used life cycle impact assessment method in life cycle assessment studies on electronic waste management, followed by EI99. Furthermore, 40% of the reviewed studies combined with other environmental tools, including life cycle cost, material flow analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, emergy analysis, and hazard assessment which came to more comprehensive conclusions from different aspects. The research gaps and challenges including uneven distribution of life cycle assessment studies, life cycle impact assessment methods selection, comparison of the results, and uncertainty of the life cycle assessment studies were examined. Although life cycle assessment of electronic waste management facing challenges, their results will play more and more important role in electronic waste management practices.
电子废物是宝贵材料和有毒物质的丰富来源。电子废物管理是当前全球关注的最大挑战之一。作为一种有效且流行的环境管理工具，生命周期评估可以评估电子废物管理活动的环境绩效。最近已经发表了不少报道电子废物管理生命周期评估且成果显著的科学文献。本文回顾了这些研究的趋势、特点、研究差距和挑战，为参与电子废物管理的从业者提供详细信息。结果表明，生命周期评估研究大多在欧洲开展，其次是亚洲和北美。这些研究的主题主要包括显示器、废弃印刷电路板、手机、电脑、打印机、电池、玩具、洗碗机和发光二极管。CML是电子废物管理生命周期评估研究中使用最广泛的生命周期影响评估方法，其次是EI99。此外，40%的综述研究与其他环境工具相结合，包括生命周期成本、物质流分析、多标准决策分析、能值分析和危害评估，从不同方面得出更全面的结论。研究差距和挑战包括生命周期评估研究分布不均、生命周期影响评估方法选择、结果比较以及生命周期评估研究的不确定性。尽管电子废物管理的生命周期评估面临挑战，但其结果将在电子废物管理实践中发挥越来越重要的作用。
