Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida , Gainesville , FL , USA.
Hazardous Substance Management Bureau, Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment , Bangkok , Thailand.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2019 Sep;69(9):1116-1121. doi: 10.1080/10962247.2019.1640807.
Discarded electronic devices (E-waste) have historically been found to exceed US Toxicity Characteristic hazardous waste thresholds for lead. Research was conducted to assess whether global and national lead reduction initiatives in the past decade translate to reduced toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) lead leaching from E-waste. Nine categories of devices were subjected to TCLP and in all devices except one (smoke detectors), mean TCLP lead concentration results decreased by an order of magnitude or more (to levels below regulation thresholds). Mean TCLP lead concentrations decreased from 29.1 mg/L (2000-2005) to 0.224 mg/L (2008+) for cell phones and 1.26 mg/L (2000-2005) to 0.060 mg/L (2008+) for PCs. Most recently manufactured electronic devices (of those types tested here) comply with the definition of non-hazardous waste under US regulations. : Discarded electronic devices (E-waste) have often been tested as hazardous waste in the US because of lead leaching. Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) testing on more recently manufactured devices reveals that global lead reduction efforts have resulted in newer devices complying with US non-hazardous waste definitions. While these results highlight the success of lead reduction efforts, they raise policy questions regarding how best to incentivize E-waste recycling going forward.
废弃电子设备（电子垃圾）历来被发现超过美国毒性特征危险废物中铅的阈值。本研究旨在评估过去十年全球和国家的铅减排措施是否转化为减少电子垃圾毒性特征浸出程序（TCLP）中铅的浸出。对九类设备进行了 TCLP 测试，除了一种设备（烟雾探测器）之外，所有设备的 TCLP 铅浓度平均值都降低了一个数量级或更多（降至低于法规阈值的水平）。手机的 TCLP 铅浓度平均值从 2000-2005 年的 29.1mg/L 降至 2008 年及以后的 0.224mg/L，个人电脑的 TCLP 铅浓度平均值从 2000-2005 年的 1.26mg/L 降至 2008 年及以后的 0.060mg/L。最近制造的电子设备（在此测试的那些类型）符合美国法规下的非危险废物定义。：由于铅的浸出，废弃电子设备（电子垃圾）在美国经常被测试为危险废物。对最近制造的设备进行毒性特征浸出程序（TCLP）测试表明，全球的铅减排努力已经使更新的设备符合美国非危险废物的定义。虽然这些结果突出了铅减排措施的成功，但也提出了关于如何最好地激励电子垃圾回收的政策问题。
