DRIVERS, BARRIERS, AND OPPORTUNITIES ON E-WASTE MANAGEMENT; WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

The rapid growth of technology and economic activities in both developed and developing countries of the world contribute to the generation of electrical and electronic waste or e-waste. The growth of e-waste creates a new environmental problem called e-waste management. So e-waste management has become a major problem for many countries, particularly in developing countries like Sri Lanka. Because e-waste management is affected by many factors. The purpose of this study is to determine the drivers, barriers, and opportunities to the adaptation of e-waste management in Sri Lanka. The researcher chose a positivist, deductive quantitative study where the researcher evaluates drivers, barriers, and opportunities to the adaptation of e-waste management in the Western province from the perceptive of 254 electronic equipment consumers. The convenience sampling technique was used to collect primary data through an online survey. The primary data were analyzed using statistical software and the factors were ranked using the relative importance index. According to the study’s findings, the study identified that three were high important drivers of the adaptation of e-waste management. The potential market for recycling products, efficient waste management institutions, and human behavior and behavioral changes were identified as the main drivers of the adoption of e-waste management. In addition, the study identified lack of rules and regulations on electronic equipment users, lack of funds and investment in e-waste management, and lack of industrial knowledge on e-waste management were high important barriers to the adaption of e waste management in Sri Lanka. Energy savings from recovery material, new business opportunities, and economic value of recovery material were identified as opportunities for e-waste management. So as per the finding, the researcher suggests that education on e-waste management and e-waste guidelines and policy should be improved, and it is needed to implement an e-waste database. Further, this study, focused to get the attention of policymakers and waste planners to be taken their consideration the identified drivers, barriers, and opportunities when ensuring the proper e-waste management system in Sri Lanka