Recycling technologies for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in developing countries: A systematic review

Year 2025, Volume: 8 Issue: 3, 755 - 769, 30.09.2025

Darleen Jonathan Toro Sánchez

https://doi.org/10.35208/ert.1510273

Abstract

First-world countries have been applying modern and efficient technologies to recycle their waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). However, this scenario is not the same for developing economies. Therefore, this systematic literature review aimed to identify the main WEEE recycling technologies in developing countries. To formulate the research question, its components, and associated issues, the PICOC (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Context) technique was used. Additionally, a search equation applicable to the Scopus database was formulated, inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined, and the selection and screening phase of sources was represented in the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram, resulting in a final sample of 51 review and original articles. The results showed that global WEEE generation has been increasing in recent decades, with projections following the same trend. Furthermore, these wastes possess a high level of toxicity when improperly managed, as is the case in developing nations (mainly in Asia and Africa), where WEEE recycling technologies are mostly very basic, predominated by manual disassembly, open-air burning, and informal acid leaching. There are some exceptions (formal sector) where modern and safe technologies are applied. Finally, it was concluded that informal WEEE recycling predominates in less developed countries, which has a very harmful potential for environmental and public health components. In contrast, the formal sector is relatively small, due to factors such as limited public and private budgets, scarce infrastructure, and lack of environmental regulatory controls, among others.

Keywords

Developing countries , informal recycling , recycling technologies , WEEE

Ethical Statement

It should be noted that there was no ethical issues in publishing the article.

Supporting Institution

Universidad Tecnológica del Perú

Thanks

I hereby express my most sincere gratitude to the Technological University of Peru, its Directorate of Research – Virtual Campus; and especially to the Coordinator Eduardo Jesús Garcés Rosendo, for their invaluable learning sessions in the Summer Course 2024: Systematic Literature Review (SLR), all of which inspired and strengthened my desire to write review article.

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