E-Waste Management – A Potential Route to Green Computing

Green computing is a recent trend and an evolving field aiming towards a sustainable future. Different approaches have been established as possible directions towards green computing. Virtualization, Cloud computing, Energy minimization, reduction in use of hazardous substances in electronic items etc are a few approaches. Though major focus has shifted towards energy minimization, other approaches have churned themselves out as new subjects – cloud computing. Green computing encompasses a wide range of things. One of them is e-waste management. End of life electronic equipments known as e-waste is a threat to the whole world. Globally 41.8 million metric tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2014. These electronic items are the hardware part of the computer. The proper management of e-waste hence leaves a good potential to implement green computing. An overwhelming amount of research articles focusing on green computing are present and major focus is on energy minimization, efficient algorithms and cloud computing. Literature on green computing focusing on e-waste management is scant. The research questions aroused are as follows. Is it actually possible to implement green computing using e-waste management? What are the issues pertaining to it? How can this be achieved? How sustainable it this approach? The study tries to answer these questions. The main objective of this study is to establish e-waste management as a parameter for green computing. The study also intends to check the sustainability potential of this approach. The paper will help the stakeholders, practitioners, researchers and decision makers for choosing a benchmark approach and will pave directions for future research.