E-waste: An overview on generation, collection, legislation and recycling practices

•E-waste generation and issue associated are discussed.•The co-relation between population, GDP, GDP per capita, E-waste generation and e-waste per inhabitants are drawn.•The opportunities associated with e-waste recycling are shown.•The overview of current legislation, collection and recycling practices has been presented.

E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world in terms of volume and its environmental impact on the planet. The existence of precious metals in the e-waste stream provides a major economic benefit for recycling industries but due to the presence of hazardous chemicals, a proper recycling technique is required prior to the disposal of the e-waste.This paper presents an overview of the statistics on global e-waste generation and the sales of new electrical equipment and electronics in general. The total amount of e-waste produced has reached approximately 41 million tonnes in 2014 and increasing at a rate of 3-5% every year. A correlation between e-waste generated, gross domestic product and population of the country has also been explored that suggested that the GDP of any country has a direct correlation with the amount of e-waste produced by that country. The population of the country doesn't have a significant impact. The paper also describes the importance and benefits of recycling are emphasized while presenting the techniques currently used by the recycling facilities.