An analysis of barriers affecting the implementation of e-waste management practices in India: A novel ISM-DEMATEL approach

Today, e-waste management practices are gaining momentum because of the global environmental regulations, but the presence of barriers makes the implementation of e-waste management difficult. Moreover, e-waste contains valuable metals as a well as hazardous substance that has more deceptive impacts on the ecosystem. This study aims to identify ten barriers based on the literature and the perceptions of experts involved in e-waste management issues. In this paper, we employed an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Decision Making Trail and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) for understanding the hierarchal and contextual relationship structure among the barriers of e-waste management. The study shows that no autonomous barriers are present in the course of study. The result suggests that the lack of public awareness about e-waste recycling and the lack of policies addressing e-waste issues are the root cause barriers as depicted by the novel ISM-DEMATEL based methodology. This present novel model helps the policy and decision maker's to find out the mutual relationship and interlinking among the barriers.