Análisis del flujo de materiales y evaluación del impacto ambiental de los residuos de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos. Caso de estudio: teléfonos celulares en el cantón Cuenca

Abstract

Discarded cell phones were used in this study in order to perform a first approximation of WEEE situation in canton Cuenca and Ecuador. For this purpose, an analysis of the average composition and the environmental and economic dimensions of a cell phone was carried out. Subsequently, using a normal distribution, the generation of waste was estimated and, through a Material Flow Analysis (MFA), their disposal channels were established. Furthermore, using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) an ideal recycling scenario was determined and, finally, different prediction models, used in Latino American realities, were compared applying them to the Ecuadorian context. From the obtained results, it was determined that an average of 2180470 units of cell phone are discarded every year in Ecuador, of which about 78709 belong to canton Cuenca. Of the total amount of waste, less than 7% are collected through formal channels, 10% are repaired or donated to a third party and around 83% are stored in households. The most important elements in this waste are gold and palladium, due to its economic and environmental value. Furthermore, the ideal scenario for recycling of cell phones results of combining a manual pre-processing in Ecuador with an end-processing for PCBs in industrialized countries. Finally, it was determined that it is appropriate to distribute the generation of waste over the time, considering that the amount of waste generated in a specific year is influenced by the contribution of previous years.