The electronic industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry (Radha, 2002; DIT, 2003). During the last few decades, it has assumed the role of providing a forceful influence to the socio-economic and technological growth of developing countries. The consequences of its consumer oriented growth pooled with rapid e-product obsolescence and technological advancements are a novel environmental challenge - the growing threat of 'Electronics Waste' or 'e-waste' which consists of obsolete electronic devices. It is an upcoming problem as well as a big business opportunity of growing significance, given the volumes of e-waste being created and contents of both toxic and valuable materials with them. This study had been undertaken to investigate the determinants of e-waste management in Tamil Nadu using structured Questionnaire to collect data from the individual consumers along with attitude and knowledge scale to assess their level of awareness on electronic waste disposal and its management. Data has been collected during the month of April - December 2017. The study concluded that most of the respondents were not aware of ewaste management for which intensive awareness campaign has to be commenced by the government for all the stakeholders especially individual consumers, as this is the need of hour.

1. https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1932 editor@iaeme.com
International Journal of Management (IJM)
Volume 11, Issue 9, September 2020, pp. 1932-1943. Article ID: IJM_11_09_184
Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=9
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.9.2020.184
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
AWARENESS OF INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS
TOWARDS E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN
CHENNAI CITY, TAMIL NADU
Dr. A. Sivagami
Head and Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Government Arts and Science
College for Women, (Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli),
Orathanadu, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. G. Arun Senthil Ram
Executive Director, Alchemy Foundation for Sustainable Development,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
ABSTRACT
The electronic industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing
industry (Radha, 2002; DIT, 2003). During the last few decades, it has assumed the role
of providing a forceful influence to the socio-economic and technological growth of
developing countries. The consequences of its consumer oriented growth pooled with
rapid e-product obsolescence and technological advancements are a novel
environmental challenge - the growing threat of 'Electronics Waste' or 'e-waste' which
consists of obsolete electronic devices. It is an upcoming problem as well as a big
business opportunity of growing significance, given the volumes of e-waste being
created and contents of both toxic and valuable materials with them. This study had
been undertaken to investigate the determinants of e-waste management in Tamil Nadu
using structured Questionnaire to collect data from the individual consumers along with
attitude and knowledge scale to assess their level of awareness on electronic waste
disposal and its management. Data has been collected during the month of April -
December 2017. The study concluded that most of the respondents were not aware of e-
waste management for which intensive awareness campaign has to be commenced by
the government for all the stakeholders especially individual consumers, as this is the
need of hour.
Key words: e-waste, consumers, e-waste management.
Cite this Article: A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram, Awareness of Individual
Consumers Towards E-Waste Management in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu, International
Journal of Management, 11(9), 2020, pp 1932-1943.
https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=9

2. Awareness of Individual Consumers Towards E-Waste Management in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1933 editor@iaeme.com
1. INTRODUCTION
The electronic industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry
(Radha, 2002; DIT, 2003). During the last few decades, it has assumed the role of providing a
forceful influence to the socio-economic and technological growth of developing countries. The
consequences of its consumer oriented growth pooled with rapid e-product obsolescence and
technological advancements are a novel environmental challenge - the growing threat of
'Electronics Waste' or 'e-waste' which consists of obsolete electronic devices. It is an upcoming
problem as well as a big business opportunity of growing significance, given the volumes of e-
waste being created and contents of both toxic and valuable materials with them. The fraction
including copper, iron, gold, aluminium and other metals in e-waste is more than 60 percent,
while plastics include for about 30 percent and the hazardous pollutants consist about 2.70
percent (Widmer et al., 2005). Solid waste management, that is already an enormous task in
India, is becoming more complicated by the invasion of e-waste, particularly computer waste.
E-waste from developed countries get an easy way into the developing countries in the name
of free trade (Toxics Link, 2004) is complicating the problems further and associated with waste
management.
2. STATUS OF E-WASTE IN INDIA
India is witnessing a main growth in electronic market. Due to rapid innovation and
modernization in communication sector, a large variety of mobiles and communication
equipment’s are available and it is mounting rapidly. The computer and its peripheral industries
are also booming at a rapid rate. All these things lead to enhancements in e-waste generation in
India. In Asia, India is the second largest e-waste generator. Ministry of Environment and Forest
(MoEF) 2012 report mentions that e-waste output enhances to eight times in last seven years
i.e. 8,00,000 tones.
In 2005, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimated India’s e-waste at 1.47
lacs tonnes or 0.573 MT per day. The major contribution of 60 percent of the total e-waste
generated in India is created by sixty five cities. As per the Country level WEEE assessment
study (2005) "Seventy five percent of the total e-waste is generated by the top ten states which,
includes Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Utter Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi,
Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab". This increase in the huge amount of e-waste
generation is primarily due to increase in demand of products like TV, PC and telephones in
the last 5-10 years. The Dept of Information technology projects the future estimate of e-waste
as shown in figure.
Figure 1
Source : Country level WEEE assessment study by the International Resource Group Systems South Asia Pvt. Ltd, 2005

3. A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1934 editor@iaeme.com
3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Singh and Amin (2018) opined that electronic wastes is nowadays the fastest growing pollution
issue in a global context. This research provides the summary of E-Waste management in India
when compared to other countries. It covers the impact of recycling and management of E-
Wastes or human health, society, environment and risk assessment due to pollutants emitted
from e-waste recycling in the water, soil and air. Finally E-Waste Management Rules of India
and around the world was compared, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA), shall be adopted for a
positive sustainable solution of E-Waste Management to reduce the ill-effects of Informal
recycling.
Agrawal and Mittal (2017) conducted a study to identify the reasons of the low collection
efficiency of household e-waste and to suggest about an organised market with its benefits for
proper handling of e-waste that suited to end-users needs. A total of 312 usable responses were
gathered from household end-users of EEEs of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), India. The study
employed descriptive and regression analysis and found that end-users major problems and
concerns regarding their e-waste can be solved significantly by online e-waste market and the
present e-waste management system had to be changed significantly.
Sivathanu (2016) discussed the consumers’ awareness and preference towards the disposal
of e-waste. Survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire among 600 consumers in
Pune city. The exploratory factor analysis technique was deployed to identify the awareness
factors contributing to the consumer’s preference towards the proper disposal and management
of e-waste. The findings showed that awareness of toxic effects on human health, environmental
hazards, proper disposal of e-waste, and awareness of e-waste management by various
stakeholders and convenience of recycling were the five important contributing factors for
disposal.
4. NEED FOR RESEARCH
India contributes approximately to 5% of global carbon dioxide emission . In India 770 million
people are affected by climate change, 231 million people are under nourished and 600 million
people don't have access to electricity. Further, 28% of Indian population live in urban areas of
which 20-40% of the urban population live in slums with environmental and health implication
. There is a huge depletion in water sources , environment and pollution. (Alaxander J.S., 2017
) One such reason for depletion of environment is improper waste management. E waste is one
such alarming problem that threatens the world community.
The major sources of e-waste in India are the private sector, government, OEMs,
retailers and individual households. Of the total e-waste quantitative inventory, both the
government institutions and the private sector account for 70 percent, while the contribution of
individuals is about 15 percent (Sinha and Mahesh, 2007). The treatment of e-waste in India is
handled by a better networked and entrepreneurial informal sector and that replicates a long
tradition of waste recycling (Widmer et al., 2005). More recently, many formal e-waste
recycling entrepreneurial companies have also sprung up similar with the informal sector in the
country. Though e-waste management and disposal continues to be driven by global forces, the
technicalities will be determined by local conditions. The current e-waste management
guidelines formulated by the government, propagates to all the stakeholders down the e-waste
for a wider legislation in near future.

4. Awareness of Individual Consumers Towards E-Waste Management in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1935 editor@iaeme.com
5. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
• To portray the association between socio-demographic profile of the respondents with
their awareness, practice and attitude on e-waste.
• To analyse the knowledge, attitude and practice of e-waste management among the
stakeholders in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
6. RESEARCH DESIGN
In the present study, the researcher has applied sequential explanatory mixed methodology and
it has helped the researcher to blend different approaches and has allowed the researcher to
design apt research questions within the research context. The sequential explanatory mixed
methodology includes a multiple level strategy incorporating a two phase approach where
quantitative data is collected first from consumers through survey, followed by qualitative
research methods wherein focused group discussions were conducted among the informal and
formal recyclers and case studies were done among the NGO representatives, government
officials and manufacturing company.
7. UNIVERSE / SAMPLING OF THE STUDY
The population for this current research had been selected from Chennai Corporation of Tamil
Nadu. Area sampling method was adopted to identify the respondents for this study. At the
first level, Chennai corporation had been selected randomly in Tamil Nadu based on the criteria
that it is the corporation which generates more e-waste as per Toxics Link report, 2009. At the
second level, 5 fully urbanized zones (heart of Chennai Corporation) out of 15 zones had been
selected simple random sampling. At the next level, 10 wards had been selected out of 200
wards by simple random sampling out of which 418 respondents were selected by simple
random sampling method. Then 350 questionnaires completed in all aspects were selected for
analysis and interpretation.
Figure 2

5. A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram
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7.1. Key Findings
Table 1 Association between Socio Demographic Variables of the Respondents and their Perception
towards E-waste
Variables
Respondents Perception towards E-waste
Statistical
Inference
Yes No Total
n % n % N %
Age
26-30 years
31-35 years
36-40 years
41-45 years
46-50 years
22
44
12
14
20
9.1
18.7
3.4
5.7
5.1
31
124
58
14
11
6.0
29.4
16.6
2.3
3.7
53
168
70
28
31
15
48
20
8
9
X2
= 44.8790
df = 4
0.012<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Gender
Male
Female
94
53
26.9
15.1
179
24
51.1
6.9
273
77
78
22
X2
= 0.003
df = 1
0.960>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Religion
Hindu
Christian
Muslim
Others
81
32
20
14
23.1
9.2
5.7
4.0
114
21
52
16
32.6
6.0
14.8
4.6
195
53
72
30
55.7
15.1
20.6
8.6
X2
= 5.823
df = 3
0.016<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Social status
FC
BC
SC/ST
Others
8
112
10
17
2.3
32.0
2.9
4.8
13
173
10
7
3.7
49.4
2.9
2.0
21
285
20
24
06.0
81.5
05.7
06.8
X2
= 0.629
df = 3
0.730>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Educational Qualification
No education
School education
Collegiate
Professional
Higher education
12
24
84
20
7
3.4
6.9
24.0
5.7
2.0
20
53
98
24
8
5.7
15.1
28.0
6.9
2.3
32
77
182
44
15
09.1
22.0
52.0
12.6
4.3
X2
= 6.173
df = 4
0.082>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Type of Family
Nuclear
Joint
78
69
22.3
19.7
139
64
39.7
18.3
217
133
62
38
X2
= 221.840
df = 1
0.21<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58
350 100
Marital Status
Married
Single
112
35
32
10
126
77
36
22
238
112
68
32
X2
= 80.254
df = 1
0.034<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58
350 100
Family Size
1 - 3 Persons
4 - 6 persons
6 and above
18
105
24
5.1
30.0
6.9
24
168
11
6.9
48
3.1
42
273
35
12
78
10
X2
= 58.481
df = 2
0.02<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Nature of Residence
Owned
Rented
Lease
68
70
9
19.4
20.0
2.8
65
98
40
18.6
28.0
11.4
133
168
49
38
48
14
X2
= 5.030
df = 2
0.081>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Type of House
Concrete
Tiled
85
62
24.3
17.7
105
98
30.0
28.0
190
160
54.3
45.7
X2
= 1.778
df = 1
0.182>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58
350 100
Monthly Income

6. Awareness of Individual Consumers Towards E-Waste Management in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1937 editor@iaeme.com
Rs.10,001 - 20,000
Rs.20,001 - 30,000
Rs.30,001 - 40,000
Rs.40,001 - 50,000
Rs.50,001 - 60,000
65
32
15
28
7
18.6
9.1
4.3
8.0
2.0
89
45
20
35
14
25.4
12.9
5.7
10.0
4.0
154
77
35
63
21
44
22
10
18
6
X2
= 0.723
df = 4
0.697>0.05
Not Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
Occupation
Housewives
Government
Business
Private
Professionals
12
69
31
5
30
3.4
19.7
8.9
1.4
8.6
16
92
46
9
40
4.6
26.3
13.1
2.6
11.4
28
161
77
14
70
8
46
22
4
20
X2
= 35.539
df = 4
0.025<0.05
Significant
147 42 203 58 350 100
There is a significant association between the socio-demographic profile viz. age, religion,
type of family, family size and occupation of the respondents with their perception towards e-
waste. In all these, since the calculated value (age =0.012, religion = 0.016, type of family =
0.021, number of persons in the family = 0.034, occupation = 0.025) is less than the table value
p=0.05, the null hypothesis is rejected and hence the research hypothesis is accepted which
indicates that there is a significant relationship between the socio-demographic profile viz. age,
religion, type of family, number of persons in the family and occupation of the respondents
with their perception towards e-waste. With regard to gender, social status, education, nature
of residence, type of house and monthly income of the respondents, they do not have any
association with their perception on e-waste. In all these, since the calculated value (gender =
0.960, social status = 0.730, education = 0.082, nature of residence = 0.081, type of house =
0.182 monthly income = 0.697) is greater than the table value p=0.05, the research hypothesis
is rejected and hence the null hypothesis is accepted which indicates that there is no significant
association between the socio demographic profile of the respondents viz. gender, social status,
education, nature of residence, type of house and monthly income of the respondents and their
perception towards e-waste.
Table 2 Association between Educational Qualification of the Respondents and their methods of E-
waste Disposal
Disposal
methods
Education of the Respondents Total
Illiteracy School
education
Collegiate
education
Profess-
ional
Higher
education
To friends
&relatives 3 (0.9) 6 (1.7) 7 (2.0) 5 (1.4) 3 (0.9) 24 (6.8)
Second hand
sales 4 (1.1) 3 (0.9) 9 (2.6) 6 (1.7) 2 (0.6) 24 (6.8)
Donated for
charity 2 (0.6) 2 (0.6) 1 (0.3) 2 (0.6) 1 (0.3) 8 (2.3)
Stored it for
long 10 (2.9) 26 (7.4) 86 (24.6) 12 (3.4) 3 (0.9) 137 (39.2)
Given to scrap
collector 9 (2.5) 20 (5.7) 61 (17.4) 13 (3.7) 4 (1.1) 107 (30.6)
Thrown away
4 (1.1) 20 (5.7) 18 (5.1) 6 (1.7) 2 (0.6) 50 (14.3)
Total 32 (9.1) 77 (22.0) 182 (44.0) 44 (12.6) 15 (4.3) 350 (100)

7. A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram
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Chi-square test was used to test the above hypothesis of association of educational
qualification of the respondents with their e-waste disposal methods while buying the
household EEE goods taken for the study. The calculated value is 79.4 and table value at 0.05
confidence level and degree of freedom, value of chi-square is 24.9. Hence it is observed that
the calculated value is higher than the table value thus rejecting null hypothesis and accepting
alternate hypothesis. The study proves that there is a significant association between the
educational qualification of the respondents and their disposal methods of e-waste.
Figure 3 Respondents Perception on the Responsibility of E-waste Management
The perception of consumers on the responsibility of e-waste management is vital in its
management. The perception may be based on number of aspects around the consumers. The
delegation of responsibility of e-waste management does not purely depends upon single
responsibility holder rather it is a shared responsibility among the stakeholder involved in EEE
manufacturing and disposal. According to the present data, 20 percent of the respondents
thought that the government had the responsible mechanism of proper electronic disposal. This
may be due to the fact that the Government is implementing waste management practices
including Municipal solid waste management. Another 14 percent transferred the responsibility
directly to the manufacturers who produce EEE. The respondents think that the manufacturer
is totally aware of the product, they know its proper disposal. They have the opinion that the
manufacturer starts the Life Cycle of the product and hence they are responsible for ending that
life cycle properly. About 22 percent of the respondents transferred the responsibility of e-waste
to the product seller. This category perceive that the seller/distributor is close to the consumers.
,One third of the respondents ie.34 percent felt that it is their own responsibility to dispose the
e-waste and a negligible portion 10 percent of the respondents felt that the proper disposal of
e-waste rests on everyone in the chain ie. shared responsibility of stakeholders.

8. Awareness of Individual Consumers Towards E-Waste Management in Chennai City, Tamil Nadu
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1939 editor@iaeme.com
Figure 4 Respondents Awareness on Hazardous contents of E-waste
This data assess the respondents awareness on toxic and hazardous substances in e-waste
equipments. According to the study, 28 percent of the respondents had no idea about hazardous
contents of e-waste and about 28.9 percent had little awareness on it. This cannot be considered
as active level of awareness to make decisions with regard to e-waste and its disposal. About
28 percent had general awareness on these toxic substances and 4 percent had good amount of
awareness while 11.1 percent of the respondents had higher level of knowledge about its
contents. When further analysed the data, it shows that 56.9 percent of the respondents did not
have proper knowledge on hazardous contents while only 15.1 percent of the respondents had
fair knowledge to make decisions accordingly. The study identified Computer and Mobile
phones are rich in hazardous and toxic contents than other electronic products. Hence it is
necessary to monitor the consumers level of awareness towards these contents.
Table 3 Respondents Practice towards the Disposal of Obsolete Electronics
S.N. Condition of Respondents Electronic Products
at the time of Disposal
No. of
Respondents
(n = 350)
Percentage
a
b
Not discarded
Discarded
42
308
12
88
Items discarded * (n = 460)
a
b
c
d
Computers and laptops
Printers, telephones
Modems
Monitors, Mobile phones
115
202
46
97
25.0
43.9
10.0
21.1
* Non addictive Percentage
The study noted that a vast majority 88 percent of the respondents had discarded electronic
equipments or accessories of one or the other kind, out of which 25 percent had discarded
desktop computers and laptops, about 43.9 percent had discarded printers and telephones, 10
percent discarded modems and monitors and mobile phones by 21.1 percent of the respondents.
This concludes that the study shows an indicator of a high accumulation of e-waste. The study
also found that the duration the respondents owned the EEE before they discarded it and over
50 percent of the consumers revealed that they kept the computers over five years.

9. A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1940 editor@iaeme.com
Table 4 Education of the Respondents and their Awareness on E-Waste
Education of the
respondents
Awareness on E-waste Total Statistical
Inference
Aware Not aware
No education 30 12 42 (12)
X2
=0.372 Df=3
0.372>0.05
Not Significant
School education 47 30 77 (22)
Collegiate education 93 89 182 (52)
Professionals 35 14 49 (14)
TOTAL 205 (58.5) 145 (41.5) 350 (100)
Figures in Parenthesis indicate percentages
Majority ie. 58.5 percent of the consumers were aware of e-waste management and 36.6
percent of them were post graduate and professionals. Since the calculated value 0.372 is greater
than the table value p=0.05, the research hypothesis is rejected and hence the null hypothesis is
accepted which indicates that there is no significant association between educational
qualification and their awareness on e-waste and its management.
Table 5 Knowledge of the Respondents about E-Waste
S.N. Respondents Knowledge Mean Std.
Deviation
1 E-waste should not be mixed with organic
waste
2.19 0.656
2 E-waste causes hazard to the environment 2.11 0.487
3 E-waste is produced from electronic products 2.03 0.484
4 E-waste should be segregated and disposed 1.99 0.467
5 More use of electronic products leads to more
e-waste generation
1.56 0.538
It can be observed from the table no.4.30 that the respondents did not have adequate
knowledge that e-waste must not be mixed with the other general wastes. As it is dangerous to
the environment, it must be handled in a separate way. They did not also aware that more use
of electronic products leads to more e-waste generation and hence it is necessary to adapt an
eco-friendly way of life and do not involve in the activity that is threatening the environment.
Hence the community needs to be given awareness on the generation of e-waste and its disposal.
Mean score is found to be 1.956 which means that most of the respondents did not have
awareness on e-waste, which may affect the attitude of the respondents towards generation,
separation and disposal of e-waste and its management.
Table 6 Oneway Analysis of Variance among the Respondents educational qualification and their
Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour towards E-waste
n Mean S.D SS Df MS
Statistical
inference
Knowledge of the Respondents on E-waste
Between Groups 170.677 4 42.669
F=3.043
.017<0.05
Significant
No education 32 21.35 2.996
School education 77 19.83 4.052
Collegiate 182 20.30 3.540
Professional 44 19.75 3.820
Higher education 15 19.68 4.466
Within Groups 5300.190 378 14.022
Attitude of the respondents towards E-waste
Between Groups 13.837 4 3.459 F=.426

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No education 32 20.13 2.954 .790>0.05
Not
Significant
School education 77 20.18 3.020
Collegiate 182 20.22 3.058
Professional 44 20.50 2.893
Higher education 15 20.59 2.395
Within Groups 3069.662 378 8.121
Behaviour of the respondents towards E-waste
Between Groups 16.669 4 4.167
F=.448
.774>0.05
Not
Significant
No education 32 19.50 3.071
School education 77 19.03 3.322
Collegiate 182 19.26 3.074
Professional 44 19.64 2.706
Higher education 15 19.35 2.622
Within Groups 3513.357 378 9.295
There is a significant difference among the educational qualification and Knowledge,
Attitude and Behaviour of the respondents towards e-waste. One way ANOVA ‘F’ test was
used to test the above hypothesis. This table reveals that there is no significant difference among
the educational qualification of the respondents and their Attitude and Behaviour towards e-
waste. But the knowledge of the respondents is being influenced by their educational
qualification. Since the calculated value 0.017 is less than the table value (P>0.05), the research
hypothesis is accepted and null hypothesis is rejected which proves that the educational
qualification has its own influence in the knowledge of the respondents towards e-waste
management including its disposal. Hence there is a significant difference among the
educational qualification and the knowledge of the respondents towards e-waste and there is no
significant difference among the educational qualification and attitude and behaviour of the
respondents towards e-waste.
8. TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis 1 : There is a significant association between the socio-demographic profile of the
respondents and their perception towards e-waste. Chi-square test was used to test the above
hypothesis. Since the calculated value is less than the table value p=0.05 for age, religion, type
of family, number of persons in the family and occupation of the respondents, the null
hypothesis is rejected and hence the research hypothesis is accepted which indicates that there
is a significant association between the socio-demographic profile viz. age, religion, type of
family, number of persons in the family and occupation of the respondents with their perception
towards e-waste.
Hypothesis 2 : There is a significant association between the educational qualification of the
respondents and their disposal methods of e-waste. Chi-square test is used to test the above
hypothesis. It is observed that the calculated value is higher than the table value thus rejecting
null hypothesis and accepting alternate hypothesis. The study proves that there is significant
association between the educational qualification of the respondents and their disposal methods
of e-waste.
Hypothesis 3 : There is a significant association between the socio-demographic profile of the
respondents and their knowledge on e-waste. Chi-square test was used to test the above
hypothesis. Since the calculated value is less than the table value p=0.05 for age, education and
occupation of the respondents, the null hypothesis is rejected and hence the research hypothesis
is accepted which indicates that there is a significant association between the socio-
demographic profile viz. age, education and occupation of the respondents with their knowledge
on e-waste.

11. A. Sivagami and G. Arun Senthil Ram
https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1942 editor@iaeme.com
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
The general public may opt for upgrading their computers or other electronic equipments to the
latest versions rather than buying new equipments.
• Every user should take efforts to increase the usable life of electronic and electrical
appliances. EEE may be donated for reuse in order to extend the end of life (EoL) of
valuable products and sustain its life thus keeping them out of waste.
• The concept of 5 R's in waste management reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and residual
management may be propagated among the consumers. This study may evolve a sixth
R ie Refurbish. Hence concept of 6 R's may be advocated and practiced to the consumers
for extending the EoL of the EEE.
• Electrical and Electronic Equipment's may be chosen based on few toxic constituents,
RoHS compliance, recycling content, energy efficient, designed for ease upgrading,
minimal packaging, etc.
• The citizens may buy the products considering the responsibility of EPR of the
manufacturing companies ie. take back options.
• Consumer should segregate the waste at the source and should not mix up the e waste
along with municipal solid waste (MSW)
• Consumer should try to buy newer gadgets only by exchanging their older products if
it's not for the first time purchase.
10. CONCLUSION
Awareness of Individual consumers plays a key role in proper disposal of e-waste and its
management. The present study found that 32 percent of the consumers (out of 350) surveyed
in Chennai city had awareness on e-waste management. This study makes contributions to both
academic field and practical field. From academic view point, it contributes to the literature
existing in the area of consumer awareness, e-waste management and disposal. Future
researchers can also use this research to study the importance of variety of stakeholders
including formal and informal sectors and e-waste management techniques.
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https://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJM 1943 editor@iaeme.com
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