Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mercury Exposure among Populations and Environments in Contact with Electronic Waste

Gwen Aubrac, Ashley Bastiansz and Niladri Basu ()
Additional contact information
Gwen Aubrac: Bieler School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Ashley Bastiansz: Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H9X 3V9, Canada
Niladri Basu: Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H9X 3V9, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-19

Abstract: Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling releases mercury (Hg) into the environment, though to our knowledge Hg levels at such sites have yet to be examined on a worldwide basis. A systematic review of scientific studies was conducted to extract, analyze, and synthesize data on Hg levels in e-waste products, environments near recycling sites, and in people. Data were extracted from 78 studies from 20 countries, and these included Hg levels in 1103 electrical and electronic products, 2072 environmental samples (soil, air, plant, food, water, dust), and 2330 human biomarkers (blood, hair, urine). The average Hg level in products was 0.65 μg/g, with the highest levels found in lamps (578 μg/g). Average soil and sediment Hg levels (1.86 μg/g) at e-waste sites were at least eight times higher than at control sites. Average urinary Hg levels (0.93 μg/g creatinine) were approximately two-fold higher among e-waste workers versus control groups. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that e-waste recycling may lead to Hg contamination in environments and human populations in close proximity to processing sites. These findings contribute to a growing knowledge base of mercury exposure through diverse source–exposure pathways, and the work has potential policy implications in the context of the Minamata Convention.

Keywords: mercury; electronic waste; metals; review; occupational health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/11843/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/11843/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:11843-:d:919333

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().