Mini-review: Engineering Controls and Best Practices for Institutional Electronic-Waste Handling and Lithium-Ion Battery Risk Reduction in the United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijes.3720Keywords:
Electronic Waste, Lithium-Ion Batteries, Institutional Waste Management, Engineering Controls, Data Sanitization, Certified Recycling, Fire Risk Reduction, Compliance ManagementAbstract
Purpose: This mini-review aims to synthesize peer-reviewed evidence and current U.S. regulatory guidance to develop a practical engineering control framework for institutional electronic waste (e-waste) and lithium-ion battery risk reduction in the United States.
Methodology: The review employed a targeted literature search of academic databases including PubMed and Google Scholar, supplemented by structured analysis of U.S. federal guidance documents, certification standards, and regulatory resources. Sources were selected based on relevance to institutional e-waste lifecycle management, battery fire prevention, data sanitization, certified recycler standards, and compliance requirements.
Findings: Effective institutional e-waste programs share a common structural profile. They treat e-waste as a socio-technical system and combine physical engineering controls, documented procedures, staff training, and auditable chain-of-custody records tied to measurable performance indicators. Key control domains identified include upstream procurement and asset management, governance and secure staging, data sanitization, battery triage and containment, transport readiness, downstream vendor qualification, and performance management. The review proposes an implementation template and evidence map that institutions can adapt to design defensible programs.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This review applies the occupational health and safety hierarchy of controls framework to the institutional e-waste domain, producing a structured control taxonomy that connects program design decisions to defensible documentation. For practice, it provides a control map and measurement template that institutions can operationalize immediately. For policy, it highlights the alignment between institutional program design and U.S. national recycling goals, federal battery fire prevention guidance, and transport compliance requirements under the U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alice Zazaboi, David Saah Nyumah, Glorimar Rivera Zamorano, Mukiibi Michael, M.Tech., MPH, Ph.D.
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