Bangladesh’s digital economy is expanding rapidly, but the country’s system for dealing with discarded phones, computers, televisions, batteries and other electronic equipment has not kept pace. That gap is turning e-waste into an environmental, occupational-health and resource-management problem that can no longer be treated as a side issue of urban waste collection.

The country already has a regulatory foundation. The Department of Environment lists the Hazardous Waste (E-Waste) Management Rules, 2021 among the national environmental instruments, and the rules introduced an extended producer responsibility framework. In principle, producers and assemblers are expected to take responsibility for collecting and managing discarded electrical and electronic equipment rather than leaving the burden entirely to households, informal collectors and municipalities.

The weakness lies in implementation. Much of Bangladesh’s e-waste still moves through informal collection and dismantling chains. These networks recover valuable metals and components, but workers often operate without adequate protective equipment, controlled dismantling facilities or safe systems for handling hazardous materials. What looks like recycling can therefore transfer pollution from a discarded device to workers, soil, air and water.

A workable national system should begin with collection. Consumers need convenient, visible places to return obsolete electronics. Retailers, manufacturers and importers should be required to maintain take-back points, while city corporations and municipalities should integrate e-waste into source-separation and collection plans. A regulation that exists only on paper will have little effect if a household has no realistic alternative to selling a broken device into an unregulated chain or throwing it out with general waste.

Bangladesh should also bring informal workers into the solution rather than attempt to eliminate them. Thousands of collectors, repairers and small dismantlers already possess practical knowledge and form the backbone of the existing recovery market. Registration, training, protective equipment, fair purchasing arrangements and links with licensed recycling facilities could turn that informal network into a safer and more productive part of a circular economy.

Producer responsibility must also become measurable. Companies should report how much electrical and electronic equipment they place on the market, how much obsolete material they collect and where it is processed. Those reports should be subject to verification. Clear targets, public reporting and enforcement are necessary if extended producer responsibility is to mean more than compliance paperwork.

There is an economic opportunity here as well. Electronic waste contains recoverable metals, plastics and components that can re-enter production when processed safely. Better repair, refurbishment and formal recycling can reduce waste, create skilled jobs and retain material value inside the economy. The alternative is a system in which hazardous material is dispersed while useful resources are lost.

Bangladesh has already written many of the principles it needs into regulation. The next step is less glamorous but more important: build collection networks, formalise recovery chains, enforce producer obligations and make safe recycling accessible. The country’s digital growth should not leave behind a growing toxic legacy.