Document Shredding/E-Waste Roundup

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City of West Hollywood
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E-Waste recycling collection.
May 15, 2010

E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

Environment: E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

You are welcome to change your personal computer, cell phone, refrigerator, or for that matter any electronic or electrical gadget, but be careful while disposing of the old one. Throwing it into the dustbin is not the proper disposal of an electronic equipment which has attained obsolescence as per your judgement. It may end up adding to e-waste, which creates problems for the ecology in general and directly or indirectly for the living beings around there through air, water and soil pollution

The electronics industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry. Recent policy changes in India have led to an influx of leading multinational companies to set up electronics manufacturing facilities and R&D centres for hardware and software. This has no doubt helped the Indian economy to grow faster and fueled increase in the consumption rate of electronics products. Along with the economic growth and availability of electronics goods in the market has increased temptation of consumers to replace their household electronics items with newer models for various reasons. The net effect is a higher rate of obsolescence, which is leading to growing piles of e-waste. The aim of this article is to spread awareness among our readers about the various issues involved in generation and management of e-waste, particularly from Indian perspective.

What is e-waste?

Electronic waste (e-waste) comprises waste electronics/electrical goods that are not fit for their originally intended use or have reached their end of life. This may include items such as computers, servers, mainframes, monitors, CDs, printers, scanners, copiers, calculators, fax machines, battery cells, cellular phones, transceivers, TVs, medical apparatus and electronic components besides white goods such as refrigerators and air-conditioners. E-waste contains valuable materials such as copper, silver, gold and platinum which could be processed for their recovery.

Is e-waste hazardous?

E-waste is not hazardous per se. However, the hazardous constituents present in the e-waste render it hazardous when such wastes are dismantled and processed, since it is only at this stage that they pose hazard to health and environment.

Electronics and electrical equipment seem efficient and environmentally friendly, but there are hidden dangers associated with them once these become e-waste. The harmful materials contained in electronics products, coupled with the fast rate at which we’re replacing outdated units, pose a real danger to human health if electronics products are not properly processed prior to disposal.

Electronics products like computers and cellphones contain a lot of different toxins. For example, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) of computer monitors contain heavy metals such as lead, barium and cadmium, which can be very harmful to health if they enter the water system. These materials can cause damage to the human nervous and respiratory systems. Flame-retardant plastics, used in electronics casings, release particles that can damage human endocrine functions. These are the types of things that can happen when unprocessed e-waste is put directly in landfill.

The scenario

The Basel Action Network (BAN) which works for prevention of globalization of toxic chemicals has stated in a report that 50 to 80 per cent of e-waste collected by the US is exported to India, China, Pakistan, Taiwan and a number of African countries. This is done because cheaper labour is available for recycling in these countries. And in the US, export of e-waste is legal.

e-waste recycling and disposal in China, India and Pakistan are highly polluting. Of late, China has banned import of e-waste. Export of e-waste by the US is seen as lack of responsibility on the part of Federal Government, electronics industry, consumers, recyclers and local governments towards viable and sustainable options for disposal of e-waste.

In India, recycling of e-waste is almost entirely left to the informal sector, which does not have adequate means to handle either the increasing quantities or certain processes, leading to intolerable risk for human health and the environment.

Dynamics of e-waste

Generation Telecommunications and information technology are the fastest growing industries today not only in India but world over. Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) has collected the following statistics on the growth of electronics and IT equipment in India:

1. PC sales were over 7.3 million units during 2007-08, growing by 16 per cent. There is an installed base of over 25 million units.

2. The consumer electronics market is growing at the rate of 13-15 per cent annually. It has an installed base of 120 million TVs.

3. The cellular subscriber base was up by 96.86 per cent during 2007-08. Its installed base is estimated to cross 300 million mark by 2010.

and growth in the electronics industry, obsolescence rate has also increased. People are phasing out/replacing their IT, communication and consumer electronics

equipment including white and brown goods as shown in Table II.

As per a GTZ-MAIT sponsored study conducted recently by IMRB, ewaste generated in India during 2007 was around 332,979 MT besides about 50,000 MT entering the country by way of imports. The reasons for generation of this large quantity of e-waste were unprecedented growth of the IT industry during the last decade, and the early product obsolescence due to continuous innovation. Thus the net effect is the e-waste turning into a fastest growing waste stream. However, the total e-waste available in 2007 for recycling and refurbishing was 144,143 MT. Of this, only 19,000 MT of e-waste could be processed.

Components of e-waste management

The major components of e-waste management are:

1. e-waste collection, sorting and transportation

2. e-waste recycling; it involves dismantling, recovery of valuable resource, sale of dismantled parts and export of processed waste for precious metal recovery The stakeholders, i.e., the people who can help in overcoming the challenges posed by e-waste, are:

1. Manufacturers

2. Users

3. Recyclers

4. Policy makers

E-waste concerns and challenges

1. Accurate figures not available for rapidly increasing e-waste volumes—generated domestically and by imports

2. Low level of awareness among manufacturers and consumers of the hazards of incorrect e-waste disposal

3. No accurate estimates of the quantity of e-waste generated and recycled available in India

4. Major portion of e-waste is processed by the informal (unorganised) sector using rudimentary techniques such as acid leaching and open-air burning, which results in severe environmental damage

5. e-waste workers have little or no knowledge of toxins in e-waste and are exposed to health hazards

6. High-risk backyard recycling operations impact vulnerable social groups like women, children and immigrant labourers

7. Inefficient recycling processes result in substantial losses of material value and resources

8. Cherry-picking by recyclers who recover precious metals (gold, platinum, silver, copper, etc) and improperly dispose of the rest, posing environmental hazards

9. No specific legislation for dealing with e-waste at present

Status of e-waste initiatives

The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) of the government of India is responsible for environmental legislation and its control. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an autonomous body under the MoEF, plays an important role in drafting guidelines and advising the MoEF on policy matters regarding environmental issues. Historically, in 2001 in cooperation with MoEF, the German Technology Cooperation (GTZ) began work on hazardous waste management in India through the advisory services in environmental management. Subsequently, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) started to implement its global programme ‘Knowledge Partnerships in e-waste Recycling.’

Combining the knowledge and technical expertise of EMPA on e-waste management, coupled with the field experience of the Indo-German projects in managing hazardous waste in India, the Indo-German-Swiss ewaste initiative was born in 2004. The vision of this initiative is to establish a clean e-waste channel that is a:

1. Convenient collection and disposal system for large and small consumers to return all their e-waste safely

2. Voluntary system for modern and concerned producers to care for their product beyond its useful life

3. Financially secure system that makes environmentally and socially responsible e-waste recycling viable

The objectives of the initiative are:

1. Reduce the risks to the population and the pollution of the environment resulting from unsafe handling

2. Focus on knowledge transfer to and skills upgrade of all involved stakeholders through trainings and seminars

3. Target mainly the existing informal recyclers allowing for their maximum but safe participation in future e-waste management by facilitating their evolution and integration in formal structures

The milestones achieved