E- WASTE

E-WASTE: AN OVERVIEW

What is e-waste?E-waste or electronic waste may be defined as any electronic item or part which is in working or repairable condition, but which is dumped or disposed or discarded by the buyer for purposes other than re-cycling, and includes residue from reuse and recycling operations.

E-WASTE: AN OVERVIEW

What can be classified as e-waste?E-waste comes from any and all sorts of dumped electronic goods. Discarded PCs and laptops, cell phones, VCRs, CD players, television sets, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, digital cameras, calculators or even batteries are examples of e-wastes.

Who produces e-waste?From large business houses to the common individual user, in the 21st century anyone and everyone has some e-waste to dispose of

THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM

With rapid change in technology, electronic devices become obsolete in one or two years

With little or no re-sale value, these obsolete devices are mostly disposed of

THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM

Statistics: 100 million cell phones are disposed in Europe

every year USA discards 30 million computers each year In USA, an estimated 70% of the heavy metals in

landfills come from discarded electronic devices Only 15 – 20% of e-waste is recycled Increased regulation of electronic waste and

concern over the environmental harm which can result from toxic electronic waste has raised disposal costs

THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVE End-of-life products find their way to recycling yards in

countries such as India and China, where poorly-protected workers dismantle them, often by hand, in appalling conditions

About 25,000 workers are employed at scrap-yards in Delhi alone, where 10,000 to 20,000 tons of e-waste are handled every year, with computers accounting for 25 percent of it

Other e-waste scrap-yards exist in Meerut, Ferozabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. About 80 percent of the e-waste generated in the US is exported to India, China and Pakistan, and unorganised recycling and backyard scrap-trading forms close to 100 percent of total e-waste processing activity

CONTINUE

Many of India’s corporations burn e-waste such as PC monitors, CDs, motherboards, cables, toner cartridges, light bulbs and tube-lights in the open along with garbage, releasing large amounts of mercury and lead into the atmosphere

Toxics Link, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), says that India annually generates $1.5 billion worth of e-waste

As per a study done last year by Bengaluru-based NGO, Saahas, that city generates around 8,000 tons of e-waste every year

E-CYCLING

The term e-cycling refers to the process of recycling the components or metals contained in used or discarded electronic equipment (otherwise know as electronic waste or e-waste).