Dumping of Waste

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- Small Household Appliances - Consumer & Lighting

‐ Electrical & Electronic Tools - Toys, Leisure & Sports Equipment

- Medical Devices - Monitoring & Control Instruments

Despite its collective categorization as a waste, disposed electronics are a significant classification of secondary resource due to their significant appropriateness for direct reuse (for example, many fully functional computers and components are discarded during upgrades), revamping, and material recycling of its constituent raw materials. The unauthorized e-waste dismantling, recycling, resource recovery has become a global concern because many components of the above equipment are toxic and non-biodegradable and the processes employed for material recovery are hazardous.

The relative novelty of e-waste as a contributor to the urban solid waste stream has meant that there is very little awareness on its safe management. This lack of knowledge is further complicated by the lack of proper recycling facilities for e-waste. The households, business, corporate and enterprises are at the similar level in terms of disposal of end-of life electronic products. The legislation particularly relating to electronic waste management is lacking in India like other developing nations, thus, the toxic e-waste trade continues in an unsustainable manner.

In India, e-waste is segregated, dismantled and recycled in the informal sector based in urban slums. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as

Basel Action Network (BAN), Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) and Toxics Link have revealed that these backyard homegrown recycling industries are working with the most primitive processes (BAN Report, 2002). For example, it is a common-place to find operations such as open burning of wires to extract re-saleable copper, soaking of circuit boards in open acid bath followed by manual scrapping to extract copper and precious materials next to open drains, mercury and cyanide amalgams to extract gold and other precious metals and breaking of toxic lead laden CRTs (Williams, 2005). A study by Greenpeace confirms the presence of heavy metals laden dust in the major recycling hubs of Delhi. The analysis of dust samples and ashes confirms the presence of cadmium, lead, zinc and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) along with other organic contaminants (Greenpeace).

In conclusion there needs to be an assessment of the e-waste imported and types of e-waste. To understand the disposal behavior between organized and unorganized sector. Further on to identify and describe the current disposal and recycling practices for the e-waste.

Additionally research is important in this field, to identify the loopholes in the E-Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011.In order to come up with an action plan for various key stakeholders (government, manufacturers, associations) to ensure environmental friendly method for e-waste handling and disposal.

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