India Is The World's Third Highest E-Waste Generator, But Still Missing Out On Recycling Them

Electronic Waste or e-waste is one of the biggest and growing problems India has been facing for some time and is only continues to become bigger.

E-waste typically consists of discarded computer monitors, motherboards, mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones, television sets, air conditioners, refrigerators and much more.

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With technology rapidly advancing and more and more gadgets getting obsolete the problem will only continue to grow.

The solution for this is to recycle them, but India has been lagging behind on this front.

A record 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019, up 21 per cent in just five years, according to the UN¡¯s Global E-waste Monitor 2020. But only 17.4% of it was recycled.

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India recycling less e-waste

Despite being one of the top three contributors, India is only recycling around 1.5 percent of the nearly 3.2 million metric tonnes of e-waste every year, in the formal sector.

The rest ends up in landfills or are thrown away in the open, and thus become a health risk.

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This is despite India being the only country in Southern Asia with e-waste legislation.

Laws in place but not put materialised fully

In India, laws to manage e-waste have been in place since 2011, mandating that only authorised dismantlers and recyclers collect e-waste.

A manufacturer, dealer, refurbisher, and Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) were brought under the ambit of the E-Waste (Management) Rules 2016. The National Resources Policy also envisages a strong role for producers in the context of recovering secondary resources from e-waste.

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There are 312 authorised recyclers in India, with the capacity for treating approximately 800 kt annually. However, formal recycling capacity remains underutilised, as the large majority of the waste is still handled by the informal sector.

There are 31 authorised PROs providing compliance services, including the collection and channelization of e-waste to formal recycling facilities, as well as the administration of awareness campaigns.

A large portion of the e-waste in India also gets recycled by the informal sector in less than ideal conditions.

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In most such cases, the e-waste that is collected by rag pickers are disassembled at scrap yards using non-scientific and dangerous methods to extract some precious resource.

The rest often gets discarded and dumped in landfills. There is also the additional health risk for those involved as poisonous metals and chemicals from the e-waste that are disassembled with hands or minimal tools.

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Another major challenge in scaling up e-waste recycling in India is the lack of awareness. According to recyclers, people tend to hold on to e-waste at home because what they get in return in monetary terms is very minimal.