India to produce 30 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste by 2018: Study

LKATA: Electronic waste discarded by Indians will touch 30 lakh metric tonnes 
(MT) a year by 2018, says an Assocham-Frost & Sullivan study released on Thursday.

According to the study, India produces nearly 18.5 lakh MT of electronic waste every year. Mumbai generates the maximum e-waste at 1,20,000 MT, followed by Delhi-NCR (98,000 MT) and Bangalore (92,000 MT), the study said. Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune produce 67,000 MT, 55,000 MT, 36,000 MT, 32,000 MT and 26,000 MT per year, respectively.

Kolkata figures among top eight Indian cities generating electronic waste, with a annual garbage output of 1,20,000 MT, the study, released on Earth Day, said.

It pointed out that only 2.5% of the country's e-waste gets recycled due to poor infrastructure, legislation and framework, which lead to a waste of diminishing natural resources, irreparable damage of the environment and health of the people working in industry.

Over 95% of the e-waste generated is managed by the unorganized sector and scrap dealers who dismantle the disposed products instead of recycling them.
In India, about 5 lakh children in the age group of 10 to 14 years are observed to be engaged in various e-waste activities, without adequate protection and safeguards, said DS Rawat, secretary-general of Assocham.

"It is a matter of concern that most of our e-waste is handled in the most unscientific way by scrap dealers, who may be inadvertently handling radioactive material, as was brought to light in the past in a Mayapuri (west Delhi) case," said Rawat.

India's informal recycling industry often employs children to dismantle electronic waste. Assocham's report strongly advocates legislation to prevent a child's entry into this labour market. The chamber has also advocated the need to bring out effective legislation to prevent entry of child labour into its collection, segregation and distribution, the study said.

Computer equipment accounts for almost 70% of e-waste material followed by telecommunication equipment (12%), electrical equipment (8%) and medical equipment (7%). Other equipment, including household e-scrap, accounts for the remaining 4%, it said.

"E-waste typically includes discarded computer monitors, motherboards, cathode ray tubes (CRT), printed circuit board (PCB), mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones, white goods such as liquid crystal displays (LCD)/ plasma televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators, and so on.

According to the report, the government, public and private industries contribute more than 70% of e-waste while 15% comes from households. Televisions, refrigerators and washing machines make up the majority of e-waste generated, while computers make up to 20% and mobile phones 2%.