India is among one of the top markets for electronics across the globe and it is hardly any surprise that the country generates close to 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste every year. This number is going to increase to 30 lakh metric tonnes by 2018. In terms of cities Mumbai tops with 1.2 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste generation followed by Delhi with 98,000 metric tonnes. There other three cities to follow are Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata.
The government is now quite worried that most of the e-waste that is generated doesn’t get dumped properly and this generates in a lot of hazardous substances. Recently, the ministry of environment, forest, and climate change has categorized the electronic waste disposal business as a red category industry, citing the pollution it makes.
The ministry said that the e-waste disposal industry is the biggest threat to the environment since it generates the highest pollution load in the sector.
For making the waste disposal process more effective, experts suggest a recycling fund as practiced in the US and Europe where the consumers have to pay an additional amount when they purchase electronic goods and the same is reimbursed when they return the product to an authorized disposal firm.
By Atanu Kumar Das
