According to Assocham-ckinetics recent study, India is emerging as one of the world’s major electronic waste generators and likely to generate 52 lakh metric tonnes (mt) per annum by 2020 from the current level 18 lakh metric tonnes growing at a CAGR of about 30 per cent.
By Belal Khan
The global volume of e-waste generated is expected to reach 130 million tons in 2018 from 93.5 million tons in 2016 at a CAGR of 17.6 per cent from 2016 to 2018.
As Indians become richer and spend more electronic items and appliances, Computer equipment accounts for almost 70 per cent of e-waste material followed by telecommunication equipment (12 per cent), electrical equipment (8 per cent) and medical equipment (7 per cent). Other equipment, including household e-crap account for the remaining 4 per cent, it said.
The sad part is that a mere 1.5 per cent of India’s total e-waste gets recycled due to poor infrastructure, legislation and framework which lead to a waste of diminishing natural resources, irreparable damage of environment and health of the people working in industry.
Over 95 per cent of e-waste generated is managed by the unorganised sector and scrap dealers in this market, dismantle the disposed products instead of recycling it.
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.
The main sources of electronic waste in India are the government, public and private (industrial) sectors, which account for almost 75 per cent of total waste generation. The contribution of individual households is relatively small at about 16 per cent; the rest being contributed by manufacturers.
Though individual households are not large contributors to waste generated by computers, they consume large quantities of consumer durables and are, therefore, potential creators of waste, reveals the Assocham study.
