E-Waste

Management

By Aryan Maheshwari
What is E-Waste?

⪢ Short for Electronic Waste

⪢ Electrical equipment that is discarded

after reaching the end of their useful life

⪢ Products are “dumped” rather than

recycled by the consumer
Products Discarded

⪢ Computers, Servers, Refrigerators, Medical

Apparatus, Mobile Phones, Television, etc.
Fact Sheet
1. 80 to 85% of electronic products are discarded in landfills or
incinerators, which release certain toxins into the air

2. 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste is disposed worldwide each

year.

3. Only 12.5% of e-waste is currently recycled.

4. Large number of e-waste is not actually waste, but parts that can
be reused or recycled for material recovery.

5. For every 1 million cell phones recycled, 16,000 kgs of copper,

350 kgs of silver, 34 kgs of gold, and 15 kgs of palladium can be
recovered.
E-Waste Concerns

Toxins Landfills
Vegetation
⪢ Released during the ⪢ Increases size of
dismantling and landfills → More ⪢ Pollutes groundwater
processing greenhouse effect → & soil through runoff
Climate Change
⪢ Lead, Cadmium, ⪢ Cadmium, Beryllium,
Beryllium, Lead ⪢ Global Warming, Mercury, Zinc, and
Oxides, Mercury, etc. rising sea levels, less Lead
nutritious foods
⪢ Damages human ⪢ Leads to birth defects
nervous and ⪢ Heat strokes, loss of and organ damage
respiratory system homes, malnutrition
Major Concern
⪢ Smuggling of millions of tons
of foreign e-waste into
countries in Africa and Asia
each year

⪢ Countries have to deal with

their own and other countries
electronic equipment

⪢ Workers use crude techniques

to extract the value from
electronics!
Cause of E-Waste
Development, Technology, Human
Mentality, Population
Development

⪢ Developing Countries facing a

steep rise in the sales of electrical
equipment

⪢ Sales of computers and internet

usage has gone up by 400% in
developing countries

⪢ Increased sales = more wastage

Technology

⪢ Technology is growing very quickly

with newer products introduced all
the time.

⪢ Advancements in technology, new

features, new designs → appealing
buyers
Human Mentality

⪢ Lack of care for products →

Replace when breaks instead of
purchasing protective gear

⪢ Cheaper products →
Replacement frequently instead
of long-term

⪢ More Money → Substitute older

products with newer ones
Population

⪢ Increasing population → More people to

buy electronics

⪢ With more buyers, production increases

for the product

⪢ These products are disposed after time

with arrival of newer technology
E-Cycling!
Methods, Advantages, Disadvantages, Is
it worth?
What is it & How does it work?

E-Cycling;
⪢ Practice of recycling or reusing
electronic equipment &
components rather than discarding
them

Methods;
1. Sell or donate to organizations in
need
2. Send back to manufacturer
3. Send to a recycler
Advantages

1. Reclamation & Reuse of important

elements
○ Eg. Gold and Copper

2. Reuse → Downsize need for

mining resources → Save
environment

3. Not an infinite amount of

resources; Conserve & Reuse
Disadvantages

1. E-Cycling is extremely expensive

from the heavy metals
○ E-Waste Recycling Fee that
retailers must pay

2. Small harm to environment from

the melting of components

3. Lack of awareness!
Is it worth…

⪢ Resources can be reclaimed and reused which Earth only

has a limited supply of.

⪢ Even though the process is expensive, the end results are

worth it.

⪢ Healthier and cleaner environment can be achieved from

E-cycling. A lot less harm is done from it.
E-Waste in India
Challenges & Legislation
Figure 2. Percent share of e-waste imports in India from different
countries.
Concerns & Challenges

⪢ Unavailability of accurate figures

⪢ Low level awareness among manufacturers and consumers

⪢ Most is processed by informal sector using rudimentary techniques

⪢ E-Waste workers have almost no knowledge of the toxins in e-

waste

⪢ Inefficient Recycling processes

⪢ ‘Cherry Picking’ by recyclers

○ Selecting appliances with high value
E-waste Legislation

E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules; 2011

⪢ Enabled recover and reuse of useful material
⪢ Addressed safe and environment friendly handling of e-waste

E-Waste (Management) Rules; 2016

⪢ Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO)
○ Requires producers to meet a waste target, which will gradually
increase
⪢ Producers must ensure waste reaches to authorized recycler/dismantler

2018 Amendment
⪢ Producer must make sure parts or spares do not contain certain
pollutants beyond a maximum concentration level.
⪢ Declaration and documentation
⪢ Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) can conduct random checks to
ensure compliance
Figure 3. E-waste generation in India, States wise.