E-waste, a growing concern for India!
In India, there is a growing concern over the unregulated framework
for the disposal of massive amounts of Electronical Waste (E-Waste) that is
accumulating at alarming rates in the trash dumps of India. Our modern technological
advancements that impact and improve our quality of life come at a price. The cost
to human health and the environment have huge implications for India. Today, new
electronic products are rendered obsolete very rapidly creating an urgency to
develop recycle and disposal systems to rid the country of the E-Waste
pollution of the country.
Rapid technological advancement and ever increasing obsolescence rate of consumer electronics and electrical items has undoubtedly created the precarious situation. Our failure to devise nonhazardous ways of waste disposal was grimly highlighted during the Mayapuri radiation leak case in early 2010. The incident where a person lost his life due to exposure to Cobalt-60 at Mayapuri scrapyard in West Delhi should have ideally served as a wake-up call for our authorities towards the unmonitored mounting quantity of hazardous waste including E-waste…
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab are among the top
ten states generating about 70 per cent of the total E-waste in India. These are
the areas that information needs to be communicated on how to dispose of
electronics to lessen the impact on the environment. These are the areas, too
that the recycle and disposal systems development should be focused on because
the mounting piles of cellphones and electronics is not letting up or going
away.
The extent of this growing crisis for both India and China can
be seen by looking towards the prediction for the year 2020:
According to a report named “E-waste in India” by Rajya
Sabha Secretariat, E-waste from old computers would jump by 400 per cent on
2007 levels in China and by 500 per cent in India by 2020. In addition, E-waste
from discarded mobile phones would be about seven times higher than 2007 levels
and, in India, 18 times higher by 2020.
Mere
enactment of laws is not enough if there is no enforcement. The E-waste
Management and Handling Rules put the responsibility of e-waste management
needs to be placed on the manufacturers or brands of these products through
India’s principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Another problem that
needs to be addressed is compliance from the producers.
There are no monitoring systems or evaluation mechanisms in
place to regulate the toxic hazardous waste and other waste from electric
products and it will continue to be hazardous to human health and the environment.
A safe, non-hazardous disposal and recycle system for these electronics needs
to be put in place to keep the ecological health of India safe and laws need to
be enforced. Finally, the general public’s lack of awareness on this issue needs
to be addressed.
Article by: Rashi Aditi Ghosh / Zee Research Group /
Delhi
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