India generates about 18 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste, being the fifth largest in the world. A study has found that India is likely to generate 52 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste by 2020 becoming the world's major electronic waste generators, a study by Assocham-cKinetics predicts.
According to the study on Electronic Waste Management in India, the global volume of e-waste generated is also expected to reach from 93.5 million tonnes to 130 million tonnes in 2018 at an annual growth rate of 17.6%. E-waste is nothing but discarded computer monitors, motherboards, printed circuit boards, mobile phones and chargers, compact discs, headphones, LCD/Plasma televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators and so on.
Computer equipment accounts for almost 70% of e-waste material followed by telecommunication equipment (12%), electrical equipment (8%) and medical equipment (7%). Household e-waste accounts for the remaining 4% found the study.
The majority of e-waste generated is managed by the unorganized sector and scrap dealers who just dismantle the product instead of recycling it. It was found that only 1.5% of the country's total e-waste gets recycled which causes a harm to natural resources.
E-waste landfill. Image source: Wikimedia commons
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According to the study, the main sources of electronic waste in India are the government and the public and private sectors, which account for almost 75% of the total waste generation. The contribution of individual households stands at 16%.
DS Rawat, secretary general of Assocham said "In India, about 4 lakh to 5 lakh child labourers in the age group of 10-15 years are engaged in various e-waste management activities in various yards and recycling workshops, but lack adequate protection and safeguards."
-by Vrushali Mahajan, an intern at NewsGram. Twitter: Vrushali Mahajan
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