Meaning of E-Waste :

Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling or disposal are also considered as e-waste. Informal processing of electronic waste in developing countries may cause serious health and pollution problems, as these countries have limited regulatory oversight of e-waste processing.

Material considered as E-waste:

Electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants. Even in developed countries recycling and disposal of e-waste may involve significant risk to workers and communities and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaking of materials such as heavy metals from landfillsand incinerator ashes.

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF E-WASTE

Lead

exerts toxic effects on various systems in the body such as the central (organic affective syndrome) and peripheral nervous systems (motor neuropathy), the hemopoietic system (anemia), the genitourinary system (capable of causing damage to all parts of nephron) and the reproductive systems (male and female)

 Mercury

causes damage to the genitourinary system (tubular dysfunction), the central and peripheral nervous systems as well as the fetus. When inorganic mercury spreads out in the water, it is transformed into methylated mercury, which bio-accumulates in living organisms and concentrates through the food chain, particularly by fish.

Cadmium

is a potentially long-term cumulative poison. Toxic cadmium compounds accumulate in the human body, especially in the kidneys. There is evidence of the role of cadmium and beryllium in carcinogenicity.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)

Affects lung, skin and bladder. Epidemiological studies in the past on occupational exposure to PAH provide sufficient evidence of the role of PAH in the induction of skin and lung cancers. 

ORGANIZATIONS/NETWORKS WORKING ON E-WASTE ISSUES

1. Knowledge bank for e-waste management in India.

The Asia Pro Ecoprogramme supported by the European Commission is dedicated to the environmental performance in Asian Economic sectors through the exchange of environmental policies, technologies and practices and to promote sustainable investment and trade between the European Union Member States and South Asia, South-East Asia and China.

2. The E-waste Guide, India (www.ewaste.in).

An Initiative of the Indo–German–Swiss Partnership [Ministry of Environment and Forests, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs] It is designed to serve as an information resource on e-waste as well as a common collaborative work platform for stakeholders.

3. National Solid Waste Association of India (NSWAI) (www.nswai.com).

A leading professional non-profit organization in the field of solid-waste management, including toxic and hazardous waste and also biomedical waste in India. It was formed in 1996. Its objectives include development of solid-waste management as a profession, research and development, development of expertise, standards and goods practices with regards to solid-waste management. Some of the others include improvement in legislation and creating awareness and community involvement.

4. Toxics Link (www.toxicslink.org).

A Delhi-based environment activist group with a mission of working for environmental justice and freedom from toxics. It is also actively involved in creating public awareness on environmental issues through publications, reports, articles and environment news bulletins besides organizing various events.

5. Others are stEP Workweb, WEEE Forum, Clean India, Indian Environmental Society, INDIA HABITAT CENTRE and Microbial Biotechnology Area of Tata Energy Research Institute

Electronic Waste – recycling laptops, computers and other electronic equipment.

Most electronic waste goes through a recycling system called a WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), which not only recycles 95-98%, by weight, of all ewaste passed through it, but ensures that any data left on hard drives and memories are thoroughly destroyed too.

§  Picking Shed – first all the items are sorted by hand and batteries and copper are extracted for quality control.

§  Initial Size Reduction Process – items are shredded into pieces as small as 100mm to prepare the ewaste to be thoroughly sorted. This is also where the data destruction takes place.

§  Secondary Size Reduction – the small debris is shaken to ensure that it is evenly spread out on the conveyor belt, before it gets broken down even more. Any dust extracted is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

§  Overband Magnet – using magnets, steel and iron are removed from the debris.

§  Metallic & Non-Metallic Content – aluminium, copper and brass are separated from the non-metallic content. The metallic can then be reused and resold as raw materials.

§  Water Separation – water is used to separate plastic from the glass content. Once divided all raw materials can then be resold.

Recycling Electronics

If donation for reuse or repair is not a viable option, households and businesses can send their used electronics for recycling. Recyclers recover more than 100 million pounds of materials from electronics each year. Recycling electronics helps reduce pollution that would be generated while manufacturing a new product and the need to extract valuable and limited virgin resources. It also reduces the energy used in new product manufacturing.

One thousand or more municipalities offer computer and electronics collections as part of household hazardous waste collections, special events, or other arrangements. In addition, public and private organizations have emerged that accept computers and other electronics for recycling. Depending on where you live and the amount of equipment you have, the best recycling option might be a county recycling drop-off center, TV repair shop, charitable organization, electronics recycling company, or even your local electronics retailer, which might collect used products and send them to a recycler. You can learn more about local electronics recyclers and collection events at EIA Environment – Consumer Education Initiative .

Many electronics manufacturers are accepting used household electronics for recycling. In some cases, these services are provided free-of-charge. Asset management and recovery programs have been available to major corporations and large purchasers of electronic equipment for quite some time. Now, electronics manufacturers are beginning to offer similar services for households and small businesses. The consumer pays to mail the product back. Fees keep changing, but generally range from seven dollars up. Some manufacturers and retailers are offering free or for-a-fee events in communities.