?E waste? - A Potential Threat to Health and Environment

ABSTRACT Electronic goods have transformed the way we live and work. Burgeoning demand for these goods has made this industry the largest and fastest growing across continents. Consumers are less aware of hazards of the electronic goods and afterlife of equipments. The change in society's consumption patterns, driven by large choices and rapid product obsolescence has created huge quantities of such end-of life or discarded products to the waste stream. This waste stream of used electronics is popularly known as electronic waste or e-waste. According to a report published by GTZ in 2007, India generated 380, 000 tonnes of e-waste from discarded computers, televisions and mobile phones. But now, India is the fifth largest producer of e waste and expected to generate 52 Lakh metric tonnes of e waste to the waste stream by 2020. Most of this waste is handled and managed by the informal sector in the by lanes of large cities and small towns, where it operates in clusters, specialising in particular process or component. These groups deal with this waste in most rudimentary fashion, recovering its constituents like metals, glass and plastics, and trade them in the scrap market. E-waste recycling by ill-equipped informal sector creates unhealthy and hazardous conditions for the workers and pollutes the environment. Recycling e-waste through improper technologies can lead to severe health and environmental damages. But if environmentally sound technologies are employed, e waste recycling can benefit the environment and economy.