E- Waste

 E-WASTE
 Categories
 Problems
 Growth
 Source of E-Waste
 Hazards
 Existing Legislation
 Need for Legal Framework
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
 Electronic waste or e-waste is any broken or unwanted
electrical or electronic appliance.

 E-waste includes computers, entertainment electronics,

mobile phones and other items that have been discarded by
their original users.
 Large household appliances
 Small household appliances
 IT and telecommunications equipment
 Consumer equipment
 Lighting equipment
 Electrical and electronic tools
 Toys, leisure and sports equipment
 Medical
 Monitoring and control instruments
 Automatic dispensers
 E-waste is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the
world.
 It is a crisis of not quantity alone but also a crisis born from
toxics ingredients, posing a threat to the occupational health
as well as the environment.
 Rapid technology change, low initial cost, high
obsolescence rate have resulted in a fast growing problem
around the globe.
 Legal framework, proper collection system missing.
 Imports regularly coming to the recycling markets.
 Inhuman working conditions for recycling.
 IT and telecom are two fastest growing industries in the
country.
 India, by 2008, has achieved a PC penetration of 65 per
1,000 .
 At present, India has 15 million computers. The target being
75 million computers by 2010.
 Over 2 million old PCs ready for disposal in India.
 Life of a computer reduced from 7 years to 3-5 years.
 India is now growing at about 10 million new mobile users
every month, and that pace of growth will continue.
 The mobile subscriber base in India rose by 50%, or more
than 130 mln, to 391.8 mln.
 Memory devices, MP3 players, iPods etc. are the newer
additions.
 Preliminary estimates suggest that total WEEE generation in
India is approximately 1,46,000 tonnes per year.
Three categories of WEEE account for almost 90% of
the generation:

Large Household appliances: 42.1%

Information and communications: 33.9%

technology equipment

Consumer Electronics: 13.7%

 Imports.
 Govt., public and private sector discards (over 70%)
 PC retailers, manufacturers.
 Secondary market of old PCs.
 Individual Households.
Average PC of approx. 31.5 kg Two million Obsolete PCs would
wt. contains: mean:

7.24 kg - Plastics 
14,427,000 kg
1.98 kg - Lead 
3,962,700 kg
0.693g - Mercury 
1,386 kg
0.4095g - Arsenic 
819 kg
2.961g - Cadmium 
5,922 kg
1.98g - Chromium 
3,969 kg
9.92g - Barium 
19,845 kg
4.94g - Beryllium 
9,891 kg
 Existing Legislation
 Trans boundary movement of E waste covered under the Basel
convention.
 India ratified the convention in 1992.
 Waste listed in list A and list B which prohibits such
movements.
 Waste importers exploit such gaps as listed in the convention.
 Allowed to import against a license.
 Covered under the “Hazardous Waste Amended Rules, 2003”
in List A and B of Schedule 3.
 The Rule is inadequate to handle generation, transportation
and disposal of this complex waste.
 Regulators unable to monitor and regulate the informal sector.
 Ban on total imports of E waste.
 Domestic legal framework to address the gaps in import of E
Waste.
 Need to address safe disposal of domestic waste.
 Tie recycling in with take-back product
responsibility.
 The Framework should address the issue of E waste imports
for reuse and recycling.
 Attract investment in this sector.
 Link up activities of informal sector with formal sector.
 Incorporate precautionary principles and polluter pays.
 http://www.e-waste.in
 www.toxicslink.org
 http://ewasteguide.info
 http://images.google.co.in