The pandemic-induced work-from-home (WFH) culture and online classes for students is witnessing a big spike in the generation of e-waste in India and could lead to an environmental catastrophe due to their haphazard disposal, experts have warned.
India is the world바카라s third largest producer of e-waste바카라electronic garbage such as television sets, computer peripherals, laptops, mobile phones and others바카라after the US and China.
India generated over 10 lakh tonnes of e-waste during 2019-20.
Experts cite data to say that on an average, each family has now more than 2 laptops and 4 mobile phones. The discarding of such a large amount of e-waste carelessly will impact the environment severely, further contributing to climate change. Though India has a legal framework for handling e-waste since 2011, the rules are frequently violated due to lack of awareness among the people. In India, around 95% of e-waste is still handled by informal sector.
The disposal of e-waste in garbage bins and dumps contributes significantly to climate change as many chemicals are released when they are burned along with other waste. Electronics contain materials like copper, aluminium and iron and when equipment are burnt they accumulate these metals in air.
There are various legislations like Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2003, Guidelines for Environmentally Sound Management of E-waste, 2008 and E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 to regulate the disposal and management of e-waste in India. However, their implementation is mostly on papers. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report found that over 75 per cent of state bodies were not implementing these laws.
Pascal Leroy, director general of the WEEE Forum, says, 바카라Many factors play a role in making the electrical and electronics sector resource efficient and circular. But one thing stands out: as long as citizens don바카라t return their used, broken gear, sell it, or donate it, we will need to continue mining all-new materials causing great environmental damage.바카라 He adds that on October 14, the organisation celebrated International E-Waste Day with focus on making e-products a circular economy.
Brussels-based WEEE Forum, a not-for-profit international association representing 45 organisations across the world, says global e-waste generation is growing annually by 2 million tonne, or about 3 to 4%, a problem attributed to higher consumption rates of electronics (increasing 3% annually), shorter product lifecycles and limited repair options.
According to the UN, in 2021 each person on the planet will produce on average 7.6 kg of e-waste, meaning massive 57.4 million tonnes will be generated worldwide. Only 17.4 per cent of this electronic waste containing a mixture of harmful substances and precious materials will be recorded as being properly collected, treated and recycled. This year바카라s mountain of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) will total about 57.4 million tonnes바카라greater than the weight of the Great Wall of China, Earth바카라s heaviest artificial object.
Ruediger Kuehr, director of the SCYCLE Programme and Head of UNITAR바카라s Office in Bonn, the value of EEE components in the world바카라s 바카라urban mines바카라 is enormous. 바카라A tonne of discarded mobile phones is richer in gold than a tonne of gold ore,바카라 Dr. Kuehr points out. 바카라Embedded in 1 million cell phones, for example, are 24 kg of gold, 16,000 kg of copper, 350 kg of silver, and 14 kg of palladium바카라resources that could be recovered and returned to the production cycle. And if we fail to recycle these materials, new supplies need to be mined, harming the environment.바카라 He adds that the recovery of gold and other material from waste saves carbon dioxide emissions when compared with virgin metal mining.
Notably, corporates in India are also moving to new initiatives to handle their e-waste. IT major Accenture in October 2020, set three industry-leading sustainability goals for themselves globally. These are achieving net-zero emissions, moving to zero waste and planning for water risk by 2025. By 2025, Accenture plans to reuse or recycle 100% of its e-waste, such as computers and servers.
Talking to Outlook, Accenture spokesperson said, 바카라We are making significant strides towards these goals in India바카라we have already achieved 69% of our waste recycling goals.바카라
The company is also donating its IT equipment such as desktops to support local communities by supporting access to education. The company has donated thousands of its desktops to NGOs supporting education as part of the 바카라Digital Daan바카라 initiative by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).
The spokesperson said, 바카라The pandemic and consequent school closures have widened the existing digital divide in India. When schools and colleges closed, millions of disadvantaged students in India found themselves with no means to access digital classrooms as only a small section of Indian households possess a computer, laptop or tablet. That바카라s why, we have been on a mission to enable continuous learning for all through our desktop donation initiative.바카라
Environmental experts says public awareness and discarding e-waste responsibly by public along with government바카라s initiative to push for re-cycling of this e-waste could help India arrest the problem before it바카라s too late.
