Dealing with e-waste

The electronic revolution has brought in its wake a new kind of health and environmental hazard, in the form of electronic waste or e-waste, unheard of till a couple of decades ago. Today, the country is believed to be generating over 150,000 tonnes of e-waste annually, much of which is dumped in ordinary landfills along with municipal garbage. Few realise that the discarded computers, cell phones, TVs, VCRs and other electronic gadgets contain several substances that generate injurious electro-magnetic radiation, as also metals like lead, barium and cadmium, which, if leached into the soil and groundwater, can pose grave health and environmental hazards. The volume of such e-waste requiring safe disposal is going to swell exponentially, given the 45 per cent growth rate of the computer industry and the even faster growth of cell phones and other electronic equipment. Besides, the obsolescence rate of e-goods is high due to quickfire technological upgrades and consumer demand for cheaper, better and more versatile devices.

India's problem is typical of that faced by many other countries, but its preparedness for dealing with it can be questioned. Unlike countries like Japan and members of the European Union, which have enacted legislation to deal with the problem, India does not have a well-crafted policy, let alone a proper legal framework. E-waste therefore is treated like other hazardous wastes and covered under the umbrella Environment (Protection) Act of 1986. There are over a dozen sets of rules, regulations and notifications concerning environment and hazardous substances and waste in general, but none of them applies specifically to the management of e-waste and the risks it poses. The environment ministry has only recently started evolving suitable guidelines for treating e-waste. What needs to be borne in mind is that mere guidelines, however well conceived, may not serve the purpose if they are not backed by a suitable enforcement mechanism. The fact that a sizeable chunk of e-waste is generated and also disposed of by the unorganised sector makes the enforcement of any guidelines all the more difficult.

Indeed, e-waste management is a highly technical task that is best handled by technically competent machinery. From this viewpoint, it is important that the manufacturers are involved in e-waste management as they determine and, therefore, know what has gone into electronic goods and how they can be disposed of safely. Their involvement would also spur them to look for safer and conveniently disposable components. Some countries have tried to do this by making it obligatory for manufactures to take back old and discarded equipment for either upgrade or disposal in a suitable and safe manner. But even this route needs to be taken cautiously as it can lead to recycling and re-use of hazardous products by putting them into secondary products that eventually will require disposal though, of course, at a later date. It is important that all these aspects are kept in view while formulating a policy or legal framework for dealing with e-waste, lest what is today a nascent problem mushroom into a full-blown crisis.