Informal e-waste recycling rampant in India: UN

New York : Severe health risks and environmental damage are “widespread” in India, owing to “very  low” literacy levels of the  people involved in the manual electronic-waste recycling business, warns a new United Nations (UN) report.

According to the ‘Global E-waste Monitor 2017’ report released this week, India’s electronics industry is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and plays an “important role” in the domestic generation of electronic-waste, producing two million metric tonnes (Mt) in 2016. The report, which is a collaborative effort of the United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union and the International Solid Waste Association, shows that the amounts of e-waste continue to grow, while too little is being recycled.

By 2016, the world generated 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste and only 20 per cent was recycled through appropriate channels, it said, adding that China was the top e-waste producer in the world, generating 7.2 Mt. “In the Southern and South-Eastern Asia region, India plays an important role in the domestic generation of e-waste (2 Mt in 2016) due to the large population, but the country also imports from developed countries,” the report said. With India’s electronics industry being one of the fastest growing industries in the world, a formal e-waste recycling sector is currently being developed in the major cities.

“However, informal recycling operations have been in place for a long time, with over one million poor people in India involved in manual recycling operations. Most of these people have very low literacy levels with little awareness of the dangers of the operations,” the report said. “Severe health impacts and environmental damage are widespread in India, due to the final step of the e-waste processing by the informal sector,” it warned. The report said that India has had e-waste rules in effect since 2011. “The rule mandates producers to be responsible for the collection and financing of systems according to the Extended Producer Responsibility concept,” it said.

Although 66 per cent of the world’s population is covered by e-waste legislation, more efforts must be made to enforce, implement, and encourage more countries to develop e-waste policies, the report said.

In May 2016, a Factor Daily article  said there were some 170 authorised recyclers in India at that point. The article highlighted that a quarter of India’s three million tonnes of e-waste generated every year was being dumped in Seelampur, a semi-urban pocket located some 10 kilometres northeast of New Delhi. “Most workers in Seelampur earn less than Rs 200 a day. Their income is linked to how much they can dismantle and extract every day. It also depends on what they extract… metals like copper can fetch Rs 400 or more a kilo. Gold and silver can fetch much more but gold extraction is fraught with danger.”