HYDERABAD: Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the fastest growing non-biodegradable waste in Hyderabad as it is the second largest IT Hub in south India after Bengaluru. Yet the majority of the e-waste is either ending up in the landfills or being recycled in the unregulated informal sector as it has an economic value.
“Most electrical and electronic equipment contains traces of valuable metals like gold, palladium, copper, silver, aluminium among others. They also contain toxic components like mercury, lead, cadmium, polybrominated flame retardants, barium and lithium,” says K Sree Harsha, project faculty, Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI).
“Apart from affecting the environment as they are non-biodegradable, they accumulate in the environment, in the soil, air, and water. Even when they are dismantled they release hazardous gases into the atmosphere. These toxic components affect human health by causing skin irritation, lung infections, kidney problems, nausea and others,” he says.
When the e-waste is collected by the authorised recyclers and dismantlers, the waste is dispersed in a controlled manner. But e-waste being a huge money spinner, a major portion ends up in unauthorised hands like scrap dealers who further damage the environment because of the defective practices. With upgraded models being launched at regular intervals and rapid surge in the buying capacity of people, the usage of electronic devices has increased drastically. The general public and many in the government sector are unaware of the proper disposal method of this growing digital dump.
“The Telangana government is signing MoUs with big companies, tying up with producers, banks and other organisations for the collection of e-waste, still a huge gap is left for the management. Strict rules and regulations should be formulated and implemented for proper disposal. Government should try to bring the informal sector into the authorised sector by providing compensation and subsidies. Right to Repair which is now prominent in many parts of the world and in India will also help in controlling E-waste. There is also a need for extensive awareness,” he avers.
The Telangana government has formulated the E-Waste Management Policy 2017 for the effective handling of the e-waste but the monitoring of the same noted by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board was only for the period 2016- 2020.
For the year 2020, the total E-waste collected was 37,857.99 Metric Tonnes (MT) with the monthly average being 3,156.06 MT. During the year there were three Recycling units and 9 Dismantling units. The biggest recycling unit Earth Sense recycle in Rangareddy has recycled 22129 MT.
The major contributors in Information and Technology and telecom equipment were Personal computers (CPU with input and output devices ) with 940.978 MT, Cellular telephones 212.4 MT, printers including cartridges 194.605 MT. While consumer electricals and electronics like television sets, LED and LCD accounted for 13484.83 MT and refrigerators were 12570.27 MT.