No solution to e-waste

Jalandhar city has yet to frame guidelines to organize discarded electronic items such as computers, cellular phones, audio and video devices, scanners and printers. While the city’s Municipal Corporation has framed bylaws for stray dogs, it has not been able to work out effective methods to manage e-waste.

Like China, India is also now dealing with the dilemma of E-WASTE, both locally generated and internationally imported. And Jalandhar, Punjab, is too facing such predicament.

While there have been some proposals to set regulations for e-waste management, overall, these hazardous wastes are still typically dismantled and recycled by hand in India in unorganized scrap yard settings that lack safeguards and government guidelines. Though the Indian Supreme Court banned the import of hazardous waste in 1997, 600 tons of e-waste still entered the country in the last six months under the guise of charitable or re-usable materials, all duty-free. It is estimated that the US alone exports 80 percent of its e-waste to China, India and Pakistan.

Jalandhar’s corporate industries, government factories, government and corporate offices mainly suffer from such problems.

E-waste is a popular and easy name for electronic gadgets nearing the end of their "useful life." Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled. Some researchers from city estimated that nearly 70-75 percent of old electronics are in storage, in part because of the uncertainty of how to manage the materials.

The biggest concern is the presence of toxic materials like lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic, printer cartridge inks and toners that pose significant health risks. These components can contaminate soil, groundwater and air and affect the workers of the recycling units. Toxic threat Iron and Steel were the most common materials found and accounted for half of the total e-wastes, followed by plastics and non-ferrous metals. Toxic substances and other harmful substances are usually concentrated in printed circuit boards.

I spoke to various experts in IT field (when I did this story for The Times of India-Jalandhar) and discussed various essential inns and outs of e-waste.

Parminder Saini, President, Jalandhar Computer dealer Association, says, “Precious metals on the earth are getting exhausted, and soon there will be no metals left to help in the innovation primarily for the development of green technology equipments. Gradually mines are getting profound and extraction of precious metals is getting exhausted. In another decade or so we will be touching the peak extraction level of precious metals. Environmentalists talk about using energy from the sun as an alternative to fossil fuel, but there is a need to have metals that can be used to make solar cells at a reasonable price. Contrary, if all these metals after reaching their peak extraction in the next five to ten years would be available then these would be very expensive.”

The total e-waste in different forms in the country would now come to around more than 1.46 lakh tonnes per year.

Rajiv Khanna, mg. Partner Computer Touch, shares, “The government should come up in a big way to regulate e-waste management as done in other western countries. We are one of the developing economies, and we tend to dispose our e-waste through kabadiwalas who retrieve metals from them, which is however, dangerous and employs child labor. The manufacturers of IT products have a bigger role to play as channel partners act as their market agents. The IT vendors that include Dell, Panasonic, HP, HCL, Nokia and Canon have already come out with their plans to regulate e-waste. LG Electronics has already launched ‘Mobile Take Back and Recycling Program’. HCL has also announced to accept e-waste under the ‘Green-Bag’ campaign through its Touch Centers across India. Canon & HP has already initiated its e-waste awareness campaign in web sites & with channel partners and installed collection boxes at their lounges, offices and premises of its corporate clients. HP India already offer buy-back offer for old printers with buying of new printers & drop box install for its range of used cartridges.”

With the lack of legislation, and the Union government’s laid-back attitude, e-waste has become a lucrative downstream business with environmentally-harmful recycling practices. The IT vendors and channel partners though agree on environmental needs but unfortunately are clueless when it comes to regulations.

With the absence of a monitoring system, the informal sector which constitutes around 95 percent, procure Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) products from scrap dealers, and resell it to backyard recyclers, who deploy lechers to recover precious materials from IT chips and PCBs.

The irony is that the channel fraternity that includes distributors and resellers are losing another practical business opportunity. The scope, though limited, has tremendous business potential through take-back schemes and rebate offerings together with IT vendors. This could be a lucrative stream, if the product vendors initiate reward program for equipment return through local dealers or resellers. However, at the helm of affairs, the shady state and the lack of initiative leads to improper dumping of e-waste, thus eliminating the lucrative option for end-users as well as opportunity for channel partners to earn few extra bucks.

With the demand for electronic goods increasing, tackling e-waste is going to be a major challenge for the administration and the Municipal Corporation.