E-Waste: The Biggest Environmental Crisis

Disposal of harmless looking electronic refuse such as TVs and computers, which contain toxic parts, is a huge problem

The batteries of your TV remote control are dead. Mobile phone chargers and CDs lie unused around the house, and the CFL is defunct. Not sure what to do, you throw these toxic items into the dustbin.

Workers at one of the many scrap shops at Mayapuri in west Delhi or Seelampur in the east dismantle computers, rip apart keyboards -- all bought from your local scrap dealer. Acid is used to clean toxic metal components and blowlamps remove chips from circuit boards.

The two techniques of disposing of and recycling defunct electronic and electrical waste — called e-waste — are different. But both poison the air, land and water.

Delhi gets 86 percent of the e-waste generated in the developed world and is fast turning into the world’s e-waste dumping yard, a recent study said. From the current 67,000 metric tonnes (MT) per annum, Delhi’s e-waste generation is likely to go up to 100,000 MT by 2017.

The United States accounts for the bulk of the e-waste imports into the country, followed by China and the European Union. Over 200,000 workers are engaged in the various organised and unorganised recycling units in Delhi.

Th e Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) website admits there are only 17 collection centres and only four authorised recyclers in the city. But it also cautions that disposal through unauthorised agencies will attract a fine of up to ` 1 lakh or jail for a maximum of five years or both.

“In the absence of proper infrastructure, legislation and framework, over 95% of e-waste is handled by the informal sector, and less than 5% reaches a recycler for safe disposal,” says Nitin Gupta of Attero, an e-waste collection and recycling firm authorised by the central pollution watchdog.
The government thinks framing of rules is enough to deal with the growing hazard. “In 2012, the Centre issued electronic waste rules that make it mandatory for electronic goods producers to take back e-waste. We have tied up with some recyclers who will pick up the waste regularly and dispose it of safely,” said a DPCC official.

With a deluge of new gadgets and latest technologies being launched every day, the discard rate of electronic devices has gone up drastically. But the disposal happens unscientifically and in an extremely hazardous way. As per a survey, as many as 32% of households in Delhi are not aware of proper ways to dispose of e-waste.

“While getting rid of their old computers, business houses look for good monetary return, discouraging recyclers to buy e-waste from them. People must follow the extended producer responsibility rules,” says Bharati Chaturvedi of Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group.
Her worries seem genuine. A study by Delhi-based Toxics Link this year revealerevealed that many reputed electronictronic companies are violating laws aand putting lives and environmeronment in danger by not buying back discarded items, resulting in haphaphazard disposal. “These do not hahave information of collectiontion ccentres. Consumers remain grossgrossly unaware, and depend on unaunauthorised collectors to get rrid of their e-waste,” said Satish Sinha of Toxics Link.

Bibliography - Hindustan Times (09 January 2015)

      

Plastic waste time bomb ticking for India

Precipitating the crisis, the daily generation of garbage is expected to rise from the current 2,300 trucks to 4,700 trucks by 2024, and Delhi will need an additional area more than the entire spread of Lutyens’ Bungalow Zone to dump its daily waste as early as 2020.  

Three of Delhi's four landfills are full;there's hardly any space left for 10,000 tonnes of waste generated everyday which is 0.8 kg per capita a day.The city waste is made of 55% of municipal waste(6,000 tonnes),3% of Electronic waste(30 tonnes),5% of biomedical waste(70 tonnes),7% plastic(900 tonnes) and 30% construction/demolition waste(4000 tonnes).

 Almost 85 per cent of the city does not have a formal door-to-door trash pickup system and if steps are not taken now, residents will have no option but to start throwing waste out of their doors, community bins ( dhalaos) will start overflowing, and only garbage will be seen on the streets — making Delhi drown in its own discards.

Landfills have been especially a problem. Because of poor and unscientific way of maintenance, the waste yards have become massive, polluting and stinking mountains of garbage. This is precisely the reason why people are bitterly opposed to new landfills in their neighbourhood.

The black thick liquid leachate — created when rainwater filters down through the landfill — has made the soil highly toxic. Rainwater runoff goes into surface-water drains and deadly methane is released in the air. More than a dozen landfills have been filled up in Delhi.

Despite court intervention, government and civic agencies have failed to find a way forward. The municipal corporations have now told the Delhi high court that “since there’s no other option, we have been forced to put human life and property at risk”.

Non- dumping options to mange waste have shrunk drastically. Burning waste no longer seems viable because of growing environmental concerns and poor segregation of waste. Compost plants are not doing well because manure doesn’t sell, and again becomes garbage.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has told the authorities to introduce waste segregation at source, a move that is likely to reduce pollution and ensure a much cleaner Delhi. People in residential and commercial areas will have to pay ‘ an appropriate amount’ for the service, aimed at reducing waste reaching overflowing landfills by 80% through recycling and composting.

As much as 50% of the waste is fit for composting and about 30 per cent of it can be recycled. Effective segregation at source, in transit and during disposal, will mean that only 20 per cent of refuse would be sent to landfills. This means a cleaner city with fewer waste stations, garbage trucks and longer life span for landfills. But even that’s not done properly.

The municipal corporations say residents don’t segregate waste. But residents ask what’s the use when eventually lands up at the same place. Segregation by residents will only work when the corporations have a complete door-to-door waste collection system and trash pickups have separate containers for dry and wet waste.

Experts say the authorities must ensure segregation and promote composting and recycling. They first need to quantify waste generation and study its composition for effective reduction targets.

But the corporations are not the only culprit in this messy story. Citizens who litter without a second thought are equally at fault. People can help in segregation, recycling and composting. While the entire country is following prime minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, closer home the city’s streets constantly reflect the need for such a drive to take shape urgently.

Bharati Chaturvedi of Chintan Group says: “Wet waste can be easily composted, or turned into bio- gas. To do this, we don’t need more large compost plants, but more and smaller ones, at the ward level. Those who can must start small composting at home. People must start reducing their own packaging. There can be no change without consuming less.” 

What Govt and Civic Agencies can do

• Ensure segregation at source, in transit and during disposal.
• Close overflowing landfills, ready portions for fresh use
• Provide more space for recycling 
• Ensure sale of manure produced in compost plants
• Ensure use of this manure in greening
• Set waste reduction targets.
• Check ground, air and water pollution at landfills
• Check effects on public health, especially by burning of waste
• Quantify waste and study its composition for effective handling. 

Bibliography - Hindustan Times (02 January 2015)