India's growing ambition to become a digital economy cannot be fulfilled without accounting for the consequences in the form of e-waste generation, which also poses a major threat to the environment and human health
As the year 2017 draws to a close, some aspects of our daily life have changed for the better while some have become worse. One aspect of our lives that is deteriorating beyond human control is increasing levels of e-waste and inadequate handling of the same. According to a latest report released by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union, The Global E-Waste Monitor 2017, India generated nearly two million tonnes of electronic waste in 2016 of the 44.7 million tonnes produced globally.
For a country that is becoming increasingly digital, this quantum of e-waste generation was probably expected. However, the inability of a growing economy like India to not have a sound disposal strategy is not only concerning but also embarrassing on a global forum.
Electronic waste poses growing risk to the environment and human health. The Global E-Waste Monitor 2017 highlighted increasing levels of e-waste and its improper, unsafe treatment and disposal through burning or at dumpsites. Growing volumes of electronic waste, including discarded products with a battery or plug, such as mobile phones, laptops, televisions, refrigerators and electrical toys, pose a major threat to the environment and human health. They also present several challenges to sustainable development and to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is critical to have a better strategy for e-waste management and even better implementation of the same in order to achieve goals of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
Growing amounts of e-waste are a result of several trends. The global information society is growing at a breakneck speed and the same is true for India as well. It is characterised by an increasing number of users and rapid technological advances that are driving innovation and efficiency and social and economic development.
The year 2017 saw close to half the world’s population using the Internet, with now most people in the world having access to mobile networks and services. The lifespan of electronic devices is increasing and so is their affordability amid the fact that many people own more than one information and communication technology device.
Additionally, disposable incomes in many developing countries are increasing and the growing global middle class is able to spend more on electrical and electronic equipment, consequently generating more e-waste. Current trends suggest that the amount of e-waste generated will increase substantially over the next decade.
For instance, all the countries in the world combined generated a staggering 44.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) or an equivalent of 6.1 kilogram per inhabitant (kg/inh) of e-waste annually in 2016, compared to the 5.8 kg/inh generated in 2014. This is close to 4,500 Eiffel Towers each year. The amount of e-waste is expected to increase to 52.2 million metric tonnes or 6.8 kg/inh by 2021.
In Asia, India is only second to China in e-waste generation. Waste is a combined result of consumption of a large and ever growing population, besides electronic imports from countries across the world to India making the country one of the fastest electronics consumer in the world.
However, though India has a formal e-waste recycling mechanism in place, the country is plagued by the informal sector that handles a major quantum of e-waste. The informal sector employs nearly one million people who sift with bare hands through the e-waste, burn it and inhale the fumes, causing dangerous carcinogenic damage to their health and irreversible destruction for the environment.
Most of the people working in the informal waste-recycling sector have very low literacy levels with little awareness of the dangers of the operations. Severe health impacts and environmental damage are widespread in India due to the final step of the e-waste processing by the informal sector.
Though India has had the e-waste rules in effect since 2011, they mandate producers to be responsible for the collection and financing of systems, in accordance to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) concept. Further amendment to this rule came in 2015, which resulted in the implementation of E-waste Rule in 2016. The main feature of this rule is EPR. The amended rule has provisions for Producer Responsibility Organisations and Deposit Refund Scheme under EPR.
India’s ambition to be a digital economy cannot be complete without accounting for the consequences in the form of e-waste generation. Economic development that compromises human health and the environment is a self-goal for India and cannot be allowed.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)