Recycling of e-waste materials for controlling the environmental and human heath degradation in India

Abstract

Electronic waste or electrical waste (e-waste) is comparatively a new accumulation to the more-increasing harmful waste stream. The developing countries are faced with huge challenges related to the invention and organization of electronic waste that are either inside produced or imported illegitimately. The six critical aspects of e-waste, i.e., generation, management, nature of e-waste components, progressive use of e-waste management, control, and training, are studied in this research work. Only 20% of worldwide electronics waste is reusable. India position 177 in the 180 countries and is between the base 5 countries on the Environmental Performance Index 2018. Since 2018, India produces higher than 2 million tonnes of electronics waste yearly, and moreover imports massive quantity of electronics waste from other countries. Waste Management in India represented that computer parts account for approximately 70% of electronics waste, followed by telecommunication phones (12%), electrical instruments (8%), and health checkup apparatus (7%) with residual from domestic electronics waste. The electronics waste contains Pb, Cd, Hg, Au, Cu and several toxic heavy metals those are harmful to human health and animals. India's electronics waste is reusable in the casual segment and in a simple mode. This study results represents that the awareness level of e-waste generation and its processing practices those are most required in India. But the extended producer responsibility concept is becoming influential. The main object of this review paper is to create effective awareness in various levels (of society) to reduce the adverse impact on the environment and health arising out the polluting technologies used in recycling e-waste in unorganized sector.

Keywords

• Electronics waste
• Toxic waste
• Risk management and environmental protection