India's e-waste to go upto 60 lakh tons by 2012

TOXIC TECHNOLOGY: India may become a backyard of everyone's toxic technology without proper rules.

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New Delhi: Osee's been typing away at this laptop since college, her music system is a decade old and so is her 1st mobile phone. This 23 year old research consultant is in need of a product overhaul. But what does she plan to do with her old equipment?

"I want to junk the old phone, I will try and give the laptop to a servant, and maybe exchange the music system in some scheme. If not, it all goes into the garbage can," says she.

Consumers, retailers and manufacturers routinely junk old computers, mobile phones, TVs, appliances and other electronic equipment.

Fast moving technology and a shorter shelf life of products have meant that Indians today generate over 1.4 lakh tons of e-waste.

Member Greenpeace, Ramapathy Kumar says, "Current e-waste will jump from 148,000 tonnes to 60 lakh tones by the year 2012."

And this is a lethal prospect. Circuit boards, semi-conductors and batteries, contain toxic substances, lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and even carcinogens such as carbon black and phosphor — a deadly mix that has huge health and environmental repercussions if not handled properly.

Most e-waste recycling is done by the un-organised sector in places where metal recovery of computer parts takes place.

The first thing you see in such places are circuit boards strewn all over. You also notice a strong smell of acid and corroding circuitry and there are vast deposits of yellow caustic soda and acid which are following into the nearby fields.

However, it looks like the Government finally wants to fix the mess. They are in the process of finalising a set of guidelines to regulate e-waste recycling.

The MOEF and the Pollution Control Board plan to allow private players to set up sophisticated dismantling and recycling facilities across the country and they are offering them a big incentive.

Central Pollution Control Board's Dr B Sengupta says, "Computer chips and television monitors have a novel metal, which should be recovered."

However, environmentalists aren't kicked.

"It has no legal binding mechanism to control or regulate industry players. That is one loophole. The other thing is that the Government’s guidelines deal with the treatment of e-waste rather than the management of e-waste. And what about all the international waste that's coming in?" asks Ramapathy Kumar.

Experts worry that if proper rules are not put in place soon, India could well become a smoldering backyard of everyone's toxic technology.