E-waste mountain in Silicon Valley

Nischith N | NT

Driven by the troika of digitization, consumerism and obsolescence, Bengaluru city’s e-waste problem is now overwhelming its planners, as it poses a health and environment hazard. The country’s Silicon Valley now tops in electronic waste (ewaste) generation in India. E-wastes contain hazardous mat e r i a l s and therefore need to be collected and processed in safe and scientific conditions. However, in the absence of strict enforcement of rules, lack of awareness and dedicated collection infrastructure, most of the e-waste ends up with scrap dealers who operate in the informal or unorganized sector.

To overcome this Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is finally preparing to crack the whip on producers and consumers who improperly dispose of ewaste. It is planning to install 150-plus bins at government offices across Karnataka (50 in Bengaluru) to collect e-waste.

“As Bengaluru is an IT hub and more dependent on technology, electronic waste (e-waste) is generated when electronic and electrical equipment and appliances are unfit to use or have crossed the expiry date. Due to rapid technological advancements, increased production of newer products and compelling marketing strategies of brands result in shortening of the usable period of these goods, and end up in the accumulation of e-waste. So as the first of its kind initiative in India, strategic locations have been identified to place the bins. In Bengaluru these bins will be placed at 50 locations and at 100 other locations in different parts of the state,” said Srinivasulu, KSPCB Member secretary.

According to KSPCB, Karnataka generated 1,00,250 metric tonnes of e-waste in 2020-2021, out of which only 40 per cent reached the recycling and refurbishment units. The board has issued licences to 150 dismantler, refurbishing and recycling units, of which only 86 are operational. It is claimed that most of the ewaste is going into the informal sector, which the KSPCB finds difficult to track. The move to implement bins at all government offices is a step in this direction, claim officials.

“Most of the recycling units have closed and we do not have proper data to establish how much e-waste is actually generated in the state. Even the operational units are complaining that they do not get enough waste to recycle, refurbish and dismantle. The informal channels include recycling of electronics goods at repair shops, used product dealers. So now with the help of PRO who is responsible for collection, this new initiative will help. E-waste is a health and environmental hazard, containing toxic additives substances such as mercury, lead, cadmium which damages the human brain and coordination system,”says Rudresh Murthy, environmental officer at KSPCB.

According to the reports, one of the impediments is to track the lifecycle of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE), which includes Beginning of Life (BOL), Middle of Life (MOL) and End of Life (EOL) stages. Though the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had in 2016 introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which holds the producer accountable for the entire lifecycle of the product, most of the e-waste enters the open dump sites.

It is difficult to track the compliance of EPR targets by the EEE manufacturers. Computers, laptops, servers, main frames, monitors, compact discs, printers, scanners, fax machines, battery cells, mobile phones, televisions, medical apps, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, gaming equipment, solar panels etc comprise common e-waste. The role of PRO (product responsibility organization) can assist a producer in meeting their obligations such as achieving collection targets, setting up of collection centres and carrying awareness programmes. Last year, India generated 3.2 million tons of e-waste of which only 1.5 million tonnes reached the processing units. There is approximately a 50 per cent gap in the generation and treatment of e-waste.

In Bengaluru, the e-waste collection bins will be initially placed at Vidhana Soudha, High Court, malls and a few metro stations. In recent days, KSPCB, in collaboration with SA.

Disposing e-waste a major challenge

Our day-to-day life is wholly dependent on electronic goods such as mobile printer chargers, pen drives, floppy disk hard disks etc which continues the whole day. Refrigerator to washing machine mixer to grinder dish washer to mop everything today is comprises electronics.

Now the question is that though the government has banned plastic, which is harmful to the environment, what about the gadgets and components that become unusable after they outlive their utility?

Yes the biggest problem today is cleaning up the e-waste, which is not as easy as we use it extensively in our daily lives. As Bengaluru is known as a c