New Delhi, September 23: The boom in IT has a negative aspect as well: e-waste. It is a major concern for the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will soon come out with the policy on e-waste. There are plans to set up recycling plants in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

“A task force has been constituted and we are in the process of framing the rules,” said a senior official in the CPCB.

E-waste generally consists of obsolete devices such as DVDs, CDs, floppies, tapes and electronic components including chips, processors, mother boards, printed circuit boards and industrial electronics. Experts say e-waste contains many hazardous substances like heavy metals, PVC plastics, brominated flame retardants. While the density of e-waste in the country is on the rise, at present there is no e-waste recycling plant in India. “The waste is also disposed of in landfill, which if mixed up with water can cause problems to the humans,” said Gopal Krishna of Wastewatch.

Experiments are going on at a small scale at Eparisara in Bangalore, a non-government initiative. A stakeholder meeting on the issue was held in the Capital recently. Officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, CPCB and various NGOs were amongst others present at the meeting. Dr Ravindra, Director Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) from Bangalore gave a presentation on an overview of ongoing activities.Dr Vijyalaxmi of Development Alternative, who was also present in the meeting, appreciated the decisions taken by people over the subject.

Waste piling up
According to a survey by IRG systems South Asia, a subsidiary of the IRG, Washington DC, USA, the total waste from electronic and electrical equipment in India has been estimated to be 1,46,180 tonnes per year. Mumbai at present tops the list, followed by Delhi at 9,730 tonnes, Bangalore 4,648 tonnes, Chennai 4,132 tonnes and Kolkata 4,025 tonnes. Ahmedabad 3,287 tonnes, Hyderabad 2,833 tonnes, Pune 2,584 tonnes and Surat 1,836 tonnes figure in the list.


Indian Express, 24 September, 2005