National Conference on Green Engineering and Technologies (NCGET 2011) 23-24 September 2011 ISBN 978-81-910991-1-9

ELECTRONIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

Babuponnusami.A, PalanivelMurugan.M, Suresh.A.K Department of Chemical Engineering, Adhiparasakthi Engineering College ababupo nnusami@gmail.com, 89pazhanivel@gmail.com, a.k.suresh.chem.engg@gmail.com
Abstract - The current practices of e-waste management in India suffer from a number of drawbacks like the difficulty in inventorisation, unhealthy conditions of informal recycling, poor awareness and reluctance on part of the corporate to address the critical issues. Electronic waste or ewaste consists of obsolete electronic devices which are caused to the environmental change. The ewaste material which including iron, copper, aluminum, gold and other metals over 60%, while plastics account for about 30% and hazardous pollutants only about 2.7%(Widmer et al, 2005). In this paper contains what is the current scenario of e-waste management in India. The sources of the ewaste are IT and Telecom industries, large and small household appliances, electronic and electrical tools, medical devices, monitoring and control equipment. At the end of 2010, 500 million mobile users (80%), 80million computers (20%) over 15 million old PCs are ready to disposal and also TV (18%). Nowadays the e-waste disposal is done by unsafe method by manually informal recycling as lack of awareness. These are disposed with safety handling by the way of collecting and transportation, treatment and proper disposal system. The recyclers zone also involved in the disposal of e-waste management system. 2009 They are collecting e-waste from material recovery technologies. In country the recyclers are often handled open roasting, smelting and acid bath for getting useful component from e-waste. We can resolve the e-waste minimization by the optimization usage of electronic things and equipment in household and industry also. The paper highlights the associated issues and management of e-waste to emerge this problem, in the light of initiatives in India. Keywords: obsolete electronic device, environmental change, sources of e-waste, material recovery technologies, optimization usage.
1. INTRODUCTION E-waste is defined as the electronic equipment/products that connect with power plug, Batteries which have become obsolete due to advancement in technology, changes in fashion, style and status, near the end of their useful life. The electronic industry is the worlds largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry (RATHA 2002).The

main problems of e-waste are the most rapidly growing. It is a crisis of not quantity alone but also a crisis born from toxics ingredients, posing a threat to the occupational health as well as the environment. The rapid technology change, low initial cost, high obsolescence rate have resulted in a fast growing problem around the globe, legal framework, proper collection system missing. Inhuman working conditions for recycling. The e-waste fraction including iron, copper, aluminum, gold and other metals over 60%, while plastics account for about 30% and hazardous pollutants comprise only about 2.7% (Widmer et al.., 2005). The classification of ewaste is shown in table 1.1.Mechanism of e-waste trade can be explained in terms of three elements. These elements are given below. Material flow along the Life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment including the phase of obsolescence within a Geographical boundary forms the basis of e-waste generation in cities/countries. 1.1 Types of E-Waste

Classification of e-waste Mobile phones Printer CD Military electronics Washing machine Air conditioner

Computer

Scanner Microwave Cartridges

Automobile catalytic convertor Alarm siren Sensor Telecom Server and

Security device TV Calculators

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National Conference on Green Engineering and Technologies (NCGET 2011) 23-24 September 2011 ISBN 978-81-910991-1-9

2. INDIAN CURRENT SCENERIO ON E-WASTE PRODUCTION According to a report of Confederation of Indian Industries, the total waste generated by obsolete or broken down electronic and electrical equipment in India has been estimated to be 1,46,000 tons per year (Kurian Joseph,2007). The results of a field survey conducted in the Chennai, a metropolitan city of India to assess the average usage and life of the personal computers (PCs), television (TV) and mobile phone showed that the average household usage of the PC ranges from 0.39 to 1.7years, depending on the income class (Kurian Joseph, 2007). In the case of TV it varied from 1.07 to 1.78years and for mobile phones varied from 0.88 to 1.7years. The low-income households use the PC for 5.94 years, TV for 8.16 years and the mobile phones for 1.63 years. Further, it is growing at a faster rate. The growth rate of the mobile phones (80%) is very high compared to that of PC (20%) and TV (18%). The public awareness on e-waste and the willingness of the public to pay for e-waste management as assessed during the study based on an organized survey revealed that about 50% of the public are aware of environmental and health impacts of the electronic items. The enthusiasm of public to pay for e-waste management ranges from 3.57% to 5.92% of the product cost for PC, 3.94% to 5.95% for TV and 3.4% to 5% for the mobile phones. The e-waste production in Indian cities are shown in table 2.1

'There are 36,165 hazardous waste generating industries in the country. 6.2 million Tonnes of hazardous waste is generated by them every year, of which land fillable waste is 2.7 million tonnes, incinerable 0.41 million tonnes and recyclable hazardous waste is 3.08 million tonnes,' the ministry said. As per the hazardous waste (management, handling and trans-boundary movement) rules, 2008, all units handling e-waste need to register with the CPCB and the hazardous wastes generated should be given to an authorized recycler or re-user.

Fig.1 Issues and Challenges in e-waste management

3. E-WASTES MANAGEMENT The current practice on e-waste management in India was not up to the level due to the various reasons as shown in Fig.1. E-wastes are currently managed in the following steps. 1.E-waste collection and transportation system 2.E-waste treatments system 3.E-waste disposal system E-waste collection system consists of producer/retailer take back system. Since e-waste is hazardous in nature, it is collected, stored and transported under controlled conditions. Each of the agencies should have its own e-waste collection and storage centers. The collection methods will vary based on distance, rural or urban patterns and the size of collected appliances. Some categories will require specific collection routes like flatbed collection (for refrigerators and other reusable household appliances). 3.1. TECHNOLOGY AVAILABLE

Table 2.1: E-waste Production in Indian cities

e-waste production cities in India Mumbai Delhi Bangalore Chennai Kolkata Ahmedabad Hyderabad Pune Indore
Source: CPCB annual report 2010.

Tonnes annum 50000 35000 30000 20000 19000 14000 13000 10000 8000

per

Input: E-waste items like TV, refrigerator and PCs

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National Conference on Green Engineering and Technologies (NCGET 2011) 23-24 September 2011 ISBN 978-81-910991-1-9

Unit operations involved in first level of treatment Removal of all liquids and gases Dismantling (manual) Segregation Output: 1. Segregated hazardous wastes like CFC, Mercury (Hg) Switches, CRT, batteries and capacitors. 2. Decontaminated e-waste consisting of segregated non-hazardous e-waste like plastic, circuit board and cables 3.2. POSSIBLE STEPS FOR DISPOSING EWASTE Step 1: Determine e-waste trade value chain in a city/geographic region. Step 2: Determine existing and future item-wise ewaste inventory in a city/geographic region. Step 3: Determine item-wise e-waste quantities collected and segregated in informal/unorganized and formal/organized sectors. Step 4: The output of above step will give an idea of existing capacity of informal/unorganized and formal/organized sectors in e-waste treatment Step 5: Determine recovery quantities of items of economic value from existing e-wise quantities treated in informal/unorganized and formal/organized sectors. Step 6: Determine existing item-wise e-waste fraction quantities disposed and disposal procedure using the data collected from survey. 4. CONCLUSION Solid waste management, which is a mammoth task in India, is becoming more complicated by the assault of e-waste, particularly computer waste. There exists an urgent need for assessment of the current and future scenario including quantification, characteristics, existing disposal practices, environmental impacts etc. Policies should include development of e-waste regulation, control of import and export of e-wastes. Take-back and exchange program can be followed for e-waste reduction. Endof life management should be made a priority in the design of new electronic products.

5. REFERENCES [1] Central Pollution Control Board annual report (2010), India. [2] KuriyanJoseph,(2007) SardiniaEleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium . [3]Ratha G. (2002). A Study of the Performance of the Indian IT Sector at www.nautilus.org accessed on 21st June 2005. [4]Widmer R et al.,(2005)Global perspectives on ewaste.

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