BANGALORE, INDIA: As per MAIT-GTZ e-Waste Assessment Study 2007, India generated 3,80,000 tonnes of e-waste, in 2007, (Bangalore alone contributed around 5,000 tonnes (PC and mobile phones only) into the heap), which accounts for 1040 tonnes per day!

Though, no fresh studies have been conducted post this study, MAIT projections suggest that by the end of the year 2008, e-waste generated would be 4,56,000 tonnes based on 20 percent growth rate in ICT sector. Moreover, India will generate 4.7 lakh tonnes of e-waste by 2011, as per the same study.

If you thought the list ends here and all we have to bear is the brunt of our own doings, then you got it wrong. As per studies (MAIT-GTZ report 2007), India received around 50,000 tonnes of e-waste through imports alone in 2007. The menace doesn’t end here. Much more was imported in the guise of charity and reuse from the West, and as per sources 85 percent of such 'imports' were from the US and UK alone!

“However, these figures are conservative, as it includes only three segments of electronic products namely PC, mobile phones and TV, which constitute a mere 30 percent of the total electronic products put in the market. Therefore, total e-waste generated in India would be three times more than what the studies project!,” sources from Greenpeace aver.

So let’s put it in figures. As per studies, India generated around 4 lakh tonnes of e-waste in 2008. But if the hidden elements are to be taken into account, India must have generated around 12 lakh tonnes of the scrap, which is enormous. Adding to the lot are the charity imports. So the figures would be much more than we could even assume.

E-waste: Where to find them?
Many of us must have given off electronic stuff to scrap dealers, or simply dumped them into  municipality vans, since we couldn’t figure what else to do with them. The scene is no different elsewhere in India.

Awareness levels in terms of what to be done with electronic/electrical wastes is very low at all levels, in India. Even at the corporate level the scene is no different. The MAIT-GTZ study found that 94 percent of the organisations studied did not have any policy on disposal of obsolete products.

Of the total e-waste, only about forty percent finds its way into the recycling stream while the rest sixty percent remain in warehouses/storehouses due to poor/inefficient collection system or else routed to backyard recyclers. The scenario hasn't changed much even after two years down the line.

So, it can be found anywhere, even inside the godown of your office, in the backyards of a landfill or even in the locality where you reside.

People take it for granted that these scraps will be taken care of and recycled, which is true to a certain extend. “In India, some of these components are recycled and cannibalised (i.e extracting working components for further manufacturing). However, components with non-reusable or non-recyclable toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, PVC, BFR etc. are dumped in open,” Sources from Greenpeace aver.

It is from these dumpyards or backyard recyclers that the other side of the story begins.