N India requires e-waste recycling plant, say experts

The northern region, which has a significant consumption of white goods (it contributes 12-25 per cent of the sales of a majority of the manufacturers), mobile telephony (about 1 crore subscriber base) and IT/ITES services, urgently needs an electronic waste-recycling plant on the lines of Karnataka, Chennai and Mumbai.

When asked if Chandigarh had any plan to set up such a unit Finance Secretary SK Sandhu said, "Right now we do not have any plan, but any company which is interested can put up its unit at the hardware park, which is coming up."

Software Technology Park of India (STPI) Director Sanjay Tyagi said: "According to STPI norms, they cannot dispose of the computers easily, but the obsolete computers are donated to charitable institutions. However, after that we do not have guidelines to monitor them. I think there is a need to educate the masses about the ill-effects and we are ready to play our role."

Industry experts say though the problem is not grave at present, it will pose a serious threat to the environment and health in the region in the near future.

They added the problem of electronic waste threatened to assume alarming proportions, in terms of the money needed to tackle it and the damage it does to the environment. As there is no such plant even in Delhi, the need becomes greater.

Electronic waste, or e-waste, is the term used to describe old, practically useless electronic appliances such as computers, laptops, TVs, refrigerators, DVD players, mobile phones, mp3 players and circuit boards that have been disposed of by their original users.

Computer parts like monitors, printers, keyboards, CPUs, motherboards, floppy drives and even circuit boards of TVs contain precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum as well as hazardous substances like lead, cadmium and mercury. They do not have any resale or reuse value and are openly burnt.

Dangerous emissions during the burning process could lead to problems like skin and bone diseases, nervous system damage, heart and muscle or respiratory system damage, kidney and liver damage, hormonal disorders and cancer.