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VSRD-IJCSIT, Vol. 2 (3), 2012, 271-275

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E-Waste : A Hidden Threat to

Global Environment & Health
1
Deepti Mittal*, 2Navnish Goel and 3Renu Rani

ABSTRACT
"E-waste" is a one of the rapidly growing problem today in the world. Disposal of e-waste is an being global
environmental & public health issue, as this waste has become the most rapidly growing segment of the formal
municipal waste stream in the world[1]. E-Waste for short - or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
(WEEE) - is the term used to describe old or discarded appliances. It includes computers, consumer electronics
etc which have been throw away of by users.

E-waste contains hazardous constituent that may negatively impact the environment and affect human health if
not properly managed. Due to lack of adequate infrastructure to manage wastes safely, these wastes are buried,
burnt in the open air or dumped into surface water bodies. E-waste poses the most direct health risks when it
degrades and the internal chemicals are released to the environment.

Today a huge crowd of workers including children are involved in crude dismantling units in India only where
10,000-20,000 tons of e-waste is handled every year by bare hands[3]. It is necessary to review the public health
risks and strategies to fight with this growing hazard.

Keywords: E-Waste, Substances in e-waste, Hazards, Indian Scenario.

1. INTRODUCTION
Electronic waste also called ‘e-waste’. In India, the quantity of e-waste is increasing with accelerator. The E-
waste has become obsolete due to:

 Rising of new technology.

 Changes in fashion, style and status.

____________________________
1,2,3
Assistant Professor, Department of Information Technology, SD Engineering College of Technology, Muzaffarnagar,
Uttar Pradesh, INDIA. *Correspondence: erdeepti.cse@gmail.com
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 Nearing the end of their useful life.

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment is a loss category of surplus, obsolete, broken, or discarded electrical
or electronic devices. In India most of the waste e-items are stored at households as people don’t know how to
discard them. Some useful products such as gold, silver, copper which can be recovered & brought back into the
production units. For this purpose the companies hires the peoples for employment there.

2. SCENARIO OF E-WASTE IN INDIA

A review of the industry statistics show that in 1990-91, Hardware accounted for nearly 50% of total IT
revenues while software's share was 22%. The scenario changed by 1994-95, with hardware share falling to
38% and software's share rising to 41%. According to the estimates made By the Manufacturers Association of
Information Technology (MAIT) the Indian PC industry is growing at a 25% compounded annual growth rate.
The e-waste inventory based on this obsolescence rate and installed base in India for the year 2005 has been
estimated to be 146180.00 tones. This is Expected to exceed 8, 00,000 tones by 2012[6].

There is an estimate that the total outdated computers initiating from all the users is approximate 2 million[9].
The consumer finds it convenient to buy a new computer rather than upgrade the old one due to the changing
configuration, technology and the attractive offers of the manufacturers. Of these,

Growing Rate: IT and telecom are two fastest growing industries in the country.

 India, by 2010, should achieve a PC penetration of 300 per 1,000 from the existing 105 per 1,000 (in 2005).

 At present, India has 25 million computers (on 2005). The target being 75 million computers by 2010.

 Over 75 million current mobile users in 2007, expected to increase to 300 million by 2010 end.

 Memory devices, MP3 players, iPods etc. are the newer additions.

Disposal Rate:

 Over 2 million old PCs ready for disposal in India.

 Life of a computer reduced from 7 years to 3-5 years.

3. BURDEN OF E-WASTE
The Basel Action Network [BAN] stated in a report that 50-80% of e-waste collected by the USA is exported to
India, China, Pakistan, Taiwan and a number of African Countries. Every year 20 to 50 million tones of
electrical and electronic waste equipments are manufactured every part of over the world, which could bring
serious risks to human health and to the global environment[4, 10]. One another report estimated that in India,
business & individual households make approximately 1.42 million personal computers obsolete every year
growing the affection the problem of environment and health 10% annually.

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4. HEALTH & ENVIRONMETNAL IMPACTS OF E-WASTE

Electrical and Electronics Equipments are made of a multiple of components. These toxic substances may have
direct impact on human health and the environment if they are not handled properly.

The fraction including iron, copper, aluminum, gold and other metals in e-waste is over 60%, while plastics
account is expected 16%. Lead enters biological systems via food, water, air and soil. Children are particularly
weak to lead poisoning – more so than adults because they absorb more lead from their environment and their
nervous system and blood get affected.

Just one computer can contain hundreds of chemicals, including lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame
retardants, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) [Table1]. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer,
respiratory illness, and reproductive problems. They are especially dangerous because of their ability to travel
long distances through air and water and to accumulate in our bodies and the environment[12]. A large volume of
employs are working in these units with beard hands and without knowledge.

All electronic equipment’s contain printed circuit boards which are hazardous because of their content of lead (in
solder), brominated flame retardants (typically 5-10% by weight) and antimony oxide, which is also present as a
flame retardant (typically 1-2% by weight). An average composition of e-waste is given in Table-2.

Table 2: Average Composition of Electronic Waste

Metals 60.2 %
Plastics 15.2%
Screens 12%
Meta Plastic Mixture 5%
Pollutions 2.7%
Cables 2%
Printed Circuit Board 3.1%

5. E-WASTE MANAGEMENT WITH RECYLYING

Many products are stored unattended in the form of junk items in houses, offices etc. and normally mixed
with household wastes, which are finally disposed off at landfills. A very large amount of unused electronic
items are stored due to uncertainty of how to manage it. The management of such a large amount of electronic
waste may arise as one of the most important environmental problem in the near future. There are different ways

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in which e-waste can be dealt with, and none of them is really very satisfactory. These are described below:

Recovery and Re-Use

In the waste management hierarchy, the best management method is direct reuse, where someone else can use
the electronic equipment without any change. A very small percentage of residential electronic waste is likely to
fall in this category because people tend to store old equipment for a couple of years before thinking about
recycling. Giver this reusable equipment to nonprofits or schools can provide tax deductions to the donor.

Although electronic equipment can be renewed by making minor repairs. There are so many organizations have
training programs for repairing and upgrading computers for resale. For the better performance some parts can
be replaced with the new parts or with upgraded parts. The useful life of a personal computer can be extended,
but proper management at the end of its extended life is still an issue.

Recycling

E- Waste is also known as electronic material waste recycling process. It involves EEE’s those are thrown into
landfills. A lot of consumers are there who are unaware of the e-waste method of recycling and think that old
electronic gadgets such as: old TVs and computers need to be thrown out rather than disassembled for parts. By
realizing the potential of e-waste recycling, a number of people have started e-waste recycling business.

Today there is no sophisticated machinery or personal protective equipment is used for the extraction of
different materials. All the work is done by human bare hands and only with the help of hammers and
screwdrivers. Children and women are routinely involved in the operations. Pollution problems associated with
such backyard smelting using crude processes are resulting in fugitive emissions and slag containing heavy
metals of health concern.

They take advantage of low labor costs due to high unemployment rates, internal migration of poor peasants and
the lack of protest or political mobilization by affected villagers who believe that e-wastes provide the only
viable source of income or entry into modern development pathways.

6. RECYLYING PROCESS IN INDIA

Recycling can be defined as the re-assembling & buying of new products, which are prepared from waste
materials. If metals are extracted properly from e-waste, this will create a new business opportunity of recycling.
Till now, few companies have realized the potential of this booming business. Moreover, the land which is
being wasted as landfills or dumping sites for e-waste can be put to more productive use like agriculture,
infrastructural development, etc.

7. FUTURE SCOPE
With increasing in the computers and related peripherals, the amount of e-waste is being generating in India is
huge with the millions of tons every year. For the better future we have to ban over the importing e-waste and
also we have to provide the stop the working methods those are using in these industries. Recycling raw
materials from their useful end-of-life electronics is the most effective solution for the growing e-waste

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problem. Most electronic devices contain a variety of materials, including metals that can be recovered for
future uses. By this effort the air and other pollutions may be resolved highly. Additionally the environment
which is filling up with pollutions, the recycling can reduces the emission of green gas.

8. CONCLUSION
The present study shows that e-waste are going to become a great challenge for environmentalists and
technologists as the rate of growth is much higher than the rate at which it is disposed, recycled or reused.
Today there is an urgent need for improvement in all the aspect of e-waste management, rules and policies for
the workers who are working in e-waste disposal. Last but not the least education regarding this activity to the
environment as well as public health should be explained properly. The government authorities should monitor
the way those are using in these firms positively.

9. REFERENCES
[1] http://www.e-wasteindia.com
[2] CPCB. Guidelines for environmentally sound management of e-waste Delhi: Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Central Pollution Control Board, March http://www.cpcb.nic.in
[3] Pandve HT. E-waste management in India: An emerging environmental and health issue. Indian J Occup
Environ Med. 2007; 11:116.
[4] Recycling of electronic waste in China and India: Report Green Peace
[5] Electronic waste - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.html
[6] http://eprocesshouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=12
[7] http://www.mait.com/pressupdate.1jsp?id=77 Kukday K. Making profit from mining of e-waste.
[8] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2107581.cms
[9] http://www.iimm.org/knowledge_bank/9_e-weste- management.htm
[10] http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132204954/after-dump-what-happens-to-electronic-waste
[11] http://health-e-waste.blogspot.in
[12] http://toxipedia.org

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