THE FUTURE OF ELECTRONIC WASTAGE

The growing phenomena of adopting advanced technological equipment for enhancing the luxurious life and intense competition in technological product manufacturing are substantiating the alarming condition due to electronic waste. Electronics waste, commonly known as e-scrap or e-waste, which is the trash generated from surplus, broken and obsolete electronic devices. Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants.

     

E-waste adversely affects the environment and ecological dimensions of any developing nations. Instead of responsibly recycling our electronic devices, the developed nation transports their e-waste to smaller countries at scarp values. The e-waste piles up in the landfills, which cause harm to the environment in various ways. Toxins from the metals in electronics are released into the atmosphere, and what is worse, when e-waste disposal is not subsidized, the pollutants from our electronic waste can end up in low quality and hazardous equipment for the general public. Instead of exporting e-wastages, or letting them rot in landfills, it should be recycled or processed by returning our electrical products to stores and manufacturers.

The electronic wastages out of unwanted, obsolete or unusable electronic and electrical products are creating adverse impacts on the environment and human health. Also, the resources are wasted when economically valuable materials are dumped rather than utilizing in solid waste management. In the context of India, it is the fifth biggest producer of e-waste in the world with more than 12.5 lakh MTs every year and growing at a rate of 3.15 percent annually. Hence developing the necessary infrastructure to manage the e-waste, mutual awareness about the usability of products among manufacturers and consumers becomes highly important. Solid infrastructure for waste recycling is highly essential to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaking of materials and incinerator ashes. By 2020, the volume of our electronic wastages throughout the world is expected to rise by 36 percent from 2017, and the weight of these garbage piles are compared with eight times of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. The amount of e-waste that we produce, including mobile phones, computers, DVD players, and global positioning products, could rise by a whopping 500% over the next decade. 

Many government initiatives, as well as corporate initiatives, are taken to educate the customers about the usages and disposal mechanism of e wastes. As a part of the vocational training program, electronic waste management techniques are delivered and entrepreneurial initiatives are encouraged. The refurbished product platform by e-commerce giant Flipkart in the name of 2GUD is a premier example of wide spreading refurbished and attempting at decreasing the wastage of electronics products. Looking at the veracity it is clear that the electronic wastage practices cannot be eliminated to zero but certainly, it can be minimized to a large extent by acting responsibly.