Illegal Recycling: Another danger in India's E-waste Story

The speed of global e-waste generation is growing by about 40 mn tonnes per year. If this figure is frightening then the manner in which it is being handled is even more scary. In developed nations, electronics recycling takes place in purpose-built recycling plants under controlled conditions. In many EU states, plastics from e-waste are not recycled to avoid brominated furans and dioxins being released into the atmosphere. E-waste is a rising danger for the developing nations as often in violation of international laws their developed counterparts dump them with the waste.

According to the critics of the trade in used electronics, it is an easy task for brokers to export unscreened e-waste to developing countries like China, India, parts of Africa, etc, by impersonating as recyclers. This method of functioning enables them to avoid the expense of removing items like bad cathode ray tubes (the processing of which is expensive and difficult).

According to the report entitled, Recyclingfrom E-Waste to Resources (issued at a meeting of Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities), in South Africa and China, it is estimated that by 2020 e-waste from old computers will jump by 200% to 400% from the levels reported in 2007. Meanwhile, the figure is expected to accelerate by 500% in India by 2020. By that same year in China, e-waste from discarded mobile phones will be about 7 times higher than 2007 levels and, in India, 18 times higher. By 2020, e-waste from televisions will be 1.5 to 2 times higher in China and India, while in India e-waste from discarded refrigerators will double or triple.

But, why is such e-waste welcome ashore the Asian nations? The demand for e-waste in Asian countries began to accelerate as scrap yards seem to relish on the valuable substances like copper, iron, silicon, nickel and gold, that it can extract from the waste.

Why Recycle?

According to Toxics Link, a Delhi based NGO, India generates $1.5 bn worth of e-waste annually. As per a study conducted by Bengaluru-based NGO, Saahas, the garden city alone generates approximately 8,000 tonnes of e-waste every year.

According to market research reports, the total e-waste generation in Mumbai and Pune is around 5 lakh metric tonnes per annum. According to a research conducted by Greenpeace, Mumbai tops the list in India with around 50,000 tonnes of e-waste every year. The figure is projected to increase to 3 lakh tonnes per annum by 2011.

IT companies can be labeled as the single largest contributors of e-waste because almost 30% of their equipment needs replacement every year. Manufacturing mobile phones and personal computers consumes 3% of the gold and silver mined worldwide each year; 13% of the palladium and 15% of cobalt. Electronic items used today contain up to 60 different elementsmany valuable, some hazardous, and some both. Carbon dioxide emissions from the mining and production of copper and precious and rare metals used in electrical and electronic equipment are estimated at over 23 mn tonnes0.1% of global emissions (not including emissions linked to steel, nickel or aluminum, nor those linked to manufacturing the devices). This highlights the importance of the process of recycling to ensure that there is lesser damage to Mother Earth.

Effective Presence

Currently, e-waste recycling in India is carried out in 2 stepsdismantling and segregating. Recovery of valuable metals and resource recovery does not take place because the resource recovery facility is available only in Belgium. Currently, the Indian government is taking effective steps to ensure that a project for resource recovery is set up soon in Mumbai.

More than the process, even the fact that the certified recyclers do not find a pan-India presence but are located more in the southern regions is also a cause of concern when it comes to collection of the waste. All the CPCB registered recyclers have capability to collect e-waste from all regions of the country. But most of the registered recyclers are located in southern region due to the locational advantage. Absence of registered recyclers in a particular region will definitely prove to boost the informal companies.

Yes, this does pose a problem to a certain extent but in reality even in the southern region there are not many recyclers who actually follow the correct process. Actually, recyclers are those who have a mechanism in place for collection of e-waste from all regions and then recycle the waste. In fact, except for 2 formal recyclers, all formal recyclers do not differ from informal recyclers in terms of value-addition in e-waste recycling. They only have the legal licence to recycle, but lack real technology and infrastructure required in e-waste recycling. Also, it is practically not feasible to have end-to-end recyclers in all regions as such recyclers require huge amount of waste to run recycling plant effectively, says Abhishek Pratap, senior campaigner, corporate campaign, climate and energy, Greenpeace India.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, there are certified recyclers like Attero that have an efficient reverse logistic collection system which is spread across India. The recycler is also planning to set up another facility in south India to ensure better logistic efficiencies.

If IT companies are adding to the pile then they are now not far from being the change masters also. Companies like Dell with the intention to provide free, efficient and convenient product recovery options directly to consumers facilitate responsible product retirement. In India, Dell conducts recycling through Dell authorized Environmental Partner (EP) who helps the company in the responsible disposal of ewaste. Currently, the systems are shipped to their Singapore facility (as agreed by GoI and the Singapore government through signing of the Basel Convention for proper treatment and recovery of precious metals), informs Mahesh Bhalla, general manager, consumer & SMB, Dell India.

Adding further, George Paul, executive vice president, HCL Infosystems, says, Today we have recyclers with a nationwide reach who provide the latest reverse-logistics capabilities. The eastern region will do much better in times to come as the authorities take steps to control issues like insurgency. The existence of informal recyclers can mainly be attributed to the fact that the informal recycler offers a good value proposition to the end-user (They actually pay the end-user to buy e-waste; whereas certified recyclers either dont pay, or sometimes even charge the end-user for buying e-waste). Another major factor is the absence of e-waste handling regulations in India and there is a need to have a concrete policy in place to tackle the present e-waste problem. Physical presence of certified recyclers is the least important factor for the mushrooming of informal recyclers.

Challenges Galore

If certified recyclers have a slim presence, they are also burdened with various challenges. The registered recyclers for a big country like India are few only. Not even 5% of the e-waste is handled by the registered recyclers. About 95% of the e-waste generated and imported are handled by the informal recyclers. It is mostly networked closed-door activities. This is because they are well networked and offer a good price for discarded products compared to the formal sector. Furthermore, even their business model is innovative and matches pragmatism. On the other side, the formal sector fails to match steps with them as they lack innovative ideas and do not have real competitive business models, do not provide incentives to consumers and above all fail in developing good infrastructure for e-waste recycling. Delhi is stronghold of informal recyclers followed by Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Illegal recyclers definitely pose a serious threat to the environment and the health of the people working there. More scary is the fact when most of the e-waste is recycled by unauthorized recyclers/unorganized sector, which includes the local scrap dealers or kabadiwalas. Most scrap dealers resort to crude and highly unsafe methods for recycling of e-waste, resulting in severe environmental and health hazards. Some of the processes involve soaking of circuit boards in acid, followed by manual scrapping to extract metals with the residue thrown into open drains. Such unchecked activities without proper protection to workers are hazardous not only to the labor involved but also to the environment.

Without mainstreaming and awareness, the problem of illegal recycling cannot be stopped. It is an issue of livelihood for thousands of people but along with it arises the quality of the livelihood linked to this industry. Pratap feels, Therefore, the government and formal recyclers should try to organize informal recyclers and train them in proper collection, storage and safely dismantling the waste. After this, they should be mainstreamed as a licenced collector and dismantlor. Informal recyclers should be transformed as formal recyclers. They should be allowed to do business in collection and dismantling of e-waste while formal recyclers should be allowed to build the infrastructure for material extraction and treatment of e-waste. The best scenario would be where both would work in tandem.

Organized recycling of this hazardous waste is the only answer to this problem. Hopefully with corporate governance and corporate social responsibility gaining momentum, various public and private sector units will start partnering with integrated e-waste solutions providers to manage their e-waste, feels Nitin Gupta, CEO, Attero Recycling.

It is for the government to take steps in transforming the informal recyclers to government registered recyclers. In all major cities the existence of informal recyclers is still strong, feels Syed Hussain, founder and promoter, Ash Recyclers.

On a final note, the number of certified recyclers in the country may be scanty but the need of the hour is how this waste which may be ones waste but is anothers raw material, finds its way to the right hands.

Shilpa Shanbhag
shilpas@cybermedia.co.in