Shocking Conditions In India
The world produces 50 million tons of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) per year, as per a recent UN report, however, just 20% is officially recycled. A great part of the rest ends up in landfills or is recycled casually in developing countries.
Read more: Does not compute: Australia is still miles behind in recycling electronic items
India generates more than 2,000,000 tons of e-waste every year and furthermore imports undisclosed measures of e-waste from other countries from around the world – including Australia. E-waste Disposal Companies In India
We visited India to examine these conditions ourselves, and reveal some of the devastating effects e-waste recycling has on workers' health and the environment.
Indian e-waste
More than 95% of India's e-waste is processed by a widely distributed network of casual workers of waste pickers. They are often referred to as "kabadiwalas" or "radicals" who collect, dismantle and recycle it and operate illegally outside of any regulated or formal authoritative system. Little has changed since India introduced e-waste management legislation in 2016.
We visited e-waste dismantlers on Delhi's edges. Along the tight and congested alleyways in Seelampur we encountered hundreds of people, including children, taking care of different types of electronic waste including discarded televisions, forced air systems, computers, phones, and batteries.
Crouching outside shop units they were occupied with destroying these items and arranging circuit sheets, capacitors, metals, and other components (without proper instruments, gloves, face covers, or suitable footwear) to be sold on to other traders for further recycling. E-waste Disposal Companies In India
Neighborhood people said the waste comes here from everywhere India. "You ought to have come here early morning when the trucks arrive with all the waste," a trolley driver let us know.
Seelampur is the largest e-waste destroying market in India. Each day e-waste is dumped by the truckload for a large number of workers utilizing crude methods to extract reusable components and precious metals, for example, copper, tin, silver, gold, titanium, and palladium. The process involves corrosive consuming and open incineration, creating poisonous gases with severe health and environmental consequences.
0 Comments