The latest "Global E-waste Monitor" ranks India as one of the largest contributors to global e-waste. In 2016, more than 2 million metric tons of e-waste were generated. The growth of e-waste has brought serious health and environmental risks and represents the hidden cost of India’s increasingly digital life in an information society with it e waste management companies in India grown up.
Only 33% of India’s population owns a smartphone, but its number of smartphone users has ranked second in the world, almost four times that of the United States. With the decline in the cost of consumer electronics, the increase in middle-class income, and the increase in the frequency of equipment disposal.
As governance tools become increasingly digital and the industry repositions to take advantage of Industry 4.0 solutions, the generation of e-waste will become a by-product of institutional choices, not just consumer consumption and behavior.
Plastic waste management companies in India are leading in the world, but more than 90% of businesses in the unorganized sector are managed by small businesses and individual entrepreneurs, usually from low-income marginalized communities, usually women. E-waste contains various toxic substances, such as mercury and lead, and long-term exposure to these substances can cause serious health problems.
Due to improper standards, nearly 80% of e-waste workers in India suffer from respiratory diseases, and nearly 500,000 children are engaged in e-waste collection without adequate protection and security. Most of the dirty and dangerous work supporting India’s move towards an increasingly digital society is done by those who are least able to gain technological gains. On the other hand, the government's regulations on electronic waste management are becoming more relaxed, which is probably the result of industry pressure. In order to simplify e-waste management, the government notified the E-waste Rules in 2011 based on the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
Although the efficiency and productivity improvements brought about by Digital India are welcome, the ever-growing e-waste should draw attention to the broader sustainability of the digital society. For example, data centers are one of the largest contributors to global warming, and their contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is similar to that of the aviation industry.
This amount is expected to triple in the next ten years. In many ways, the challenge of sustainability is a "tricky problem"-possible solutions create a new set of additional challenges, and the choice between available alternatives is mainly about competitive value.
To make Digital India sustainable, we need to develop anticipatory knowledge for pre-emptive solutions. Now is a good time to consider the broader architecture of the digital society and avoid falling into unsustainable production and consumption patterns, as is the case in many industrialized economies.
The value-based choice required by the current "evil problem" is a choice that includes the concept of a circular economy—a kind of choice that breaks away from the linear economic growth model based on "acquisition, manufacture, and disposal" and adopts a growth model based on circular economy. Create a closed-loop of production, consumption, and reuse. The circular economy model is based on the concept of designing waste and pollution; keeping products and materials in use; and regenerating natural systems. In many ways, India is already a leader in the circular economy.
In addition, the management of e-waste and other forms of recycling, high-level maintenance, and reuse are also obvious. Many reports point out that India’s informal waste management sector works better than the systems of many industrialized economies.
Digital India’s circular economy vision will include the organization of an informal waste management system, including safety and social protection measures for workers; revision and tightening of existing e-waste rules to increase manufacturers’ responsibilities in terms of durable design and responsible disposal; Green data centers; building future smart cities to improve energy and water efficiency.
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