E-Waste as a Challenge to Sustainable Development

By Raj Kumar, CEO, DWMPL

The digital revolution has empowered us to enter entirely new markets. It works to make life better and easier for individuals around the globe, and it is frequently utilized in humanitarian and charity efforts. However, technological advancement also brings to light a more worrisome issue—e-Waste. E-Waste refers to any discarded electrical equipment. This includes both functional and damaged items that are abandoned or given to a humanitarian merchant like Charity. If an item at a store stays unsold, it is typically dumped. When e-Waste is discarded, toxic substances naturally drip from the materials inside, making it highly hazardous.

E-Waste (Electronic waste) and its disposal are a significant environmental concern that impacts the entire globe, as well as develops significant health issues for people who work with it in uncontrolled conditions. These informal enormous trash heaps are frequently found in underdeveloped countries with either little environmental rules or regulatory frameworks that are rarely enforced. It is essentially a lawless land, with next to no restrictions.

The issue of long-term e-Waste management
When e-Waste is not treated properly, it can be very dangerous and contain compounds and materials such as toxic substances and organic pollutants that have a severe impact on human health and ecosystems. Electronic items, for example, are frequently burned at informal garbage sites, releasing toxins into the air that harm both humans and ecology. I t is not only the environment or the people who live in proximity to the trash sites who are at risk. The problem of e-Waste stems primarily from developed countries that perceive recycling e-Waste to be too pricey in their own countries and hence happily ship it to impoverished countries to be handled, with very no background check on how the e-Waste would be treated.

E-Waste Management Difficulties
In India, e-waste recycling is predominantly an informal activity. Thousands of disadvantaged households survive by scavenging items from rubbish dumps. Common recycling procedures for middle-class urban families, notably for waste paper, plastic, clothing, or metal, are to sell to small-scale, informal sector purchasers known as ‘scrappers,’ who then sort and sell as a main raw material to artisanal or industrial processors.

Thousands of urban households are employed in an informal e-Waste area of recycling and development to collect, classify, repair, restore, and disassemble outdated electrical and electronic equipment. In advanced countries, however, the situation is different, and there is no idea in India of customers voluntarily giving obsolete electrical components at formal e-Waste disposal sites. Furthermore, there is no concept of customers paying for the disposal of e-Waste that they generate.

The reliance on the informal sector for e-Waste recycling creates several major issues. Financial sanctions for noncompliance or infringement of e-Waste management and processing rules are ineffective. Because low-wage individuals who undertake this activity lack sufficient training, the general public’s understanding of market prices and health-care expenditures associated with e-Waste recycling is limited. Despite the tremendous growth in the volume of e-Waste generated each year, large-scale industrial infrastructure for collection and recycling is receiving very little investment.

Possibilities in e-Waste management
Silver, gold, palladium, platinum, indium, and gallium are among the rare and precious metals found in e-Waste. These rare elements are frequently employed in the manufacture of consumer electronics, as well as IT and communication devices. Because these metals are scarce, the prices connected with their products are similarly expensive. This has raised the need to reuse, refurbish, and recycle metal-based electronics. As a result of these challenges, electronic device manufacturers will almost likely hunt for main raw materials from recycled e-Waste. This also assists nations by lowering greenhouse gas emissions, which will undoubtedly assist to lessen the risks of global warming.

The driving forces that have a direct impact on the e-Waste industry include a decrease in the life span of electronic devices, which drives the expansion of e-Waste management market, a scarcity of precious metals, which makes e-Waste recycling essential, and a high rate of obsolescence, which adds e-Waste in massive quantities. However, high recycling costs limit e-Waste management, and the lack of appropriate garbage collection zones are two challenges that could stymie industry expansion in the next years.

By incorporating social, financial, economic, technical, cultural, and gender aspects, sustainability is being prioritized for all development efforts. Given the negative potential eco-toxicological effects and various health implications of e-Waste, a global multilateral agreement addressing its management (i.e., processing, preservation, shipping, recycle, and disposal), whether by land filling or incineration, is urgently required. Because of the worldwide character of the problem and the difficulties of creating sustainable and environmentally sound e-Waste processing in low-income nations, international negotiation and cooperation is the only viable answer. Furthermore, comprehensive international e-Waste management and legislation could help to mitigate e-Waste risks and are the greatest method for attaining sustainable development.

Read More: Six Innovative Smart Ways to Manage and Recycle eWaste