E-waste management:-

Figure: E-waste Management Cycle

India is the second largest e-waste generator of Asia. According to an estimate India
generated more than 400,000 lakh tonnes of e-waste in current year which is equivalent to approx
130 Million laptops. India E-waste management Sector is divided into two parts Organized sector
and unorganized Sector. More than 90 percent of the e-waste generated in the country is recycled
and disposed by unorganized sector. The unorganized sector mainly consists of the urban slums of
the metros and mini-metros, where recycling operations are carried out by the unskilled employees
using the most rudimentary methods to reduce cost. Those methods are dangerous for the health
for the people, who are involved in this kind of operation.
10% e-waste is managed by organized sector in India. The organized sector has to face lots
of competition from the unorganized sector. As they are formal organizations they have to take
licenses from the government to run their operations smoothly. Their business model mainly
focused to reduce hazards of e-waste recycling process compare to generate more revenues
The difference between organized and unorganized sector is mentioned in following table:-

Differentiating
Factor/Methods
Recycling of Circuit Board

Recycling of CRT monitor

Safety Precautions

Unorganized Sector

Organized Sector

Heating is the method by which

circuit boards components like
gold plated brass pins, microchips
and condensers are separated.
This method releases toxic gases
during heating.
Cathode Ray Tubes are broken
manually to separate its
components. The major
components are glass and
phosphors. If these components
are inhaled they produce toxic
components
The Other way of recycling CRT to
sell it off in Non branded Market
No Safety Precautions. The wages
unskilled labour get is very less in
this informal business of e-waste
recycling

Circuit board is crushed by

shredder and then melted on
1200 degree temperature in a
closed chamber to extract the
material by electro-refining
method.
The heating process is done in a
closed chamber. Shredding
machine is used to crush the
remaining items. Glass which
contains lead is sold to
companies which make CRT.
Phosphor is also extracted from
the components

Capital Investments

Very less capital investment is

required

Ethical issues

Informal form is business is

unethical in nature as bribes has
to pay the authority to transfer escrap across borders and to run
illegal shops.

All safety measures are followed,

Employees who are involved in
this task used to wear gloves,
shoes and caps for their
protection.
Recycling plant needs
investment around 25-30 lakh.
Major cost involves of
Dismantler
In the formal form of business,
things are more ethical because
to run this business in formal
way a license from government
is required.

As we have seen difference between formal and informal sectors there are many e-waste
management firms , NGO who are working legally and ethically to curb the e-waste. This firms
includes Saahas, an NGO in Bangalore , E-wardd a E-waste recycling firm and many others. For our
interest we have studied Sahas and their operations for e-waste management.

Case Study: Saahas

Saahas is an NGO which was established in Bangalore and from last 6-7 years they are
working closely with KSPB (Karnataka state pollution board), GTZ and EMPA to study various issues
related to e-waste generation, flow, recycling and final disposal. Saahas has more than 200 e-waste
receptacles set up at different location. IIMB is also one of their receptacles as mentioned on their
web-site.

Methodology adopted:Bangalore is known as Silicon Valley of India. Due to increase in number of software firms ewaste has become the new threat for Bangalore. Saahas methodology involves figuring out e-waste
stakeholders and generators to look at the quantities of e-waste generated by them and after that
working with recyclers and scrap-dealers to monitor their disposal system and give them guidance
regarding modern methods of e-waste management. On the generation front, Saahas used to target
the big auctions in Bangalore through which all the large companies used to sell their e-waste. On
recycling units they used to float a questionnaire asking various questions related to e-waste
disposal methods. They used to guide the e-waste scrapper how to extract precious materials from
the e-waste collected from the auction process rather to dump it. They also gave them details about
methods adopted in western countries. They also informed them that corporate offices are now
interested to help the recyclers to get access to better technology by which they can eliminate
pollution caused by recycling process. This approach is helping Saahas to gain confidence of scrapdealers and recyclers.

Activities involved:Saahas monitors three major activities of E-waste management

Tracking generation places of e-waste
Distribution and flow of e-waste
Monitor recycling and disposal process
Tracking generation places of e-waste:Generation of e-waste comes from the hardware manufacturers and software companies
which are more than 1500 in Bangalore. There are some unclaimed baggages also which comes to
scrap dealers. The amount of these unclaimed baggages is very insignificant. Saahas track these ewaste generators.
Distribution and flow of e-waste:Major distribution is done by auction process now a days. The bidder are mainly big scrap
vendors or middleman who purchase scrap for resell in the non-branded market.The scrap is sorted
and segregated and then reusable component is sent to secondary markets for resell. The other
components are then sent for recycling processes.
Monitor recycling and disposal process:This process involves segregation, dismantling, recycling and disposal.In many cases child
labour is involved in this disposal and recycling process, Saahas used to look into this matter and
discussed it with the recyclers that how much hazardous it is for the children and take proper
initiative against those e-waste management firms. Saahas used to share the modern methods with
those firms so that recycling can be done without harming environment and people

So in our case study we find out how Saahas is involved in proper e-waste management with
involving itself from e-waste generation process to disposal process. In this work they are associated
with big IT firms, formal/informal scrap dealers and recycling firms.

Government policies for E-waste management:

According to the information collected from the research conducted by Toxics Link (Toxics
Link is a Delhi based NGO, dedicated to bring toxics related information into the public domain) we
found that before the notification of Ministry of Environment and Forest on e-waste rules there was
no separate policy to curb e-waste management and it used to come under the Hazardous Wastes
(Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008.The Ministry of Environment
and Forests, was the main controlling agency at the Central level for that rule. The Environment
(Protection) Act 1986 was a major (umbrella) act for that and covers broad guidelines to address the
issues related to hazardous and other waste.

Civil society organisations in India raised their voice for a separate regulation on e-waste,
and have discussed with government of India officials for an appropriate regulation for management
of e-waste in India. The group recommended that there should be a unique common platform for all
stakeholders to come together so that all e-waste issue can be handled on a common ground.
A core group comprising of members from NGOs like Greenpeace, MAIT, GTZ and Toxics
Link worked hard to prepare a framework for the regulation of e-waste and on the basis of that
framework, Ministry of Environment and Forest issued a notification with title as e-waste (handling
and management) rules on 12th may 2011.These rules shall come into effect from May 1, 2012.
These rules will apply to every producers, consumers, consumers involved in sale, purchase of
electrical and electronics items. In these rules responsibilities of each and every stakeholder which is
a part of e-waste cycle has bound to follow some responsibilities. The rules by ministry of
Environment and Forest can be accessed on http://envfor.nic.in/downloads/rules-andregulations/1035e_eng.pdf.
As compare to India E-waste management laws are very strict in countries like USA and
china and EU. Indian laws are not in practise properly as before 2012 there was no such strict
measure on e-waste. Developed countries are following these law practises from many years and
quite successful to curb the reverse effects of e-waste disposal and recycle process.