It is about e-waste management challenges and solutions.

1. EWASTEMANAGEMENT
CHALLENGES ANDSOLUTION

2. CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• PRESENT CHALLENGE
• EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
• EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH
• LEGISLATION ON E-WASTEMANAGMENT
• RECYCLING
• STARTUPS IN E-WASTE MANAGEMENT
• CONCLUSION

3. INTRODUCTION
E-waste is a popular, informal name for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which
are electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life". Such end of "useful life" may happen
due to technology obsolescence, functional damage, high repair costs, upgrade of needs, etc.
Many of these WEEE can be reused, refurbished or recycled in an environmentally sound manner
so that they are less harmful to the ecosystem. Further, presence of certain precious metals in them
such as gold, silver, copper, platinum enhances economic viability of e-waste recycling activity on
commercial scale.
E-waste is considered hazardous, as certain components of some electronic products contain toxic
materials like lead, mercury and cadmium, which, if not properly disposed off, can leach into soil
and groundwater resulting in serious threat to human health and environment.
Sources of e-waste are discarded computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, fax machines,
electric lamps, cell phones, refrigerators, audio equipment, medical devices, monitoring devices and
batteries.

4. PRERSENT CHALLENGE
• The explosive growth in usage of electronic devices, in recent times has
triggered the generation of e-waste of unprecedented magnitude of 20-
50 millio tons across the globe each year. It has become the largest,
fastest growing and most problematic waste stream around the world. E-
waste accounts for more than 5% of all municipal solid waste, and poses
serious problems for both the environment and our own health.In 1994,
it was estimated that approximately 20 million PCs (about 7 million tons)
became obsolete. By 2004, this figure increased to over 100 million PCs.
Cumulatively, about 500 million PCs reached the end of their service lives
between 1994 and 2003. 500 million PCs contain approximately
2,872,000 tons of plastics, 718,000 tons of lead, 1363 tons of cadmium
and 287 tons of mercury. This fast growing waste stream is accelerating
because the global market for PCs is far from saturation and the average
lifespan of a PC is decreasing rapidly. For instance for CPUs from 4-6
years in 1997 to 2 years in 2005. PCs comprise only a fraction of all e-
waste. It was estimated that in 2005, approximately 130 million mobile
phones will be retired. Similar quantities of e-waste are expected for all
kinds of portable electronic devices.

5. PRESENT CHALLENGE

6. PRESENT CHALLENGE
• Globally, e-waste disposal facilities are woefully inadequate and much of e- waste
generated in developed countries is dumped into developing countries lik China and
India for disposal. Lack of public awareness, organised e-waste recycling facilities and use
of urban poor in e-waste disposal has become a maje concern.Some of the
environmentally unsafe means of disposal of e-waste, which are prevalent in under
developed and developing countries where stringent environment protection laws are
not enforced, are as follows
• Open Dumping: This is the most common form of disposal. E-waste is dumped in the
open alongwith garbage, along river shores, roads, in desolate areas, barren land or
other open land which is not put to any productive use.
• Incineration: This method includes burning of plastics in e-waste to recover copper and
other metals. This emits toxic fumes and gasses causing severe air Dollution. Toxic
materials also get dispersed by air currents and depositedLand Filling: This method
includes disposal by burial in the ground. This makes ground water toxic. They also cause
generation of highly inflammable methane gas. These are prone to uncontrolled fire
incidents. Toxic dioxins and furans are emitted in such fires.

7. EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
• Disposal of e-wastes is a major challenge across the globe. E-waste disposed in landfills and open
dumps contaminates groundwater, by leaching of mercury. Acids and sludge obtained from
melting computer chips, if disposed on the ground causes acidification of soil, for example, Guiyu,
Hong Kong, a thriving area of illegal e-waste recycling is facing acute water shortages due to the
contamination of water resources. Incineration of e-wastes can emit toxic fumes and gases,
thereby polluting the surrounding air.

8. EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH

11. RECYCLING

13. STARTUPS IN E WASTE MANAGMENT
The ever evolving technological innovation in e-waste recycling and emergence of an economically viable
business proposition through recovery of valuable materials has led to creation of various business models and
business ventures by way of startup companies involved in e-waste management.
Some of them are as follows:
►Karma Recycling, Delhi, founded in 2013, buys old gadgets from tier 1 cities and resells them in semi
urban cities.
►EnCashea, Bengaluru, provides an online platform to its users to sell scarp while ensuring their safe and
environment-friendly disposal.
►POM POM Recycling Pvt. Ltd., Delhi, is a web-based recycling platform that helps one to dispose
off recyclable e-waste while paying for the same.

14. STARTUPS IN E WASTE MANAGMENT
• Attero, Noida, is an end-to-end e-waste recycler and metal extraction company. They
extract pure metals from end-of-life electronics in an environmentally responsible
manner. As a NASA recognized technology innovator, they have developed disruptive
technology that allows them to set up low cost, low capacity eco-friendly recycling plants
for processing e-waste and extracting rare earth and precious metals.
• Eco Recycling Ltd. (Ecoreco), Mumbai is India's one of leading professional E- waste
Management Company. Ecoreco's e-waste recycling facility encompasses end-to-end safe
& secured recycling process, that ensures complete protection of environment.
• EcoCentric Management Pvt Ltd., Mumbai, offers corporates and individuals a
customised end-to-end solution for e-waste management, asset recovery, data security
and destruction, reverse logistics, CSR initiatives (donations to NGOS), refurbishment
services, while complying with the environment and legislative norms pertaining to
ethical, safe and compliant e-waste management, recycling and disposal.

15. conclusion
• Electronic and electrical equipment usage is expected to Increase rapidly with the ever increasing pace
progress of technology. Further, a faster pace of technology innovation with introduction of more versatile
equipment, necessitating quicker upgrades, leading to reduced shelf life due to faster obsolescence,
increases generation of e-waste globally, of monumental proportions never ever witnessed by mankind