Management Of E-waste As Business Options

In India, there are no specific environmental laws for E-waste (management, handling and disposal). However several provisions of these environmental laws may apply to various aspects of E-wastes. Since E-waste or its constituents fall under the category of “hazardous waste”, they must be covered under the purview of “The Hazardous Waste Management Rules, 2003”. Respective definitions, their meaning and interpretation must be provided under the rule.

Overview of Basel Convention's on E-Waste

The Basel Convention regulates the trans-boundary movements of hazardous and other wastes and obliges its parties to ensure that such wastes needs to be managed and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. The convention covers toxic, poisonous, explosive, corrosive, flammable, ecotoxic and infectious wastes. Parties are also expected to minimize the quantities of such waste that are transported, to treat and dispose as close as possible to their place of generation. It also talks on to prevent or minimize the generation of wastes at source.

E-waste is covered in Annex VIII (entries A1180, A1150 and A2010) and Annex IX (B1110) of the Basel Convention. E-waste is also a priority waste stream identified in the Basel Convention Strategic Plan (2000-2010). Annex VIII, refers to E-waste, which is considered hazardous under Art. 1, par. 1(a) of the Convention: A1180, Waste electrical and electronic assemblies or scrap containing components such as accumulators. Battery wastes are included on list A. Mercury-switches, glass from cathode-rat tubes and other activated glass and PCB-capacitors and hazardous substances are included in Annex I constituents and also to an extent that in Annex III.

CPCB Guidelines for E-waste

In India, environmentally sound management for E-waste is given by CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board). In the guidelines; management, handling and disposal of waste is properly documented. These are intended to provide guidance and broad outline towards the specific methods of treatment and disposal for specific wastes according to the hazard or risk potential of that waste. The objective of these Guidelines is to provide guidance for identification of various sources of waste from electrical and electronic equipments (e-waste) and prescribed procedures for handling E-waste in an environmentally sound manner. These Guidelines provide the minimum practice required to be followed in the management of E-wastes and the State Department of Environment or State Pollution Control Board may prescribe more stringent norms as deemed necessary.

Treatment and Disposal Options

Landfilling

It is one of the widely used methods for disposal of E-waste. In landfilling, trenches are made on the flat surfaces. Soil is excavated from the trenches and waste material is buried in it. This buried waste is then covered by another thick layer of soil. In case of secure landfill, they are provided with facilities like impervious liner made up of plastic or clay, leachate collection basin that collects and transfer the leachate to wastewater treatment plant. The degradation processes in landfills are very complicated and it operates for longer period.

The environmental risks from landfilling of E-waste are enormous. Mercury, cadmium and lead are the most toxic component of E-waste. Lead has been found to be leaching out from broken lead-containing glass, such as the cone glass of cathode ray tubes of TVs and computer monitors. Cadmium also leaches into soil and ground water. In addition, cadmium and mercury are emitted in diffuse form from landfill gas combustion plant. Landfills are also prone to uncontrolled fires which can release toxic fumes. Hence, landfilling does not appear to be an environmentally sound treatment method for disposal of E-waste. As it contain volatile and biologically non-degradable substances (Cd, Hg), persistent compounds (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls) or with unknown behavior in a landfill site.

Incineration

Incineration is a process of controlled and complete combustion in which the waste material is burned at a high temperature (900-1000oC). Advantage of incineration for treatment of E-waste is the reduction of waste volume and the utilization of the energy which is generated through combustible materials. Some plants remove iron from the slag for recycling. This process also converts some environmentally hazardous organic substances into less hazardous compounds. Disadvantage of incineration are the emission from combustion. E-waste incineration plants contribute significantly to emissions of cadmium and mercury. In addition, heavy metals are transferred to slag and exhaust gas residues and they contaminate the environment on disposal. Therefore, E-waste incineration would increase the concentration these emissions, if no control measures are taken into account.

Recycling

Monitors and Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), keyboards, laptops, modems, telephone boards, hard drives, floppy drives, compact disks, mobiles, fax machines, printers, CPUs, memory chips, connecting wires and cables can be recycled. It involves dismantling i.e. removal of different parts of E-waste containing harmful substances like PCB, Hg, separation of plastic, removal of CRT, segregation of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and printed circuit boards. Recyclers use strong acids to remove precious metals such as copper, lead and gold. The value of recycling from the element could be much higher if appropriate technologies are used. The existing dumping grounds in India are overflowing beyond capacity and it is difficult to get new dumping sites due to scarcity of land. Therefore recycling is one of the best possible options for the management of E-waste. The recyclers working in poorly ventilated enclosed areas without mask and technical expertise. This could expose them to these harmful and slow poisoning chemicals. So, proper guidelines must be made for handling this hazardous waste.

Re-use

Re-use constitutes direct second hand use or use after slight modifications to the original functioning equipment. It can be used for electronic equipments like computers, cell phones, etc. Inkjet cartridges are also used after refilling. This method also reduces the volume of E-waste. This could be achieved by providing buy back offer on old electronic equipments. Government could make this mandatory for large scale companies to reduce the volume of E-waste. These companies could get some incentives for taking such initiative from Government. Large companies could purchase the used equipments from the customers and ensure proper treatment and disposal of E-waste.

The Road Ahead

E-waste is a new brand of waste. India generates very high volume of E-waste. Not only generation but also India imports high volume of E-waste. This is mainly due to the stringent policy or laws existing in the developed countries. So E-waste from these developed countries are exported or dumped into less developed or under developed countries like India and China. China has already made handling and scientific disposal of E-waste as business model. India could think on same aspects. Government of India (GOI) is planning to come up with policy for safe and sound disposal and handling of E-waste. In this policy, Government must take into account the business opportunity behind handling and disposing E-waste. This would not only encourage environmentally safe and sound management of E-waste but also creates employment opportunity for many unemployed youth. This would also encourage the field of science and technology in India.