[greenyes] E-Waste Abroad

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

Sify News

Bangalore chokes under tons of e-waste

By Jay Shankar in Bangalore
Sunday, 31 October , 2004, 09:10

As IT firms continue to swamp India's technology hub of Bangalore, the city 
is starting to choke under a heap of e-waste generated from obsolete 
computers and discarded electronic components.

Environmentalists and officials say the waste contains more than 1,000 
different toxic substances harmful to human beings and the environment. "If 
we do not wake up now, in the next five years it will boomerang on us," said 
Bakul Rao, a consultant with the Environment Management and Policy Research 
Institute, a research body set up by Karnataka state's Pollution Control 
Board. Discuss: Unless the govt wakes up, the whole country will soon choke 
with e-waste!

The institute says that next year about 1,000 tonnes of plastics, the same 
equivalent of iron, 300 tonnes of lead, 0.23 tonnes of mercury and 43 tonnes 
of nickel and 350 tonnes of copper will be generated as e-waste in 
Bangalore.

"This figure will increase by ten-fold in 2020 when Bangalore will generate 
one-third of the state's e-waste," Rao told AFP. "The findings are quite 
alarming as there are no regulations and no scientific disposal systems."

Bangalore has more than 500 recyclers of discarded computers and electronic 
components. They sell second-hand parts either to computer assemblers in the 
grey market or to buyers directly at the weekly Sunday bazaar.

Most then burn the waste, mainly plastics and printed circuit boards, in 
illegal dump yards near residential colonies -- releasing toxic and 
carcinogenic substances into the air.

The recyclers, most of whom work with their bare hands, also extract 
precious metals such as gold and silver using crude chemical processes. 
"There is no scientific recycling happening anywhere in Bangalore. Most of 
the e-waste, including lead and plastic is dumped along with the municipal 
waste and then burned," Rao said.

"Bangalore has more than 100 illegal dump pits for e-waste," she said. The 
burning of printed circuit boards at a low temperature leads to the release 
of extremely toxic components, which can cause cancer, a report by the 
institute said.

Barium found in e-waste, it added, could damage the heart and liver while 
other chemicals such as beryllium found in computer motherboards and cadmium 
in chip resistors and semiconductors are poisonous and could lead to cancer.

Chromium in floppy disks, lead in batteries and computer monitors and 
mercury in alkaline batteries and fluorescent lamps also pose severe health 
risks. Other substances such as copper, silver and tin could also be 
damaging, the report said.

Almitra Patel, an environmentalist and a member of the Supreme Court 
Committee for Solid Waste Management, said unscientific recycling was a part 
of the problem but lack of regulations for e-waste and its handling 
exacerbated the situation.

"At present the environmental laws in India do not specifically cover the 
e-waste regulation. Computers and mobile phones are known culprits but 
tubelights and children's toys are others," Patel said.

"Import of e-waste, mainly from the US, under the garb of donations is 
adding to our woes. They basically dump obsolete computers in India," she 
said. India is a signatory of the Basel Convention On The Transboundary 
Movements Of Hazardous Wastes And Their Disposal, which came into force in 
1992 and has been ratified by 159 countries.

But the convention allows import of such waste from nations such as the 
United States which has not ratified the treaty. Kishore Wankhade, spokesman 
for the Toxic Links non-governmental organisation, said India's struggle to 
manage e-waste was worrying.

"It will be a total mess within another seven years. The government is 
always reactive and not proactive. It works at its own pace. They have woken 
up but the response is not quick enough," Wankhade said.

"..."



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Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
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