A goldmine that is going waste

The amount of e-waste that is being produced everyday is humongous and what is more surprising is the amount of the waste that is being recycled. One would be startled to find out that there is more gold in one tonne of e-waste than that of ore. e-waste is a rich repository of rare metals. Around 30-40 metals, rare earths, plastic and steel are present in one cellphone, once dumped, they are lost forever. Sadly, there is no awareness regarding the same and the treasure trove is merely incinerated, which not only loses precious metal but also releases dioxin, which is a harmful pollutant.

• A tonne of e-waste has 340 gram of gold and 3500 gram of silver
• One LCD TV contains 520 mg silver, 200 mg gold, 40 mg Palladium
• There are 98 registered recyclers in the country, TS has only two such recyclers

The recycling process has the motive of recovering several precious metals used in the manufacturing of the products. Studies state that a tonne of e-waste has about 340 gm of gold and 3500 gm of silver. “About 17 critical metals can be recovered from the recycling process of e-waste. But it is also important to manage toxins. It takes a lot of investment to recycle waste but the metal being recovered should be able to compensate that,” opined Steven Art, sales manager, Umicore Precious Metals Refining.

The safe disposal of e-waste is still in a nascent stage in the city and about 95 per cent of e-waste recycling takes place in the informal sector that employs an army of dismantlers in places like Old City, Mallepally and Hyderguda to segregate metals from the wastes or through incineration.

In an effort to create an awareness of the dangers of improper disposal of e-waste and also recycle it in a safe manner, a World Bank funded project Clean E-initiative was launched in four cities including Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmadabad last year. Guide Foundation for Development, the implementing NGO in Hyderabad entrusted with Clean E-initiative, in collaboration with Attero, an electronic asset management company, has begun the herculean task of recycling e-waste.

Under the project, the NGO has so far collected 30 tonnes of e-waste through its five authorised collection centres at Kukatpally, Khairatabad, Hafeezpet, Jubilee Hills and Secunderabad. After packaging the e-waste, it is sent to Attero's facility in Roorkee for dismantling, segregation and recycling and thirty tonnes is a miniscule amount, as city produces more than 10,000 tonnes of e-waste every year.

"GFFD is in the process of developing an online tracking system to measure e-waste flows in the formal sector", says Murali Krishna, executive director, GFFD.

Ambiguous act

The E-Waste Management Act of 2011 doesn’t make the civic bodies liable for the disposal and recycling. According the act, it the manufacturer who is liable for the disposal and recycling. He can choose to appoint an agency for collection. However, not many electrical and electronics manufacturers are adhering to this. When contacted a senior official with Pollution Control Board said that only a few manufacturers have tied up with Attero, which disposes e-waste.

Household e-waste is huge in magnitude

Contrary to the popular belief it is the households that produce more e-waste. Every mobile phone, tablet, computer parts, stabilizers, ACs that is dumped contributes to the e-waste. An independent survey found that every household produces 25 kg of e-waste annually.

People can dial 18004193283 and 040-66812222, or visit http://www.attero.in/clean_india.php to sell discarded TV sets, refrigerators, laptops, printers, washing machines, desktops, mobiles and CPUs.

By:Aditya Parankusam