DIGITAL DUMP

INDIA'S E-WASTE PROBLEM IS GETTING BIGGER BY THE DAY, PROMPTING THE GOVERNMENT TO ATTEMPT TO FORMALISE THE RECYCLING ECOSYSTEM

- NIDHI SINGAL

ON JANUARY 29, during his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the issue of electronic waste (e-waste) accumulation in India. He referred to a report by the UN, stating that a staggering 50 million tonnes of e-waste is discarded annually. Modi brought out the context of this scale by pointing out that the weight of all commercial planes ever constructed put together would be less than that of the e-waste being generated. In fact, he likened the rate of e-waste disposal to discarding 800 laptops every single second.

The PM’s decision to address the mounting problem of e-waste is not without reason. India currently ranks third among the largest generators of e-waste globally, behind only China and the US. The volume of e-waste in India has witnessed a significant surge—from 700,000 tonnes in 2017-18 to 1.6 million tonnes in 2021-22 (see chart). This explosion is being fed by a parallel explosion of electronic goods’ consumption in India, with over 17 million TV sets, 148 million smartphones, 14 million refrigerators, 19 million audio devices and 6.5 million washing machines being sold across the country annually and growing, according to industry experts.