Pollution Board plans inventory of e-waste

Published on 11/24/2006
VV BALAKRISHNA

Hyderabad, Nov 23: The AP Pollution Control Board (PCB) has decided to prepare an inventory of electronic waste known as e-waste in the State. PCB asked its regional and zonal officers to make inventory of the old gadgets.

‘‘Now we are using third generation of computers. The PCB wanted to know the fate of first and second generation computers,’’ according to PCB sources.

According to rough estimates, the e-waste generated in the State per year is 2,000 tonnes, most of it from Hyderabad alone. The IT development in the State was one third of Bangalore, PCB environmental engineer C Krishna Murthy told Express. Bangalore is producing 6,000 tonnes of e-waste annually.

Due to lack of recycling facilities, more than 70 per cent of the e-waste in the city is going into the hands of scrap dealers. Begumbazar is becoming a main centre of such activity. The scrap dealers are posing great threat to environment and creating hazardous working conditions for the work-force. Scrap dealers normally pour concentrated acids after extracting precious metal from the electronic gadgets. Fugitive dust emanates during crushing and powdering of electronic boards.

CLASSIFIED: The e-waste is broadly classified into computer peripherals like monitors, CPUs, PCBs and servers, household equipment like refrigerators, audio, video systems, washing machines, TVs and DVDs, telecommunication devices like phones, fax machines, industrial electronics like sensors, alarms and lighting devices like fluorescent tubes.

There are two recycling units one at Chennai and the other at Bangalore. But, only two IT firms are sending their e-waste to recycling units, according to sources. The major sources of e-waste are corporate companies, maintenance and service providers, government and service sector and illegal importers.

In European countries, manufacturers adopt ‘‘take it back and make it clean’’ policy. Manufacturers take back all the dismantled computers and send them to recycling units. Such an approach is needed in the country,’’ explained Krishna Murthy. He was part of a five-member Indian team which recently visited the largest recycling plant in Germany - Electro Cycling GmbH, Goslar, funded by Alcatel.