RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDED AS E-WASTE SET FOR EXPLOSION IN INDIA

With a massive population of 1.3 billion enjoying rapidly increasing access to technology and computers, the near future will see an e-waste explosion in India, according to researchers at the PEC University of Technology, in Chandigarh and the Surya World Technical Campus in Punjabm, India

In their paper, Future outflows of toxic material from end-of-life computers in India, Neelu Jain and Pamela Chawla estimated the potential number of obsolete desktop and notebook computers and the quantity of various toxic components that will be generated from these devices over the next ten to fifteen years in India.

The authors suggested that it will take three decades at the current rate of penetration before there is one computer per capita across the nation. However, they also took into account higher-end users who have more than one device.

Given a population of almost 1.3 billion, the researchers estimated that some 126 million desktop computers and 900 million notebook computers that will have reached end-of life by 2025.

To cope with this increase the research found that recycling capacity will need to be able to cope with more than a billion PCs by 2020.

The authors of the paper said that the results will help waste management authorities in planning appropriate infrastructure and facilities for handling, recycling and disposal of this hazardous waste.

However, the researchers added that the analysis does not address distribution of obsolete computers for reuse, recycling and landfill options nor their storage time, which is an important issue to resolve in the future.

Given that many of the electronic and other components of such equipment use toxic elements, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and various plastics and polymers that can also degrade to toxic compounds, there researchers concluded that there is a pressing need to manage e-waste with consideration for human health and the environment.