Electronic Waste

A “catastrophic accumulation” of millions of tonnes of “e-waste” from computers, cellphones and television sets is fuelling a global pile of hazardous waste.

An upcoming report from the Basel Convention on transboundary movement of hazardous waste is said to show a “catastrophic accumulation of e-waste” that could prove to be hazardous.

“I’d say it’s something in the region of six billion tons, it’s a rough estimate,” said Katharina Kummer Peiry, executive secretary of the international agreement.

“E-waste did not even exist as a waste stream in 1989 and now it’s one of the largest and growing exponentially,” Peiry said.

The AFP reported that a UN Environment Program report found that the pileup of e-waste could soon reach 50 million tons per year.

“Add an increasing demand for electronic gaming, higher definition televisions or smart cars, and the result is a catastrophic accumulation of e-waste, now and into the future,” said the Basel Convention.

In late October, Indian officials held a two-day International Conference on Heavy Metals and E-waste in New Delhi, during which Priti Mahesh, senior program officer of Toxic Link, said e-waste is a “major problem and growing at the rate of 10 to 15 percent annually.”

“We think by 2010, the e-waste in India will go up to 800,000 tons,” said Mahesh.

With just six regular recycling facilities, India has only an annual recycling capacity of 27,000 tons, according to pollution control officials.

“The unmitigated use of heavy metals and toxics has a long-standing and far-reaching impact on the planet,” said Ravi Agarwal, Director of Toxic Link.

“It impacts our environment and human health directly. Sustainable and safe alternatives need to replace these dangerous chemicals immediately to safeguard the planet.”

The group also found that as workers with bare hands dismantle e-waste, many of them become exposed to dangerous metals such as barium, lead, copper and cadmium.

“It’s already a problem and on its way to becoming worse because 97 percent of waste gets recycled in hazardous conditions,” said Mahesh.

Learn More:

• E-waste recovery and tokenization
• Non-ferrous metal recycling
• The circular economy approach
• Feasibility studies for e-waste projects

Stop The Hazardous E-Waste Pileup

India’s e-waste could reach 800,000 tons by 2010 against just 27,000 tons of recycling capacity, with 97% of waste handled in hazardous conditions.

Klean’s e-waste recovery and non-ferrous metal recycling systems safely process electronics and extract valuable metals without exposing workers to toxins.

• Recover precious and base metals from end-of-life electronics
• Keep hazardous metals like lead and cadmium out of the environment
• Build safe, compliant recycling capacity where it’s needed most

Ready to process e-waste the safe, sustainable way?

Talk To Klean » GO.