India: A Matter of Electronic Waste; the Government Initiatives
The issue of electronic waste is becoming a big deal in India, but now perhaps the repercussions if not properly deal the matter may be worse to the environment and public health? Whether it is mobile phones or television sets or computers, recycling electronic waste is big business in India. More than 500,000 tonnes of e-waste is generated in India each year while some developed countries also ship their waste there. But most of the e-waste is not being handled properly andis threatening the environment and public health. This is only because we are not implementing appropriate and effective methods for the collection of e-waste andthe management ofits hazardous constituents, a big quantity of it ends up at scrap markets to be recycled using high polluting technologies or in landfills resulting in high environmental risk and public health hazards. In India, the significance of e-waste management cannot be ignoring not only due to the generation of its own e-waste but also because of the dumping of e-waste from other developed countries. Considering the intensity of the issue the Government of India, The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) has notified the e waste management rules (2011) for the first time. In this review article an attempt has been made to provide a clean overview of Indias present E waste scenario, its impact on the environment, its health hazards, the recycling and reusing operations. Also this paper includes the Governments initiatives towards the matter, the legal structure in the country and the organizations working in the direction of reducing and recycling the electronic waste
