NEW DELHI: "The Capital's booming Information Technology market has resulted in an enormous electronic waste burden and we estimate that by 2009 we will have as much as 6,000 tonnes of it,'' Subhankar Basu of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has warned.

Speaking at the two-day "Workshop on Efficient Electronic Waste Management" that concluded here on Tuesday, Mr. Basu said: "What makes the situation worse is the fact that dismantling and recycling conditions are rudimentary and unsafe and often workers are exposed to acid fumes that are injurious.''

The workshop also discussed important issues including "Rapid electronic waste assessment study in India", "Environmental and health impacts of inefficient recycling", "Electronic waste assessment in India", "Electronic waste: Problem area and its magnitude" and "Electronic waste: Need for legislation in India".

Speaking about electronic waste management in India, Managing Director of IRG Systems South Asia Amit Jain said: "We need to look at the choice of environmentally sound technologies and processes for electronic waste recycling including control of emission and discharges. We also need to employ environmentally sound technology for recycling of printed circuit boards including control of emission/discharges and identification of electronic wastes.''

Planning

Highlighting the need for "optimal planning for computer waste management", research scholar in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi, Poonam Khanijo Ahluwalia, and assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi, Arvind K. Nema said there was an urgent need for management of computer waste which is a mammoth task in India.

Some of the important concerns in the present scenario of computer waste management include minimising both environmental, health as well as accidental risks, they said.

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