The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Rising concern over dumping of e-waste

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Monday, Sep 11, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rising concern over dumping of e-waste

T. Lalith Singh

PCB teams sent to Germany to study disposal methods PCB teams sent to Germany to study disposal methods

POSSIBLE POLLUTANTS?: Unscientific disposal of old computers and their accessories can cause health problems in the long run. -- PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: Even as the city boasts of its growth as a favoured IT destination, concerns are on the rise over lack of scientific handling of increasing e-waste generated here.

A broad classification of the electronic waste covers items that have turned obsolete and include computer peripherals, monitors, central processing units, servers and so on. Also, household equipments such as refrigerators, washing machines and telecommunication devices such as phones, mobiles and batteries that have gone out of use fall in the category.

Unscientific methods

In the absence of a proper mechanism to handle the e-waste, the material presently gets dumped in unscientific ways giving rise to fears on the same causing health problems in the longer run. The hazardous materials present in e-waste include arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel and toxic organic substances.

If not disposed of safely, several environmental and health hazards may be the consequence over a period of time. The health relevance of hazardous materials tabulated cover a wide range from allergic reactions, skin and eye irritation to risks of cancer from some radioactive substances.

Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) Member Secretary Rajeshwar Tiwari says efforts are on to come up with a methodology to handle the problem and that the Union Government has initiated consultations towards this end. Teams have already visited Germany to study the way e-waste is handled there.

A Draft Electronic Waste (Management & Handling) Rules has been worked out and circulated for discussion and Mr. Tiwari expects a right practice of taking care of increasing e-waste load to be in place soon.

The producer and user should be responsible for safe disposal too, he advocates. As in Germany, which boasts of a safe methodology for e-waste disposal, establishing a string of centres to collect e-waste has been proposed. On collection, these equipments need to be segregated for material that can be recycled and the ones that cannot be.

"We have two landfills, one at Dundigal and another one is coming up in Visakhapatnam. Material that is beyond recycling can be sent here," suggests Mr. Tiwari.

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