Health risks due to e-waste widespread

Severe health risks and environmental damage are “widespread” in India due to “very low” literacy levels of the country’s over one million people involved in manual e-waste recycling operations, warns a new UN report. According to the ‘Global E-waste Monitor 2017’ report released on Thursday. India’s electronics industry is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and plays an “important role” in the domestic generation of e-waste, producing 2 million metric tonnes (Mt) in 2016. The report, which is a collaborative effort of the United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union and the International Solid Waste Association, shows that the amounts of e-waste continue to grow, while too little is recycled.

By 2016, the world generated 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste and only 20 per cent was recycled through appropriate channels, it said, adding that China was the top e-waste producer in the world, generating 7.2 Mt. “In the Southern and South-Eastern Asia region, India plays an important role in the domestic generation of e-waste due to the large population, but the country also imports from developed countries,” the report said. India’s electronics industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, it said while noting that the formal e-waste recycling sector in India is currently being developed in major cities.