After Bengaluru Hyderabad is the second largest IT Hub in south India in terms of electronic waste or e-waste. Yet it doesn't have any proper plan of disposal due to which the majority of the e-waste is either dumped in landfills or get recycled by the unregulated informal sector considering its economic value.
K Sree Harsha, project faculty, Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI), detailed how e-waste is a growing concern.
He said “there are traces of valuable metals like gold, palladium, copper, silver, and aluminum present in electrical and electronic equipment. Toxic components like mercury, lead, cadmium, polybrominated flame retardants, barium, and lithium are also present.”
He added, “not only do they affect the environment but due to their non-biodegradable nature, they accumulate in the environment, in the soil, air, and water. They release hazardous gases into the atmosphere when they get dismantled. These toxic components cause skin irritation, lung infections, kidney problems, nausea, and others, affecting the health of humans.”
The Telangana government had already taken many measures to prevent its e-waste from being unregulated dumped or handled, but so far they have not proven to be successful. Failing to meet the requirements for proper e-waste disposal.
Measures taken by Telangana Government
The Telangana government so far has signed MoUs with not only big companies but also ties up with producers, banks, and other organizations. Trying to get its e-waste collection under control, still, there has been a huge gap left by the management. In 2017, the Telangana government formulated the E-Waste Management Policy. The E-Waste Management Policy gives an insight into the State’s vision of creating an aware society that actively participates in managing E-Waste. Turning the highly unsafe unorganized sector into an organized sector. The policy lists numerous initiatives mainly focusing on the retail and bulk consumers of electronics and manufacturers, also focusing on working alongside the recycling chain. This policy also details a proper incentive scheme for recyclers, dismantling units, and collection centers. Though the policy was for the effective handling of e-waste it go as planned. The monitoring period was only between 2016 - 2020 as per the survey by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board.
The total E-waste collected for the year 2020 was monthly 3,156.06 MT and yearly 37,857.99 Metric Tonnes (MT). There were three Recycling units and 9 Dismantling units set up during this year, out of which the most significant recycling unit was Earth Sense Recycling in Rangareddy, which recycled 22129 MT.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.
