SWACHH DIGITAL INDIA

In the 20th Century, the information and communication revolution has brought enormous changes in the way we organize our lives, our economies, industries and institutions. The information technology has revolutionized the way we live, work and communicate bringing countless benefits and wealth to all its users. The creation of innovative and new technologies and the globalization of the economy have made a whole range of products available and affordable to the people changing their lifestyles significantly. New electronic products have become an integral part of our daily lives by providing more comfort, security, easy and faster acquisition and exchange of information. At the same time, these have led to manifold problems including the problem of massive amount of hazardous waste and other wastes generated from electronic products. These hazardous and other wastes pose a great threat to the human health and environment. The issue of proper management of wastes, therefore, is critical to the protection of livelihood, health and environment.E-waste consists of all waste from electronic and electrical appliances which have reached their end- of- life period or are no longer fit for their original intended use and are destined for recovery, recycling or disposal. It includes computer and its accessories -monitors, printers, keyboards, central processing units, typewriters, mobile phones and chargers, remotes, compact discs, headphones, batteries, LCD/Plasma TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and other household appliances. According to a study carried out by MAIT-GTZ in 2007 about 3.3 hundred thousand tonnes of e-waste is generated annually in India.The problems associated with e- waste disposal are now being recognized in India. E-waste is highly complex to handle due to its composition. It is made up of multiple components some of which contain toxic substances and heavy metals that have an adverse impact on human health and environment if not handled properly.The disposal of E-waste is mainly in the informal sector. The workers in the recycling sector are dominated by the urban poor with very low literacy levels and hence they have very little awareness regarding the potential hazards of E-waste. Among the urban poor, there are a substantial number of women and children engaged in various recycling activities which further exaggerate the problem of E-waste as they are more vulnerable to the hazards from this kind of waste. Even when the toxicity of e-waste is known , e-Waste is handled in the informal sector in a improper manner, leading to lot of problems for the environment and for people's health. Extracting metals like copper and gold in open acid baths, which is illegal, releases toxins such as dioxins, heavy metals, lead, cadmium, mercury and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Acid and chemical residues contaminate water and soil. Informal recyclers work without protective clothing, exposing themselves to hazardous chemicals that can lead to physical injuries mercury, for instance, can cause brain and kidney damage, and BFRs disrupt hormonal function and chronic illnesses like asthma and skin diseases. Most of these informal recycling centres are within community areas or within residential areas and so that entire families are exposed to the toxic elements.Thus proper management is necessary while disposing or recycling e-wastes.It is important to involve experts in designing communication tools for creating awareness at the highest level to promote the aim of safe disposal of e-Waste. Information on authorised recyclers may be accessible through the internet and other electronic and printed materials. CPCB may set up programs so as to promote recycling among citizens and businesses. Collection of e-waste should be encouraged by placing e-waste bins at different locations. Citizens should be made aware that e-wastes should never be disposed with garbage and other household wastes but should be deposited in designated e-waste bins or authorised e-waste recyclers.As moving from informal sector to formal sector involves capital expenditure, PCB may come up with institutions and programmes to promote technology transfer and provide financial support to facilitate the movement of a recycler to the formal sector. DeitY has developed processing technology for recycling and reuse of electronic waste at National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, India(CSIRs R&D lab). Pilot plant demonstration was done to recover precious metals from 1MT of e-waste with a recovery rate of 95%. Printed circuit board processing technology was successfully developed amd demonstrated at Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology, Hyderabad and e-Parisara , Bangalore . Commercialization of these technologies should be encouraged so that informal e-waste recyclers may move from formal sector recycling by adopting such affordable technologies.It is therefore proposed that during Digital India Launch Week, various activities for spreading e-waste awareness among common citizens and also people working in unorganized sector should be planned. NeGD has also compiled a presentation, in consultation with R&D , Electronics Group of DeitY, which may be converted into short animated films with the help of some media agency.