Nearly 140 million moblile phones are expected to be sold in India this year, an increase of over 18% from the previous year. E-waste is expected to increase to 8 lakh tonnes by 2012 and mobile phones will form a large proportion of this figure. This is a significant increase over statistics published earlier this year showing total e-waste generated to be around 4.3 lakh tonnes, with mobile phones comprising about 1,700 tonnes.
The developed world has put in place controlled systems for recycling e-waste, but not only is such a system absent in India but awareness is poor in what now constitutes the second largest mobile phone market in the world. Phones are often left lying around at home or given to the local scrap dealer because people just don’t know what else to do with them. Furthermore, 50,000 tonnes of e-waste ends up in India from developed countries each year because recycling costs are much lower.
Mobile phones contain many materials that are harmful to the environment and human health, so it is vital that they are recycled carefully. It is also possible to recycle materials that can be used to make new products. Many of these raw materials are sold by recyclers on commodity markets in India and elsewhere in the world.
E-waste handling and recycling is done by the informal sector in India and is largely unregulated. This leads to toxic components such as batteries being burnt in the open air in slum areas, with consequent damage to the environment and people living nearby.