Apple’s move to TN brings hope for better recycling of electronic waste

nNEWDELHI:FOR too long, India has been called out for its poor electronic waste handling. In part, this is true, even today. Hundreds of poor illegally extract saleable materials and components, damaging their health and polluting the environment. There is no investment in making their lives safer, or better, although under new laws, this might be shifting slowly.

On the other hand, too often, we forget about how our electronics are made.

With Apple shifting to Chennai, India and Apple both have a great opportunity to re-make the future.

Previously, Apple was called out for phones that were produced in pathetic conditions, with underpaid workers. In Chennai, all this should be a thing of the past. It must ensure it is the best possible job for a worker in this niche.

Apple is setting up in the land of recycling and the Swachh Bharat Mission. It can offer both it’s brand and India so much more.

For one, can the plant expand to dismantle and recycle most or all parts of the Apple products discarded? The new law anyway requires it to collect a percentage of e-waste generated, and recycle it. It will be the first to do this, perhaps use some recovered materials in manufacturing. It could let the public see the process first hand. We have to shift to circularity in the coming few years, and this factory is not only valuable in itself, but also for the potential it has to transform the global idea of circular economy.

(The writer is Founder and Director, Chintan Environmental Research and

Action Group)