Attention civic agencies! e-bomb is ticking

Thousands of cell phones, TV sets, and personal computers are dismantled every day in UP -- only to be reused by small-time scrap dealers.

This adds to the city’s e-waste burden, which has the potential of releasing harmful metals like cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, antimony, chromium and cobalt toxins into the air.

Lakshmi Raghupathi, former director, ministry of environment, said nearly 95% recycling of e-waste is done by the unorganised sector, which doesn’t follow safety norms. In all, around 4 lakh tonnes of e-waste is produced in the country every year. If not managed well, it has the potential to affect environment, climate, and crops.

The former director said that the government needs to regulate e-waste in every city or else the coming generation would have to pay a heavy price. She said this in her welcome address during a workshop on ‘E-waste Management - Challenges, Prospects and Strategies’ organised at PHD house in Gomti Nagar on Thursday.

Sanjay Singh, DM, Moradabad, who presented a study of his city where more than 1.5 lakh people were involved in this trade said, “We are trying to provide alternative employment to people involved in e-waste trade as it also affects them. It not only reduces their life span, but also pollutes rivers, drains - where ever the waste is disposed of. The situation becomes more hazardous when the e-waste toxins enter food chain.”

The Moradabad administration is trying to educate those involved in the trade about the hazards. In Lucknow too, LMC has no idea of disposing e waste in a proper manner, said panellists at the workshop.