Yes, E-waste as a tradable commodity has been described in terms of components, which contain items of economic value.
In developing countries, E-waste collection, transportation and recycling has become a profitable business in the unorganized/ informal sector, where the E- waste trader/ collector/ recyclers pay the consumer for the E-waste item.
E-waste has been classified into 26 components forming “building blocks”, which are easily “identifiable” and “removable”, followed by description of elements for material recovery and their respective hazardousness. These commodities are refrigerator, washing machine representing “household’s appliances”, personal computer, monitor, laptop and cellular telephone representing “IT and Telecom equipment” and television representing “consumer equipments”.
Since low level of investment is required in unorganized/ informal sector, small investors find E-waste trade as attractive business proposition, where the main incentive is financial benefit irrespective of environmental, occupational and health issues.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Invest in E-Waste
India, rapidly becoming a global center for Information & Communication Technology, it inevitably uses more electronic items and inevitably produces more E-Waste.
Around 400000 tons of E-Waste generated in 2008. A large amount of E-Waste is dumped into rivers, landfills and sewage drains. Only small amount of E-Waste is recycled by organized sector.
According to MAIT, it is projected to grow to more than 800000 tons by 2012, with the growth rate of 15%. It is likely to grow even more as most electronic goods like televisions, mobile phones etc., are experiencing high growth rates and even faster replacement cycles as consumers outgrow older models due to rapid technological obsolescence in this sector.
Despite such high generation level of e-waste, participation of organized players in e-waste recycling is insignificant. Less than 5% of the e-waste is recycled through registered (Organized) recyclers. Over 95% of the e-waste is segregated, dismantled and recycled in the unorganized sector based in urban slums around Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. The reason why the unorganized sector still dominates is that there are too few registered recyclers.
Currently, around 6 players like Ecoreco, E-Parisara, Ash Recyclers, K G Nandini and few are operational in the organized sector.
“Fifty recyclers is the minimum required to handle the current volumes. And, we need to add ten new ones every year” B K Soni, Ecoreco said in 1 of his articles.
Last but not the least; E-Waste is 1 among the 16 hot sectors quoted by “Entrepreneur magazine” (September ’09 issue).
Around 400000 tons of E-Waste generated in 2008. A large amount of E-Waste is dumped into rivers, landfills and sewage drains. Only small amount of E-Waste is recycled by organized sector.
According to MAIT, it is projected to grow to more than 800000 tons by 2012, with the growth rate of 15%. It is likely to grow even more as most electronic goods like televisions, mobile phones etc., are experiencing high growth rates and even faster replacement cycles as consumers outgrow older models due to rapid technological obsolescence in this sector.
Despite such high generation level of e-waste, participation of organized players in e-waste recycling is insignificant. Less than 5% of the e-waste is recycled through registered (Organized) recyclers. Over 95% of the e-waste is segregated, dismantled and recycled in the unorganized sector based in urban slums around Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai. The reason why the unorganized sector still dominates is that there are too few registered recyclers.
Currently, around 6 players like Ecoreco, E-Parisara, Ash Recyclers, K G Nandini and few are operational in the organized sector.
“Fifty recyclers is the minimum required to handle the current volumes. And, we need to add ten new ones every year” B K Soni, Ecoreco said in 1 of his articles.
Last but not the least; E-Waste is 1 among the 16 hot sectors quoted by “Entrepreneur magazine” (September ’09 issue).
Sources of E Waste
The main generators of E-waste in India are government institutions and corporate sector, accounting for almost 70 per cent of the total waste. The contribution from individual households is relatively small coz they like to go for exchange for a new product. Manufacturers of components and assemblers are another important source of e-waste generation in the country. However, it is difficult to capture the exact quantity of waste generation by this group. The import of e-waste, which is illegal, is another major source and preliminary estimates do point that the quantity being brought in is very significant. This takes place both in a legal as well as quasi-legal way, since e-waste is either misclassified as ‘metal scrap’ or imported as second hand or ‘end-of-life’ goods, which soon become waste.
Introduction
E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. In developed countries, On an average it equals 1% of total solid waste. In developing countries, it ranges from 0.01% to 1% of the total municipal solid waste generation. In India, though annual generation per capita is less than 1 kg, it is growing at an exponential pace. The increasing “market penetration” in developing countries, “replacement market” in developed countries and “high obsolescence rate” make E-waste one of the fastest waste streams. The composition of E-waste is very diverse and differs in products across different categories. It contains more than a 1000 different substances, which fall under “hazardous” and “non-hazardous” categories. Broadly, it consists of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, glass, wood and plywood, printed circuit boards, concrete and ceramics, rubber and other items.
Composition
Particulars
Ferrous Metals 50%
Non Ferrous Metals 13%
Plastics 21%
Others 16%
The presence of elements like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants are classified as hazardous waste. E-waste dismantling or incineration is considered toxic. Therefore, they are targeted for reuse, recovery or hazardous waste disposal. The recovery of metals is a profitable business.
Composition
Particulars
Ferrous Metals 50%
Non Ferrous Metals 13%
Plastics 21%
Others 16%
The presence of elements like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants are classified as hazardous waste. E-waste dismantling or incineration is considered toxic. Therefore, they are targeted for reuse, recovery or hazardous waste disposal. The recovery of metals is a profitable business.
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