Thread by @Insights_ias

“Today’s latest devices are also the future’s E-Waste.”
PM Modi

Here’s a valuable thread on E-Waste, Waste-to-wealth, statistics, case studies & other steps related making India a Global Recycling Hub for E-Waste!

Save them to your notes 📝!
#UPSC

A 🧵:

Global E-waste Monitor 2020

•The world dumped 53.6 million metric tons of e-waste in 2019

•Global e-waste generation to touch 747 LT per year by 2030

•the e-waste generated around the world in 2019 contained raw materials (mainly iron,copper & gold) worth $57 billion
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•Only 17. 4% of e-waste was documented as formally collected & recycled in 2019

•Many developed countries have e-waste recycling rates of 50-70%

•Described e-waste as an ‘URBAN MINE’:the critical & non-critical metals in it can be recycled as secondary raw materials.
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•India produced 3.2 million metric tons of e-waste

•The Ficci Circular Economy Report for 2017:India could have extracted gold worth $0.7-1 billion from e-waste

•E-WASTE MINING:secures the supply of resources needed for manufacturing EEE products,solar panels,EVs, etc.

Here’s an image on the E-WASTE collected, dismantled, recycled & disposed in India.
Source: Lok Sabha 2022

‘Waste to Wealth’ i.e. ‘Kachre se Kanchan’

•Today’s latest devices are also future’s E-Waste.

•If E-Waste is not disposed of properly, it can harm our environment.

•But,if done carefully,it can become a great force in the Circular Economy of Recycle and Reuse.

United Nations report states that

•50 million tonnes of E-Waste is being thrown every year.

•Even if the weight of all the commercial planes that have been built in the history of mankind is combined, it will not equal the amount of E-Waste being released.
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•It is like every second 800 laptops are being thrown away.

•About 17 types of Precious Metals can be extracted from this E-Waste through different processes.

•This includes Gold, Silver, Copper and Nickel, so utilizing E-Waste is no less than making ‘Kachre Ko Kanchan’.

CASE STUDIES:

•500 E-Waste Recyclers are associated with this sector

•E-Parisaraa(Bengaluru):has developed an indigenous technology for extracting precious metals from Printed Circuit Boards.

•Ecoreco(Mumbai) has developed a system to collect E-Waste through a Mobile App
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•Attero Recycling of Roorkee, Uttarakhand has obtained many patents in this field worldwide. It has also earned a lot of awards by preparing its own E-Waste Recycling Technology.

•Tonnes of E-Waste are being collected in Bhopal through a Mobile App and the Website ‘Kabadiwala’

Circular Economy:

•It is an alternative to highly extractive & resource-intensive linear economy principle of TAKE-MAKE-USE-DISPOSE.

•Replaces the end-of-life concept with restoration & regeneration

•SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

STEPS TAKEN BY INDIA:

•The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016

•Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) authorisation.