Consumer electronics
like smart phones, e-books, laptops, MP3 players and televisions, game consoles
and wireless devices have enhanced the lives of the people. But what do you do
when these ‘life-made-easy’ items breakdown or become obsolete? Discard them
carelessly!
Of the total e-waste
generated in India, one third of it is from mobile phones alone and this is set
to rise steeply in the coming years. India’s yearly e-waste generation is
growing at the rate of 15 per cent and is expected to cross 800,000 tones or even
more in the years to come.
Apart from the e-waste
generated within the country, a large junk of e-waste comes to India annually
from developed nations under the pretext of reuse. A great percentage of this
makes its way to unsafe and unauthorized dumping yards posing grave health and
environmental risks. And with fast emerging technology, growing consumerism
along with perceived obsolescence and planned obsolescence, managing e-waste
will be a herculean task in the coming years.
Have you noticed how some electronic goods die as soon as the
warranty ends? Well, this may not be a coincidence but a planned obsolescence
to compel us to buy a brand new product as the component to be replaced would
be nearly as costly as the new product. If planned obsolescence is the
handiwork of companies, perceived obsolescence is purely one’s own making. It
is all about our perception of things and styles which makes a product trendy
and ‘cool.
When electronics are
handled and sorted properly, e-waste is a valuable source of secondary raw
materials. It is estimated that out of the 53 million tons of electronic waste
generated worldwide in 2009 only about 13 per cent of it was recycled.
As young Indians we need to become continually conscious of the
colossal catastrophe that is looming over our environment. If we don’t care for
the environment and address the problem today, our planet can become a
hazardous and poisonous dumpyard for e-waste. If we don’t check our rush for
digital-media frenzy consumerism and if we don’t recognise the connect between
our digital media desire and environmental impact, they could undo our very
existence one day.
Let us not forget that
every time we discard an electronic product on account of it not being trendy
or because of our laziness to replace an obsolete part, we are slowly getting
under the Damocles’ sword of e-waste. Pull the plug on e-waste before it pulls
the plug on us. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
