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Showing posts from March, 2016

Why E-waste is becoming a concern?

Every year, we are throwing off a minimum of 42 million tonnes of e-waste as garbage. Well, most of this is computer / television monitors, printer cartridges, dishwashers, washing machines, microwaves, laptops, mobile phones and burnt circuit boards. In the past couple of years, with the onslaught of smart devices and gadgets taking over every aspect of our life, the use of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) has grown exponentially. While the lifespan of devices are shorter, most end up in dust bins and recycling centre. This has been a major challenge for policy maker. However, more importantly, the growing E-waste volumes have also become a disaster.  There is a large portion of our e-waste that isn’t collected and treated in proper recycling centre. This leads to a minimum of 4,400 tonnes of toxic chemicals getting dumped in our natural environment each year. 2.2 mega tonnes of this has been found to be lead glass alone. Others include arsenic, barium, beryllium, cad