标签: e-waste

Dear Readers, As we had seen in the past 3 blogs, electronics has become a part of our everyday lives catering to various needs. It has created an equally strong impact on our environment, straining energy generation, contaminating natural resources and creating an issue of ever increasing e-waste. It is a duty as responsible global citizens to take concrete steps to reduce the harmful effects and enabling future generations to lead a happier life! There are many ways we can make a difference:   Evolving design practices that are environmental friendly – Design for Environment Development of energy efficient products that conserve energy consumption in standby and operating modes. Energy Star compliance is an excellent mechanism Making energy efficient products is not sufficient unless consumers are aware of how to make best use the devices with respect to energy efficiency. Consumer education is a priority and manufacturers can consider this as an important aspect of product design. Eliminating or reducing hazardous substances in electronic products. Evolving methodologies and practices that involve recyclability and reuse when a product is discarded. One way is to adhere to the guidelines of the WEEE (EU). This has to be thought about during the product conceptualization and design stages itself. To design truly ecologically sound products, companies need to shift away from products designed with a limited lifespan (planned obsolescence) and towards long-living upgradeable goods, with warranty periods significantly above minimum legal standards and with long availability of components. Since the cost of electronic products drop drastically year after year, people generally tend to discard the product instead of upgrading. Product design should consider this aspect and encourage users to upgrade their product rather than throw them away. In essence, this pertains to repairability and longer life of the product. In this era of mobility, batteries have played a very important role. Many rechargeable batteries use hazardous substances. Good scope exists for enhancing their efficiencies. Battery technologies have not kept pace with electronics and are atleast 10 years behind. Newer, efficient, safer and environmentally friendly technologies that are at various development stages today need to be accelerated to mass production stages. Fuel cells, Ultra capacitors and such technologies show great promise. Adopting energy efficient manufacturing and distribution mechanisms. One of the methods especially suitable for India is to encourage local manufacturing. Being closer to the consumers is an efficient step from many dimensions. In the absence of any monitoring and enforcement from the government side, leading industry bodies, in close collaboration with the government, will have to take up the task of evolving such measures and ensuring that its members strictly adhere to them. E-waste disposal is an area that will benefit from such an initiative. Proper recycling and incineration guidelines are a greater need of the hour. Though guidelines and stipulations are there, enforcement is a problem. Encouraging Tele commuting where a significant percentage of employees work out of their homes. This is not without major problems though! Especially in India! But if a way can be worked out, it provides a significant reduction in energy costs.   Let’s pledge to work towards a safer and better environment. Let’s first attempt to gain awareness ourselves and make a difference by spreading this awareness. Bye for now. Paddy

Dear Readers,   In the previous notes we discussed about the proliferation of electronic goods and the impact that they are making not only on the people but also on the environment.   What is the global community doing about this? Are we looking at any solutions to tackle this problem?   European Union has taken a lead in the formulation and strict monitoring of regulations concerning electronics. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US has also come up with certain regulations and guidelines. These regulations are being widely adopted as the model in other regions too. The important ones concerning electronics are:   Energy Using Product (EuP) concerning design of energy optimized products at every stage of development. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), assigning responsibility for collection, recovery and recycling of equipment Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), setting regulations for limiting the usage of toxic substances, mainly in the materials (or devices), manufacturing and packaging and distribution phases. Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH), mandating the registration of over 30000 substances, importers of dangerous substances, phasing out toxics etc Energy Star (launched by EPA) provides well recognized benchmark for energy efficiency.   Various countries that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol and concerned about environmental impact, have their own variants too, apart from using the above regulations as their primary models. Strictly implementing them is not without challenges. Higher costs (investments, operations, alternate materials), technical issues involved in design and manufacturing, unknown quality and reliability issues, legal liabilities of non compliance and financial liabilities due to product recalls are a few of the challenges. For example, RoHS, which should have come into existence now, is unfortunately getting delayed in its enforcement due to various reasons.   India Scenario   95% of e-waste collection and disposal in India is primarily handled by the informal sector , in unacceptable conditions. The formal sector is yet to evolve here, though there are 12 such units across the country.   According to a MAIT – GTZ study, India generates close to 400,000 Metric Tons (MT) of e-waste annually and another 50,000 MT is getting added every year. Out of this, only 19,000 MT is re-used! Another 50,000 MT of e-waste is illegally imported into the country, under the guise of donations or being labeled as metal scrap, through porous ports, due to weak enforcements.   Despite issues, the world looks at India in a positive manner. We are signatory to the Basel Convention. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has released a detailed set of guidelines in March 2008. These form the basis for various approvals and registrations and also for suitable legislations. According to Dr. J. Bischoff of GTZ, India is a pioneer amongst developing countries in formulating guidelines for e-waste management. According to him, considerable re-usable and re-furbish market exists in India, which is a positive approach. After all, we Indians never like to throw anything! Culturally, this aspect has been considered as a very positive aspect when it comes to e-waste management and people feel that the education part is likely to be easier!!   Some of the NGOs like SAHAS are taking steps to organize the informal sector and create better conditions for them. This effort has shown some success in India’s IT capital - Bangalore.   Well, let’s hope that we will overcome these issues soon!