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Recycling Processes and Plastic in Electronic Waste Is an Emerging Problem for India: Implications for Future Prospect

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Electronic Waste Pollution

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 57))

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Abstract

A steady rise in demand of electronic equipment is prevalent in both developed and developing nations. The high consumption rate of electronic goods has given rise to a new stream of waste known as electronic waste or e-waste. The informal sector is dominant and critically active in developing countries like India to recover precious metals from e-waste. The illegal trade of electronic waste products also adds up to a good proportion of e-waste. Recent studies from India reported that the crude processes involved in the informal e-waste recycling sector is a major cause for the emission of persistent toxicants into the environment. Some of those studies mentioned that the open burning of e-waste in dumpsites and landfills have further contributed to the release of persistent organic pollutants in the environement. Burning of plastics present in e-waste (e-plastics) is another serious problem. This chapter presents a review of both formal and informal e-waste recycling and how informal sector is proving to be of a major environmental concern in India. Further, we have discussed the sustainable recycling methods for plastic and metal recovery and the future prospects of e-waste recycling sector.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the grant from the Environmental Health Cell, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India (File No.Q-14011/43/2013-CPW(EHC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India

    K Ronnie Rex & Paromita Chakraborty

  2. SRM Research Institute, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu, India

    K Ronnie Rex, Omkar Gaonkar & Paromita Chakraborty

  3. Environmental and Water Resource Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Revathy Rajakumaran

  4. Nuevo Chakra, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Omkar Gaonkar & Paromita Chakraborty

  5. EDPC Polymer Industries, Vasai, Maharashtra, India

    Elvis Dsouza

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  1. K Ronnie Rex
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  2. Revathy Rajakumaran
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  3. Omkar Gaonkar
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  4. Elvis Dsouza
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Correspondence to Paromita Chakraborty .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Zaffar Hashmi

  2. Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ajit Varma

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Ronnie Rex, K., Rajakumaran, R., Gaonkar, O., Dsouza, E., Chakraborty, P. (2019). Recycling Processes and Plastic in Electronic Waste Is an Emerging Problem for India: Implications for Future Prospect. In: Hashmi, M., Varma, A. (eds) Electronic Waste Pollution. Soil Biology, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26615-8_12

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