Electronic Waste Management Approaches - A Pilot Study in Northern Indian States

Abstract

The electronics industry is the one of the world's largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry. Discarded electronic and electrical equipment with all of their peripherals at the end of its useful life is termed as E-waste. But nowadays the main problem with the electronics products is that we generally don't consider the lifespan of it, mainly in case of mobile phones, laptops/PC, we frequently buys new products ultimately leading to an increased E-waste. Also, we don't know what to do with the discarded electronics items. We generally store them in our home as we are not aware of the hazardous effect of these E-devices on human health as well as on the environment. This paper projects a pilot study conducted in northern Indian states to find out the awareness level among the Consumer (Individual and Organizational) and recycler about the hazardous effect of E-waste. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh are selected for the pilot study.