Circular Economy and E-waste

 

Latest Context

• On 28 August, 2023 Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) released a report titled ‘Pathways to Circular Economy in Indian Electronics Sector’.
• The report was developed with the aim of examining ways to harness electronic waste and create a circular economy for India's electronics industry
• This report, is developed in collaboration with NITI Ayog.

Key findings

• As in the case of recycling ,E-waste management is largely informal in India.

• According to ICEA report, a very competitive informal sector manages around 90% of waste collection and 70% of recycling.

• UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020, India is the third largest electronic waste generator in the world after China and U.S.A.

• Report says, the level of e-waste is expected to grow due to cheaper phones and increased usage.
• It is noteworthy that, the informal sector excels at salvaging older devices for parts and profiting from repairs with them.

• Then there are industrial hubs such as Moradabad, where printed circuit boards (PCBs) arrive in tonnes to be melted into gold and silver that can then be sold.
• PCB, also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a medium used to connect or "wire" components to one another in a circuit.

• The report emphasises the urgent need for a new e-waste management and looks at opportunities to exploit its potential.
• The report suggests that an additional USD 7 billion of market opportunities could be unlocked by this transformation.

 

Circular economy

• The circular economy aims to bring used and damaged electronic products back into the electronics ecosystem.

• There are several basic and valuable metals in E-waste, e.g.  gold, silver, copper, nickel or palladium.

• The report calls for a shift in the focus on e-waste management to creating a circular economy.

• An example of this circular economy approach is China, which has committed to using 35% of primary raw materials in the production of new products by 2030.

What can we do to recycle the e-waste?

Conclusion

In view of the unpredictable supply chain for electronics components and the need to take full advantage of their intrinsic value in a formalized and reliable way, it is important to make efforts towards developing a circular economy for electronic waste.

 

 

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