India has produced 3.8 lakh tonnes of e-waste in 2007, out of which only 19,000 tonnes were recycled, says a survey. 

While a whopping 3.3 lakh tonnes of e-waste were generated domestically, almost 50,000 tonnes were imported, says the survey, probably India’s first detailed industry survey on e-waste.

The survey was carried out by the Manufacturing Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and German Technical Cooperation agency GTZ.

It forecasts that by 2011, the volume of e-waste is expected to be 4.7 lakh tonnes. 

“Since the situation could assume alarming proportions, it is high time we pay serious attention to the issue of e-waste and take corrective action to contain it,” said MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta.

Though Indian foreign trade policy does not permit import of e-waste, it finds way into the Indian market through wrongful declarations at the ports. 

Only 40 per cent of the waste is recycled, while the remaining 60  per cent remains in warehouses due to inefficient collection system. The recycled units are located primarily in urban slums.

Based on industry inputs, the survey observed that 94 per cent of the organisations did not have any policy on disposal of obsolete IT products. It also adds that 95 per cent of the e-waste is segregated, dismantled and recycled in urban slums.

It is fairly commonplace to find wires being burnt openly for extraction of resaleable copper and  soaking of circuit boards in open acid baths, followed by manual scrapping to extract copper and precious material next to open drains. 

The MAIT findings are in sync with a Greenpeace report on e-waste.

According to Greenpeace, though India generates 400 tonnes of e-waste every day, there are only two authorised recycling plants in Bangalore and Chennai, whose total capacity is five tonnes per day. The remaining 395 tonnes are recycled in backyard units where acid bathing as well as open baking and burning are common.