This is one emerging area that will exert considerable pressure on the e-waste generated in the country.

The largest constituent of recovered material from cell phones is plastic at 51 percent, followed by copper at 13 percent. However, other precious elements too add up when the numbers go up.

Going by the presentation of Belgian company Umicore, that is into precious metal refining, just 1,000 million units of phones recycled can mean 250 tonnes of silver, 24 tonnes of gold, 9 tonnes of palladium and 9,000 tonnes of copper.

This was a large amount compared to the world mined production of these elements.

As observed by Umicore spokesman Christian Hegaleken, the net value of recycled metals in printed circuit boards in Europe could fetch 4,000 Euros per tonne, while 10 tonnes of e-waste in general can fetch 60,000 Euros.

“We stress on the value recovery as well as resource conservation when recycling. Modern electronics contribute over 60 elements, many of them scarce, in the recovery process,” he said.

However, according to P Parthasarathy, director, E-Parisara Private Ltd, in India the circuit boards hardly constitute three-four percent of the waste.

“As we do not have the required volumes, it makes better sense to send this abroad for metal recovery.”

Even in terms of general e-waste collected, while E-parisara is authorised to collect 600 tonnes yearly, there is hardly half a tonne being collected on a daily basis, he said.

A large portion of the recovered material constitutes steel and plastics, with aluminum and copper coming next. The importance of more efficient collection was emphasised at the interactive session that followed Umicore’s presentation of ‘metal recovery from e-scrap’. As the experts noted, there was no point in applying high-end technology unless the collection and dismantling was more efficient.

Draft guidelines
Also discussed was the just-issued draft guidelines from the Central Pollution Control Board on ‘environmentally sound management of e-waste’. Should e-waste be called ‘hazardous’ as the draft did, or should the recycling process be termed ‘hazardous’?

If it is the former, it was felt that the collection process will be further hampered, and more of ‘backyard recycling’ by informal sector will become the order. The draft will be discussed later this month. The event was organised by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board at its premises.