Status of E-waste Recycling in India and Developing Recycling Processes at CSIR-NML, India

Generation of E-waste is increasing globally due to the fast economical growth, technological advancement and availability of advanced electronic equipments in the market. E-waste means the discarded electrical or electronic devices i.e. obsolete computers, mobile phones, televisions, microwave ovens and other such appliances that had past their useful lives. These wastes contain hazardous but also valuable and scarce materials. Due to the supremacy of e-waste management, countries are being enforced to establish new models for the collection and environmentally sound disposal of these wastes. E-waste recycling is essential due to the national and international reports, which cautioned on the global generation, treatment and accumulation of e-waste. Global data indicate that total e-waste generation including imports is around 20-50 million tones per year. In India, 332,979 tones of e-waste were generated and 50,000 tones imported in 2007. The yearly growth rate of total E-waste in India is ~10%. Among these, recycling by non-formal and formal sectors are 95% and 5%, respectively.
Present lecture describes the current scenario of E-waste recycling in India and developing recycling processes at CSIR-NML, India with joint collaborations and sponsorship from national and international agencies. At NML, the mineral beneficiation and hydrometallurgical processes are developed to recover valuable, precious and hazardous metals from E-waste. The varieties of metals have been recovered from E-wastes using individual or combined processes in an organized and safe manner.