ABSTRACT
The electronics industry is regarded as the world's largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry and hence, electronic waste (e-waste) is also quickly becoming the fastest growing waste stream in the industrialized world. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), up to 50 million tonne of e-waste is globally generated each year (UNEP 2007). The recent MAIT-GTZ study notes that about 330,000 tonne of e-waste is generated annually in India and the generation of e-waste is expected to touch 470,000 tonne by 2011 (Chaturvedi et al. 2007). The study also reveals that only about 19,000 tonne of the e-waste is recycled, of which 95 per cent is recycled in the informal sector. Empa, the Swiss federal laboratories for materials testing and research, estimate that in Delhi at least 10,000 unskilled workers are employed in recycling and recovery operations (Sinha-Khetriwala et al. 2005). The complexity of e -waste flows within India and inadequate record-keeping by industry make an accurate estimation of e -waste difficult (Streiche-Porte et al. 2007).
