Electronics  industry is the world\'s largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry. Rapid growth, combined with rapid product obsolescence and discarded electronics is now the fastest growing waste stream in the industrialized world. The growing quantity of waste from electronic industry, known as e-waste is beginning to reach disastrous proportions. Industrialized countries all over the world are beginning to address e-waste as it is inundating solid waste disposal facilities, which are inadequately designed to handle such type of wastes. The problems associated with e-waste in India started surfacing after the first phase of economic liberalisation, after 1990. That year witnessed a shift from in economic policy in turn triggering off an increase in the consumption pattern. This period also witnessed a shift in the pattern of governance. It ushered in an era of infrastructure reform and e-governance. This shift is marked by the application of information technology in a big way in all areas. These developments, along with indigenous technological advancement, have lead to an addition of wide gamut of ewaste churned out from Indian households, commercial establishments, industries and public sectors, into the waste stream. Solid waste management, which is already a mammoth task in India, has become more complicated by the invasion of e-waste, particularly computer waste to India, from different parts of the world.  

E-waste contains significant quantities of hazardous waste, including lead, mercury and cadmium. Improper recycling and disposal operations found in different cities of India often involve the open burning of plastic waste, exposure to toxic solders, river dumping of acids, and widespread general dumping. As a result, pollutants are dumped into the land, air and water. As per country level Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) assessment study, Mumbai and Pune falls under the top ten cities that are generating maximum quantities and Mumbai alone generates maximum among all the cities of India. Total WEEE waste generation in Maharashtra is 20270.6 tons, out of this Navi Mumbai contributes 646.48 tons, Greater Mumbai 11017.06 tons, Pune 2584.21 tons and Pimpri-Chinchwad 1032.37 tons.  

The subject of electronic equipment disposal and recycling has captured attention at all levels of government, and has become the subject of serious discussion and debate between government organizations and the private sector manufacturers of computers and consumer electronic equipment. Government organizations (MPCB) would like to foster opportunities to recycle and re-use surplus electronic equipment on as wide a scale as possible. Equipment manufacturers, with intense competition and low profit margins, are also unwilling to absorb the cost of recycling, and are fearful of piecemeal or prescriptive legislation, at the national or state level, which could force them to bear the cost and potentially the logistical and administrative burden of recycling their products. 

E-Waste Categories 

There is no accepted definition of e-waste in India. Broadly, e-waste has been defined as a waste from relatively expensive and essentially durable products used for data processing, telecommunications or entertainment in private households and businesses. 

The range of these products is given below: 

•  Computers  
•  Printers  
•  Fax machines 
•  CD players 
•  Televisions  
•  Radios 
•  VCRs  
•  Telephones  
•  Microwave ovens 
•  DVDs  

Identification of Problem 

Electronic equipment is one of the largest known sources of heavy metals and organic pollutants in the wastewater stream. Some electronic products – usually those with cathode ray tubes (CRTs), printed circuit boards (PCBs), batteries and mercury switches – contain hazardous or toxic materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and flame-retardants. The glass screens or CRTs in computer monitors and televisions can contain as much as 27% lead. Electronic products containing these hazardous materials may pose an environmental risk if they are not properly managed at their end-of-life. 

E-waste has two primary characteristics: 

• E-waste is hazardous - E-waste contains over 1,000 different substances, many of which are toxic, and creates serious pollution upon disposal.  

• E-waste is generated at alarming rates due to obsolescence - Due to the extreme rates of obsolescence; E-waste produces much higher volumes of waste in comparison to other consumer goods. The increasingly rapid evolution of technology combined with rapid product obsolescence has effectively rendered everything disposable.