Increasing e-waste threatens Kolkata environment

During the two years of pandemic and lockdown, the usage of gadgets has gone up like anything and with that we have seen exponential growth in e-waste. According to specialists, there are two major sources of e-waste – household waste and corporate offices. Most households throw their e-waste into the garbage or sell them to ragpickers. The corporate companies, on the other hand, dispose of the e-waste via a registered company in Kolkata.

If not managed properly it can lead to serious environmental issues like plastic pollution, as most of the gadgets’ bodies and circuits are made of plastics. Then, glass is also non-biodegradable. Besides, old gadgets and batteries emit harmful radiation and that can cause several health complications.

There are several precious and harmful metals in the motherboard and the circuit board of a computer and a phone. The ragpickers often extract precious metal like gold, silver and platinum from the gadget and through the rest of it in landfilling or water bodies. The harmful metals then get dissolved and pollute the water and earth.

The only way to address this issue is by proper recycling and a small part of the total produced e-waste is recycled.