Cell Phone Boom Means eWaste Problem in India-

Cell Phone Boom Means eWaste Problem in India

Written by Ben Hines



Share 0e-Waste is a growing problem in the world, causing not only pollution but also the unnecessary exposure of children in third world countries to toxic chemicals. Asian Correspondent recently took a look at a place where the recent cell phone boom is creating an ewaste problem that has massive implications for the future … India, which has the second largest number of mobile phone users in the world.

India has approximately six hundred and thirty mobile phone users, which translates to about six hundred mobile phones turning to e-waste every two years (the average shelf life for a mobile phone is about 1.8-2 years – unless you live in the United States where it's much shorter!). India already produces over a thousand tons of ewaste each day, of which only about ten tons are properly disposed of.

As we’ve previously reported, India also imports e-waste from richer countries as illegal e-scrap for salvaging expensive parts. It’s reported that it may be up to two million tons of e-waste being illegally sent from the United States to Asian nations last year, with India most likely getting around fifty-five thousand tons of that import.



What does this all mean? It means that the amount of e-waste in India is expected to grow by five hundred percent by 2020 according to a report by Live Mint. The major offending Indian cities include, not surprisingly, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. And though mobile phones are a huge part of the problem, televisions and computers (please be responsible about recycling your computer) are the biggest e-waste problems in the nation currently. This, its assumed, is largely due to the propensity of people to throw old cell phones in a desk drawer rather than throw them out.



e-Waste is a growing global problem, and it’s not jus cell phones that are causing it. The proliferation of small hand held electronics, computers and tablets, all of which seem to have “upgrades” every few months are making the problem expand exponentially. India may bear a great deal of the brunt of it in the next decade, but the world as a whole need to address and find solutions to the growing problem of e-waste disposal.