Karishma , Prem Vrat

Abstract

Electronic waste, e-waste, e-scrap or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) refer to unwanted, obsolete or unusable electronic and electrical products. There has been a tremendous growth in manufacturing and consumption of electronic products in the last decade. As a consequence of this, combined with rapid product obsolescence and lower costs, discarded electronics is now one of the most rapidly growing waste streams across the globe. The current practices of e-waste management in India suffer from a number of drawbacks like the difficulty in inventorization, lax regulations, unhealthy conditions of informal recycling, poor awareness and reluctance on part of the corporates to address the critical issues. As a result, toxic materials enter the waste stream with no special precautions to avoid the known adverse effects on the environment and human health, as well as resources being wasted when economically valuable materials are dumped. The purpose of this paper is to do SWOT analysis of e-waste management in India comprising strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats based on a comprehensive study. Subsequently, prioritization of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is done, and the TOWS matrix is employed to formulate strategies for better e-waste management in India.

Keywords- e-waste, recycling, management, informal sector