Last reviewed 16 Sept 2026 · Facts as of 16 Sept 2026 · 6 min read
What is e-waste?
E-waste (waste electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE) is discarded electrical or electronic equipment — whole, or its parts, components, consumables and spares — that has reached the end of its useful life, as well as rejects from manufacturing and repair.
Categories (broad)
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Information technology and telecommunication equipment | Computers, laptops, printers, servers, mobile phones, telephones, routers |
| Consumer electrical and electronics | Television sets, audio systems, cameras, LED/CFL lamps |
| Large household appliances | Refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners |
| Small appliances and tools | Microwaves, electric irons, mixers, power tools |
| Others | Medical devices, monitoring and control instruments, toys with electronics, solar panels (addressed under specific provisions) |
E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally because of rapid technological change, falling prices and short product lifespans. Global monitoring reports have placed India among the largest generators of e-waste in absolute terms (behind China and the United States in the 2020 Global E-waste Monitor).
Composition of e-waste
| Group | Materials |
|---|---|
| Valuable (recoverable) | Iron and steel, copper, aluminium, gold, silver, palladium, platinum, rare earth elements, cobalt and lithium (batteries) |
| Hazardous | Lead (CRT glass, solder), mercury (switches, CFL lamps, older LCD backlights), cadmium (Ni-Cd batteries, older CRTs), hexavalent chromium (corrosion protection), brominated flame retardants (PBBs, PBDEs in plastics), PVC (cables — forms dioxins when burned), beryllium, arsenic, barium, CFCs/HCFCs (old refrigerators and ACs) |
| Bulk / others | Plastics, glass, ceramics, rubber, wood |
Because it contains precious metals at concentrations often higher than in natural ores, e-waste is a valuable secondary resource — hence the term urban mining.
Health and environmental impacts
Improper handling — especially by the informal sector — causes serious harm:
| Practice | Hazard |
|---|---|
| Open burning of cables and plastics to recover copper | Dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, particulate matter |
| Acid baths to extract gold and other metals | Toxic acid fumes, cyanide; discharge of acids and heavy metals to drains and soil |
| Breaking CRTs, desoldering circuit boards over open flames | Lead and phosphor dust, lead fumes |
| Dumping of residues on land and in water bodies | Leaching of lead, mercury, cadmium into soil and groundwater |
Health effects: damage to the nervous system and brain development in children (lead, mercury), kidney damage (cadmium), respiratory illness, skin disorders, cancers (dioxins, hexavalent chromium), endocrine disruption (brominated flame retardants). Workers — often including women and children in informal units — are most exposed.
Management approach
Waste hierarchy for e-waste
- Reduce — buy durable, upgradeable, energy-efficient products; avoid unnecessary replacement.
- Reuse — donate or sell working equipment.
- Refurbish and repair — extend product life ("right to repair" principles).
- Recycle — through authorised recyclers to recover materials safely.
- Safe disposal of non-recoverable hazardous residues (secure landfill or incineration with pollution control).
Formal recycling chain
- Collection — take-back schemes, collection centres, retailers, producer responsibility organisations, municipal drives.
- Storage and transport — preventing breakage of hazardous components (CRTs, lamps, batteries).
- Dismantling and segregation — manual removal of batteries, capacitors, mercury-containing parts, CRTs; separation of circuit boards, cables, plastics and metals.
- Pre-processing — shredding, magnetic separation (ferrous metals), eddy current separation (aluminium and copper), density and optical sorting of plastics.
- End-processing — recovery of metals from circuit boards by pyrometallurgy (smelting in integrated smelters) and hydrometallurgy (controlled leaching and electro-winning), with pollution control; plastic recycling; CRT glass processing.
- Disposal of residues in secure facilities.