By Aparna Gupta:
Gold, silver and platinum are the words that can turn anybody’s eyes into hearts. All these metals are used in making beautiful ornaments which are not only costly, but are also passed down generations as a legacy. They hold a special place in our hearts and lives. They are even seen as forms of lifetime savings or financial investment.
Now, when I look around, I see friends and families gifting each other gadgets, new phones, new laptops, new smart televisions, etc. Does this mean that in this technologically advanced world, gadgets are becoming our new ‘golds and silvers’? But, like the gold chain my father bought 25 years ago on the occasion of my birth, this laptop is not going to stay with me for the coming 25 years of my life. Maybe next year or the year after, I am going to buy a newer version or a different model or a better brand.
After some research, I came across some astonishing data: India produced 2 million tonnes of e-waste in 2016 alone. Also, India still imports e-waste even though we are not fully aware of how to handle our own domestic e-waste yet. India is also a part of the top five largest producers of e-waste in the world. All these new gadgets that we buy under the name of “I need this”, “OMG! This is so awesome; I have to buy it”, etc. are eventually going to end up being manually dismantled and burned to extract the real visible gold out of them.
Our mobile phones and laptops contain gold, silver and palladium. A whole unauthorised sector exists, which manually dismantles our electronic waste to collect a small amount of gold and silver from it. However, at the same time, our electronics also contain lead, mercury and other metals like cadmium. In the process of dismantling, these metals are released into the environment.
The informal sector handling this waste is inhaling the air which has lead in it. They are touching mercury with their bare hands, and they are washing acidified, dismantled products in the open rivers. They are vulnerable to numerous diseases including cancer. At the same time, they are unaware that they are releasing all these elements in the environment for everyone to get affected as well.
All this got me to question my ways of disposing my old gadgets and batteries. I started thinking about the proper handling of my e-waste, once I came to know about the hidden gold in it and the mercury and lead being released into the environment through current handling processes. Am I doing a responsible job by giving my e-waste to someone who is neither fully equipped to dismantle it nor has the knowledge of its effects on our health?
As a citizen, shouldn’t it be my responsibility to make sure that my e-waste is processed or recycled through an authorised channel to save the air I breathe as well as protect the person who is dealing with it?
We have to take responsibility of the items we buy. We need to think where they will go once we don’t want to use them anymore – so that the electronic items that we once loved and cherished don’t come back haunting us, polluting our air and damaging our health.