E-waste: A growing concern
Staff Reporter :
E-waste, or electronic waste, is a growing problem in Bangladesh as there has been a significant increase in the consumption of electronic components and household appliances here.
Bangladesh produces over 3 million metric ton (MMT) of e-waste including ship-breaking yards, each year. Currently, the annual rate of e-waste production is surging at 30percent in Bangladesh.
Cell/mobile phones alone contribute 10.5 kgtons of e-waste, around 296,302 units of TV sets become trash and create 1.7 lakh tons of e-waste, and ship breaking yards generate more than 25 lakh tons of e-waste each year.
The World Economic Forum reports showed, in 2021 alone, 57.4 million tonnes of electronic waste was discarded globally, outweighing the Great Wall of China. Now, imagine if all the e-waste lined up of that year perhaps one could see it from the moon.
Experts said E-waste is particularly significant because disposal of electronic items can result in toxic rubbish, such products containing dangerous metals like lead, cadmium and mercury, which can contaminate air and water when they are dumped. It can cause serious threats to both human health and the environment.
E-waste collection in most underdeveloped and developing countries is largely informal and unauthorised and so is the case in Bangladesh. Adding to that, only 3 per cent of the total generated e-waste is recycled which is even lower than in other developing countries.
As a result, the un-recycled e-waste is disposed in different landfills and other channels that cause severe environmental pollution and health hazard, they added.
Dr Rehnuma Haque of Assistant Scientist of icddrb said As of now, up to 97 per cent of the wastes are recycled in the informal sector that employs low-paid workers. And the processing steps include cleaning, melting and incineration.
These workers are unaware of any safety measures. Through these activities acids are used to extract precious metals that also release toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and other toxins into the air, causing environmental pollution.
In order to tackle the huge quantities of e-waste that will accumulate in the future, it is advisable to enact e-waste regulations at the national level, create awareness of the issue among all citizens and consumers, skill development and protection of workers must be ensured ,collaboration with international bodiesand to adopt a self-sustaining e-waste management model for the country, Dr Rehnuma added.
