There is a negative side to increasing computer penetration in India. As much as 330,000 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) is being generated annually in the country. The recycling of this e-wasle in the informal sector is leading to pollution and environmental degradation, besides being a health hazard for those employed in this re-cycling. The problem is aggravated by an additional 50,000 tonnes of e-waste that is dumped in India from developed countries. These unpalatable facts are revealed in a study jointly conducted by the New Delhi-based Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (mait) and gtz, the German Technical Co-operation Agency. Claiming this to be the first-of-its-kind study on India's e-waste problem, Vinnie Mehta, executive director, mait, points out that just 19,000 tonnes of the e-waste generated in the country is recycled. "This is because of the tendency of Indians to refurbish and reuse their electronic products, as also on account of the poor recycling infrastructure here," he indicates. The study finds that as much as 95 per cent of the e-waste is segregated, dismantled and recycled in the informal sector that operates out of urban slums. It is fairly commonplace to find operations such as open burning of wires to extract re-saleable copper, soaking of circuit boards in open acid bath followed by manual scrapping to extract copper and precious materials next to open drains, the study notes. Such poor processing technologies and very small capacities contribute significantly to pollution and environmental degradation. The study mentions, however, that formal recyclers do not use any chemicals or incinerations and use environmentally sound processes. It also notes that the efficiency of processes is significantly lower in the informal sector. Regarding the dumping of e-waste, the study maintains that though India's Foreign Trade Policy (ftp) proscribes its import, electronics waste somehow finds its way in through 'misdeclaration'. "Of the total e-waste, only about 40 per cent finds its way into the recycling stream, while the balance 60 per cent remains in warehouses and storehouses due to poor and inefficient collection system," it observes. A significant proportion of the waste that finds its way into the recycling stream, especially television sets and mobile handsets, is refurbished and resold. Only about 19,000 tonnes, representing just 5 per cent of the total e-waste is processed in the country. Projecting e-waste generated in India to touch 470,000 tonnes by 2011, Mehta warns, "This situation can assume alarming proportions and it is thus high time we pay serious attention to it and take corrective actions to contain the problem." The study suggests that as the first principle of recycling is reuse, the electronics industry should encourage reuse of obsolete electronics items by suitably refurbishing them and providing necessary service support. It also urges institutional users to mandate a policy on e-waste management and for disposal of obsolete electronic equipment. According to Mehta, the government should develop an inclusive model by identifying and defining the roles of each stakeholder, including the vendors, users, recyclers and the regulators for environment-friendly recycling. He says that the informal recyclers should also be included in this model and an awareness campaign initiated to ensure that correct information on e-waste reaches out to all stakeholders. "This e-waste has been engendered by the significant growth in consumption of electronic items over the last few years, accompanied by a very high rate of obsolescence of these products," says J. Bischoff, director, gtz. His agency has been active in India on behalf of Germany's Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (bmz). Its priority areas for cooperation with India's Central government and various state agencies are sustainable economic development, energy, environmental policy and conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Set up in 1982, mait represents it hardware, training, r&d and associated services in India. Its charter is to develop a globally competitive Indian it Industry, promote the usage of it in India, strengthen the role of it in national economic development and promote business through international alliances. mait and gtz commissioned India's leading market research firm, imrb international, to conduct the e-waste assessment study, imrb surveyed over 200 corporate houses and close to 400 households to map their e-waste management practices. It identified stakeholders in the e-waste value chain, including the profile and practices of the formal and informal recycling facilities in the country with a focus on the National Capital Region (ncr) of Delhi, where the largest proportion of e-waste is recycled and processed. The study involved primary research and expert interviews of the vendors, channels and both formal and informal recyclers. Electronic waste, or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (weee) is defined as waste material consisting of any broken or unwanted electrical or electronic appliances, says the weee, Directive of the European Commission. The mait-gtz assessment study, however, focussed only on the waste stream of computers, television sets and mobile handsets,