Tackling E-Waste

By Sheena Shafia

With drastic changes in weather patterns across continents, rise in sea level, melting of polar icecaps and ever-increasing levels of all forms of pollution; conservation of environment is a major concern for nations. Initially disbanded as the task of the 'green brigade', the corporate world has woken up from its deep slumber. Embedded as an important postulate of social responsibility among most organisations across sectors, adherence to environmental sustainability has emerged as a major consideration for them.

Expansive IT infrastructure is a cardinal component of most business processes and has improved productivity exponentially. But it is one of the major reasons for consumption of energy, water, emission of greenhouse gases and generation of electronic or e-waste. Hence, the transition towards the idea of 'green IT' has caught up. Tangible and visible efforts like data centre energy cost reduction, virtualization leading to server consolidation, remote management leading to CO 2 footprint reduction, reducing software footprint of applications by consolidation form the backbone of Green IT culture.

However the scale of the problem is simply immense. About 3.3 lakh tonnes of e-waste generated last year was dumped into the rivers, land fills and sewage drains. While the chemicals used to corrode e-waste seep into the ground, e-waste junk like refrigerator bodies, compressors from air conditioners and waste plastic used to make phones just keep on piling up. Only 19,000 tonnes of the annual e-waste is recycled. This is due to high refurbishing and reuse of electronics products in the country and also due to poor recycling infrastructure.

E-waste is of concern largely due to the toxicity and carcinogenicity of some of the substances. Toxic substances may include lead, mercury and cadmium. Carcinogenic substances in electronic goods include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). A typical computer monitor may contain more than 6% lead by weight, much of which is in the lead glass of the CRT. Capacitors, transformers, PVC insulated wires, PVC coated components often contain dangerous amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls. "E-waste is going to be one the major problems facing the world after climate change and poverty," says Nokia India managing director D Shivakumar.

According to a report by hardware body Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), e-waste from discarded computers, TVs and mobile phones is projected to grow to more than 800,000 tonnes by 2012 with a growth rate of 15% in the country. "If the situation is not controlled, we may see large land fills of junk e-waste around our cities 10 years down the line," says MAIT executive director Vinnie Mehta.

"For Green IT initiatives to achieve a sustainable impact, firms have to transform their approach from obligation to opportunity. As IT adoption increases in India, we also need to ensure that incorporation of green IT infrastructure is inculcated right from the beginning," says Nasscom vice-president Rajdeep Sahrawat.

Wipro, HCL, Cisco and IBM have ensured green data centres within their organisations and provide consultancy services to set them up for clients. "We have been helping companies actively in developing a complete road map on green IT including the non-IT elements like infrastructure design, hardware used, et all. The effective management of IT infrastructure helps in reducing of carbon footprint of an organisation. We all need to contribute," said vice-president of professional services division in Wipro Infotech Deepak Jain.

British Telecommunication (BT) has designed a carbon impact assessment mechanism that enables organisations to accurately calculate the amount of CO 2 emissions produced with the use of networked IT services. It allows a number of business scenarios to be tested and an assessment made of the associated energy and carbon reductions.

"The link between sustainability and commercial success is, without doubt, becoming clearer all the time. India is rapidly becoming a global centre for information and communications technology development and its economic growth rate is high. It is vital that this commercial success is matched by a commitment towards social responsibility," says BT India chairman Arun Seth.

Many companies are trying to adopt a more macro-level approach by constructing green buildings. According to Indian Green Building Council, green buildings use less energy, water and natural resources and create less e-waste. So it's healthier for the people living inside compared to a standard building.

Eventually, the government has to define roles of each stakeholder including the vendors, the users, the recyclers and regulator for environment friendly recycling. Also, companies must realise that going green actually results in money saved and hence focus their efforts on eco-friendly products that reduce carbon and other harmful emissions. Products sold must be backed by efficient disposal strategies to effectively tackle the problem of e-waste.