Awareness and sensitivity of mobile phone consumers on electronic waste in Delhi-NCR Region

Abstract

Information technology has become a part of everyday life for people from a vast cross section of the society in Indian and international perspective. This has also resulted into unimaginable accumulation of Waste from electrical and electronic equipment, also referred as WEEE. In India, there are approximately 952 million mobile subscribers. Electronic waste (e-waste) is becoming a very significant contributor to the municipal waste in the cities. It holds concern among researchers as e-waste has valuable recyclable resources and also risks as hazardous waste. These materials require not only special handling but also proper disposal and recycling methods to avoid their deleterious effects on human health and environment. Some of the hazardous materials are for example arsenic which is poisonous, beryllium which is carcinogenic and Brominated flame retardants which are potentially neurotoxins. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to educate people about e-waste and their proper disposal. The study is based upon certain assumptions that the rapid and low cost development of electronic device technology is taking place in India. People prefer to buy newer electronic gadgets rather than to repair the older one due to the higher cost of repair. Considering that mobiles are the fastest growing e-consumables, this paper attempts to study the consumption pattern, awareness in general and gender-based awareness about electronic waste among the users of Delhi-NCR region. Study has also been carried out to know about the age at which people start using mobile phones.