Question

why is there so much e-watse in india and china?

Answer 1

The issue related to e-waste management is not small. Humanity is progressing, and electronic equipment have a significant part in our journey towards growth. As we advance through technology, old things are becoming obsolete and it find its way to the dump yard. Developed countries have a use-and-throw culture and not many products are recycled properly. The issue was more serious when developed countries were using developing or least developed countries as dumping sites for their wastes. This issue was curbed through international treaties like the Basel Convention. But still, illegal dumping of waste occurs across the globe.

India and China are developing economies and people's education levels and income are rising. China and India are the most populous countries in the world respectively. The more the number of people, the more the waste produced. The management of waste in developing countries is not as proper as they are in the developed. This also adds to the issue. As of 2019, China has a per capita e-waste production of 5.2 and India has it around 1.5. There are countries who produce more e-waste in the world like the USA and Japan. Proper segregation and management of e-waste is growing in countries like India and China is poor. Since the countries are major manufacturing sites of the world, recycling of e-waste is a potential opportunity for business also. Now a days, equipment like mobile phones, laptops, tablets etc. are common and countries like India and China are producing them at very cheap rates. Due to this, everyone has access to such equipment and once new products are launched, or the life of the products expire, they become waste. But the waste management facilities are not as developed when compared with production of electronics. These are the reasons for these countries' issue with e-waste.