Background

India currently ranks as the third-largest producer of electronic waste globally. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India generated 1.35 million metric tonnes of e-waste in the financial year 2020-21, a significant rise from 708,445 tonnes in 2017-18.

While these numbers are alarming on a macro scale, the ground reality is more distressing, particularly for the urban poor. Even as the formal sector's hazardous waste recycling indicator improved to 26.33% in 2020-21, over 1 million people in India are still engaged in manual, informal recycling operations. The majority of these workers possess relatively low literacy levels and remain unaware of the occupational hazards they face daily. This is particularly alarming given that e-waste contains toxic metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium, which pose severe risks to soil and water ecosystems when disposed of improperly. When e-waste is disposed of irresponsibly in landfills or mixed with household garbage, it leaches highly toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Prolonged exposure to these substances is linked to hematological impairments, cardiovascular issues, and reproductive failures. 

For the underserved communities residing in Mumbai's informal low-cost housing settlements, often situated adjacent to dumping grounds, this is not merely an environmental concern, but a direct public health crisis. In Maharashtra, the installed e-waste recycling and dismantling capacity stands at 117,392 metric tonnes (as of 2021-22), with 140 registered recyclers operating in the state. Despite this formal infrastructure, the continued dominance of informal handling, which, when combined with the lack of accessible disposal channels in Mumbai's low-cost urban settlements, exacerbates the public health and environmental crisis, making targeted community-level intervention an urgent necessity. The widening gap between rapid digital consumption and the lack of accessible recycling infrastructure exacerbates these socioeconomic inequities, making targeted, community-level intervention an urgent necessity.