E-Waste Challenges in India: Environmental and Human Health Impacts

E-waste, or electronic waste, refers to discarded electronic devices and components, and the management of e-waste has become a newly arising and challenging issue both in India and globally. Due to the increase in population, urbanization, global demand, and expansion of the digital infrastructure, generation of electronic waste is increasing annually. This study provides a comprehensive and thoroughly reviewed qualitative study on electronic waste management practice. This study highlights an outline of the amount of electronic waste generation in India and the world and examines prevailing approaches in the treatment and management of electronic waste, including unsafe informal recycling and inadequate inventory control. This article focuses on major problems such as child labor, illegal dumping, poor infrastructure, limited knowledge and awareness among the public inadequate legal regulation, and spillage of various toxic heavy metals such as arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), and barium (Ba) via electronic waste. This study analyzes the harmful effects of toxic heavy metals, such as arsenic and mercury, on environmental quality and human well-being. To address these issues, this study outlines various sustainable recommendations, such as technology improvement proper collection; handling, management, and eradication of waste generated by electrical equipment in formal recycling practices; the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) following circular economy practice, including collaboration between governmental, non-governmental, business, industries, and civil society; better legislative measures such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) and a single approach method, where collecting, sorting, and dismantling electronic waste is handled by the informal sector, while the formal sector manages extraction of metal, disposal, and recycling.