"Labour Is Priceless; Not Gold"
~Mahatma Gandhi
Located in the suburban part of East Delhi, old Seelampur is the home of India’s largest e-waste dump yard. If one walks down the main road, he/she will come across a drain that ultimately opens to an alley, which the locals refer to as 4 Number Gali. (The 4th by-lane). On entering the alley, one can find a pathway filled with broken cell phones, wires, and batteries. Every day hundreds of metric tonnes of waste are accumulated in the area to be recycled. There are factories where men and women can be seen engrossed in dismantling and organizing them.
From computers to copper wire, batteries to mobile phones, circuit boards to inverters, this market is famous for recycling huge quantities of unorganized products. In the last 2 decades, it’s been estimated more than 50000 people are making a living out of this waste.
India is the third largest e-waste producer in the world, producing around 2 million tonnes annually. If we try to go in-depth, Delhi itself generates 200000 tonnes each year, while 57% of the informal processing units are in Seelampur. Being such a big industry, it leads to erratic regulations. Every day hundreds of men, women, and children hunt for lead, copper, silver, and other metals among the electronic debris. Many phones which we throw away are resold from this market as a second-hand products. They earn nearly Rs 500-Rs 1000 per day, whereas women and children are paid less, depending upon the metal they extract.
Even being the largest hub, it suffers from irregularities in terms of environment and health. The workers working in the factories are prone to health hazards due to the toxicity of metals. The products which are broken down are often discarded in lands and water, eventually contaminating it. This kind of situation often develops allergies and skin conditions among workers.
In one way, these underpaid laborers are vital for the economy, they add value to the e-waste by customizing and reselling it. The government rather than illegalizing it can help them by providing better alternatives and teaching them safer practices to deal with it.
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