What Is E-waste?
Interpreting E-waste
"E-waste" is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their useful life. Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a term for electronic products that have become unwanted, non-working or obsolete, and have essentially reached the end of their useful life. It is also referred as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment(EEEE). Electronic waste or e-waste may be defined as discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, television sets, and refrigerators. This includes used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal as well as reusables (working and repairable electronics) and secondary scraps (copper, steel, plastic, etc.).
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Categorization of E-waste
On the basis of consumption and the amount of waste generated e-waste is categorized into the enlisted types:-
IT Sector E-waste
The IT Sector E-waste is the e-waste generated by the IT industries. The waste generated generally consists of spare parts of computer, like printers, mouse, display screen(s), keyboards etc. According to a report, IT sector in India produces almost 75% of generated e-waste. Waste here is stored for a considerable time and then dumped in bulk.
Domestic sector E-waste
The domestic sector e-waste includes e-waste generated by the households. Domestic sector e-waste includes radio, televisions, mobile phones, lamps, cameras, calculators etc.. The amount of waste generated is less as compared to the e-waste generated by IT sector. But it gets muddled up without proper disposal.