Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry

21. Hi-Tech Heaps, Forsaken Lives: E-Waste in Delhi

RAVI AGARWAL AND KISHORE WANKHADE 21 Hi-Tech Heaps, Forsaken Lives E-Waste in Delhi In a dark alley in Mandoli, a backyard recycling area in New Delhi, a young boy sits on the floor, dipping a high-tech, multi-layered printed circuit board (PCB) into a crumpled metal bowl containing an acid-like liquid. He is unaware that his hands hold the past 50 years of human technological advancement in the form of integrated circuits and electronic components. Probably manufactured and assembled separately in several parts of the world by high-tech facilities using new-age materials, the PCB and the boy belong to different worlds. Wiping the board clean, he proceeds to heat it on a small cooking gas stove, trying to pull out the components. The few milligrams of metals they hold are his livelihood. At day’s end, he may earn 50 cents or less, another day’s survival. Like the computer, of “no use” to anyone, he too could be a part of the heap. (See Photos 21.1 through 21.3.) COMPUTERS ARE NOW at the core of every IT application and having a profound impact on business processes and life styles. Computers have become synonymous with a newly educated and technologically capable idea of the nation-state, and India hopes to become a powerful player in the information age. In this endeavor, computerization is being encouraged through all means, including the import of secondhand computers from the developed world, in hopes of penetrating price-sensitive markets. During 2002–03, India’s production in this sector was approximately US$800 million, a growth of 10 percent over the previous year. Products in this category include personal computers (PCs), workstations, super computers, printers, digitizers, and networking products, such as modems and hubs (DoE 2002). The number of PCs in use in India is estimated to be over eight million, with 80 percent serving commercial segments and the balance serving residential segments. This figure is slated to rise by ten times (to 80 million computers) by 2008, as per government targets (DoE). When it comes to computer waste, a very different picture emerges. A whole section of the population strives to deal with this waste under almost impossible subhuman working conditions, with little possibility of upward mobility in their lives. These workers, mostly in the informal sector of the economy and part of the urban poor, are India’s other reality. With more than 85 percent of its workforce in the informal sector, these people have been ignored by the major trade unions and have little power to negotiate their lives in India’s political economy. These men, women, and children are the forgotten, invisible bodies who are not included in the dreams that India’s leaders envision for the future. It is here that computer-waste Hi-Tech Heaps, Forsaken Lives 235 PHOTO 21.1. Child laborer sorts through discarded electronic circuit boards in India. Courtesy of Toxics Link, India. PHOTO 21.2. Man at e-waste recycling facility in India, melting and extracting precious metals from printed circuit board. Courtesy of Toxics Link, India. 236 AGARWAL AND WANKHADE PHOTO 21.3. Women using simple tools to remove semiconductor chips, transistors, capacitors, and other items from electronics circuit boards at e-waste facility in India. Courtesy of Toxics Link, India. recycling takes place, as computers sold by biggest and best-known brands in the world are finally smashed here physically. To investigate this reality, a study was undertaken to understand the nature , economics, range, market, and trade routes of electronic waste, with a special emphasis on computer waste in Delhi and Chennai.1 Computer-waste recycling units were surveyed in Delhi to assess the technology used and the overall conditions of recycling from both environmental and occupational health perspectives. METHODOLOGY This study was based on field visits and the collection of primary data at various locations in Delhi. Initially, the study adopted the survey method supplemented with detailed, open-ended questionnaires. This method did not work well, however, because electronic waste traders and recyclers were reluctant to disclose information. Subsequently, some discussions were held with workers in recycling units, but this was limited, because the workers were afraid of being seen talking to strangers without the owner’s permission. Moreover, their rigorous and long working hours did not allow much time for them to talk. It soon became evident that an understanding of...