E-waste is considered to be one of the fastest growing solid waste streams in the world. India, the second most populous country in the world, generated more than 3.23 million tonnes of e-waste in 2019 and thus, has become the world’s third largest e-waste generating country. However, the documented formal e-waste recycling percentage in India is very low (less than 10%). The existing formal recyclers in India process approximately one-third of the total e-waste generated in the country, though they face e-waste supply chain constraints due to informal e-waste collectors. A significant e-waste fraction is handled by the informal e-waste collectors and value recovery operations. Approximately 1% of the country’s population is expected to be currently engaged in informal waste management and value recovery activities and thus, the investigation of the informal e-waste sector in India is of paramount importance. Artisanal value recovery methods pose severe threats to human health and the environment due to toxic and hazardous chemicals in e-waste and their subsequent mobilisation. These drawbacks thus imply that improvements are required in both formal and informal e-waste collection and value recovery operations to establish a more sustainable e-waste industry in the country. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the operational characteristics of both the sectors, including extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes in India. A modified EPR model pertaining to e-waste was proposed to integrate the informal e-waste collectors to the existing formal industry. The results in this work could be useful to establish a sustainable e-waste industry in India.

电子废物被认为是世界上增长最快的固体废物流之一。印度是世界第二人口大国，2019年产生了超过323万吨电子垃圾，成为世界第三大电子垃圾产生国。然而，记录在案的印度正式电子废物回收百分比非常低（不到 10%）。印度现有的正规回收商处理了该国产生的电子垃圾总量的大约三分之一，尽管由于非正式的电子垃圾收集者，他们面临电子垃圾供应链的限制。很大一部分电子废物由非正式的电子废物收集者和价值回收机构处理。预计该国大约 1% 的人口目前将从事非正式的废物管理和价值回收活动，因此，对印度非正规电子废物部门的调查至关重要。由于电子废物中的有毒和有害化学物质及其随后的动员，手工价值回收方法对人类健康和环境构成严重威胁。因此，这些缺点意味着需要在正式和非正式的电子废物收集和价值回收业务方面进行改进，以在该国建立一个更可持续的电子废物行业。因此，本研究的目的是调查这两个部门的运营特征，包括印度的生产者延伸责任 (EPR) 计划。提出了一种与电子废物有关的改进的 EPR 模型，以将非正式的电子废物收集者整合到现有的正式行业中。这项工作的结果可能有助于在印度建立可持续的电子废物产业。