Compilation of Articles and Reports on E- Waste in Delhi published in major newspapers and Magazines

Ashay Anand

Where Computers Go to Die
A locality in East Delhi is the largest electronic scrap market in the country. Photojournalist Garima Jain travels through the bylanes of Seelampur into a surreal, post-apocalyptic world

THE TRUCKS are coming in honking and rattling with old computers, kids are playing gali cricket with computer monitors as wickets, women are boiling pots full of computer parts, children sitting on piles of keyboards are watching a Bollywood film. The streets are filled with entangled wires, destroyed computers, keyboards and cell phones. A scene from a futuristic dystopia? This is the hidden place where people wake up every morning to sort through the electronic trash of the world.

Approximately 15 km from the centre of Delhi lies a small settlement called Seelampur, reputedly the largest electronics dismantling-recycling-selling market in the country. Residents work every day to extract gold and copper from circuit boards. Some extract metals independently, some work with big traders — most earn about Rs. 200 per day.

An Introductory Note

Ashay Anand

A photo of a scrap shop in Seelampur which dealt in recycling of e-waste. Photo Courtesy; Rahul Raghav

 This project was envisioned by the Legal Aid Society of Campus Law Centre as a part of it's many activities to spread and promote legal aid in the society and to raw attention towards the various challenges that we currently face. Last year there were many reports in leading newspapers and magazines about the illegal recycling and trade in e-waste or electronic waste in Delhi. This prompted us to work on the issue of e-waste in Delhi and we formed a group to unravel the facts and carry out academic research in this area. This blog contains our findings and work on the issue of Electronic Waste in Delhi. We have tried to cover as many aspects of the problem as we could find within a stipulated time.