Unchecked electronic waste is posing a major environmental and health hazard in Pakistan.
Electronic waste or e-waste is used to describe all electrical appliances and electronic devices that are discarded for reuse, recycle or dumped in the bin.
In absence of organised processing of electronic waste, large amounts of pollutants are released into the atmosphere and exposes workers to greater health risks. The remaining e-waste ends up in rivers and open dumps causing great damage to the environment. There is no organised e-waste management system or formal system. In absence of maintenance of figures/records of e-waste collected, dismantled, disposed, no data exists on how much waste is collected by such exchange/collection points leading to difficulties in compilation of data.
I urge the government authorities to make special arrangements for disposal of these wastes as it poses serious threat to environment.
MOHAMMAD UMA