Child Labour and the Informal Recycling Industry

E-waste generation in India has skyrocketed in recent years and besides affecting the environment it has created other problems too related to health, economy and labour rights. One such problem is the use of child labour in Informal?e-waste management. It has come to notice that a major proportion of the workforce involved in the informal management of e-waste is that of children.

E-waste volumes are swelling globally?as per a report by?Global E-waste Statistics Partnership (GESP) shared by World Health Organization (WHO). The volume increased by 21% in the five years up to 2019, when 53.6 million metric tonnes of e-waste were produced.?For perspective, previous year’s e-waste equivalent of 350 cruise ships placed end to end to form a line 125km long. This growth is projected to continue. Toxic substances like brominated flame-retardants, mercury and chlorofluorocarbons are part of electronic devices.?They pose risk to human health especially children if not disposed of in a scientific manner.

According to WHO about 12.9 million women working in the informal waste sector amid toxic e-waste put themselves and their unborn children at risk. Over 18 million children and adolescents, some even 5 years of age, are actively engaged in the informal industrial sector, e-waste processing is a segment of the whole sector.

Child Labour is illegal

It is important to note here that child labour is the practice of employing children below a specific legal age. In India, the Constitution prohibits the employment of any child under the age of 14 in any employment, including as a domestic help. Child labour is not only an illegal crime, but a moral one as well because child labour is harmful to the physical and mental development of children and deprives them of their childhood, rights and education.

India, being the third largest producer of e-waste globally, manages to recycle less than 10% of its total electronic garbage in an organised and sustainable way. The rest of the waste is handled by informal waste collectors,?recyclers,?scrap vendors?etc. who collect the e-waste, organise it, extract the remaining useful materials and sell the parts and equipment to small manufacturing firms. This informal chain of e-waste treatment employs children from underprivileged backgrounds to work for them as scavengers (rag-pickers) and dismantlers (labourers).

The children work in hazardous conditions handling e-waste, which is a source of hundreds of deadly chemicals and materials. The living conditions; including shelter, clothing and food are nothing less than inhuman and many of these children also have to face violence, harassment and abuse. It has been found that these children suffer from respiratory problems and have a high concentration of lead in their blood.

In India, laws make rag-picking a crime and the various legislations regarding?e-waste management?are pretty clear about the procedures involved, the precautions to be taken and the standard situations to be maintained. Still the ever-growing piles of e-waste have made it a serious challenge. Unfortunately, the informal?e-waste management?industry at the convenience of cheap labour has employed hundreds of thousands of child laborers, pushing them into harmful conditions of work and health hazards.

Organized treatment of e-waste

The task at hand is to bring more quantities of e-waste under proper organised treatment by expanding the formal infrastructure, and minimising the hold of the informal?e-waste management?industry. By doing this, child labour from e-waste treatment can be eliminated, labour laws can be more efficiently enforced and the labours will have some collective bargaining power to ensure that the necessary conditions of a healthy work environment, fair wages and proper healthcare are provided.