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E-waste and hazardous waste
Discarded electronics carry metals and critical minerals that India would otherwise mine or import, so what happens to an old computer is a resource question and not only a disposal one. The argument now is about how that decision is costed: a purchase or a disposal settled on the lowest visible price sends the material to whoever processes it most cheaply, and advanced recycling has not become the default.
Why a discarded computer is not simply scrap
- Urban mining recovers metals and critical minerals from discarded electronics, so a tonne recovered here is a tonne not mined or imported.
- Under Extended Producer Responsibility a producer meets its recycling target by obtaining certificates from registered recyclers, so the obligation can be settled by the cheapest certificate rather than by the best recovery.
The two balance sheets
Financial
- Closes with the transaction
- Rewards the lowest visible cost
- Maximises resale value, minimises processing cost
Strategic
- Stays open
- Resource security and supply chain resilience
- Environmental sustainability and public health
- Costs left off the invoice return as health spending, import dependence and strategic vulnerability
What has happened
2 Sep 2026
An opinion piece argued that advanced e-waste recycling has not become the default in India because procurement rewards the lowest visible cost.
- It asked for life cycle costing and value based procurement in place of lowest cost buying.
- It wanted Extended Producer Responsibility to reward traceability and recovery efficiency rather than the cheapest certificate.
The Hindu, 2 Sep 2026: The two balance sheets behind every e-waste decision (opens in a new tab)