Curriculum E-Waste and the Circular Economy
E-Waste and the Circular Economy
What happens to old phones, laptops and fridges: the growing e-waste mountain, India's e-waste rules, informal recycling hubs like Seelampur, urban mining of gold and copper, the right to repair, old fridges and refrigerants, refurbished phones, global e-waste flows, solar and battery waste, health risks and building formal recycling.
- The E-Waste Mountain How the world generates over 60 million tonnes of electronic waste a year, why it's the fastest-growing waste stream, and how little is properly recycled. 📄 Read-aloud
- India's E-Waste Rules How India's E-Waste (Management) Rules, updated in 2022, make producers responsible for collecting and recycling through EPR targets and a certificate system. 📄 Read-aloud
- Seelampur and Informal Recycling How Delhi's Seelampur and similar markets became hubs of informal e-waste dismantling, employing thousands, and why they dominate India's e-waste handling. 📄 Read-aloud
- Urban Mining: Gold in Old Phones How old electronics contain gold, silver, copper and rare metals in higher concentrations than many mines, and the economics of recovering them. 📄 Read-aloud
- Right to Repair How the right-to-repair movement seeks access to parts, tools and manuals so devices can be fixed, and India's 2022 repairability portal and index. 📄 Read-aloud
- Old Fridges, ACs and Refrigerant Gases Why discarded fridges and air conditioners are a special e-waste problem because of refrigerant gases that harm the ozone layer and climate, and how safe recovery works. 📄 Read-aloud
- E-Waste and the Circular Economy: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on e-waste growth, India's rules, Seelampur, urban mining and right to repair. 5 questions
- The Refurbished Phone Market How refurbished and second-hand phones give devices longer lives, the businesses like Cashify that grew in India, and trust issues in used electronics. 📄 Read-aloud
- Where Rich Countries' E-Waste Goes How e-waste from rich countries has been shipped to places like Agbogbloshie in Ghana and Guiyu in China, how the Basel Convention regulates this, and debates over "donations" of used electronics. 📄 Read-aloud
- Solar Panel and Battery Waste Why India's solar boom will create large volumes of panel waste in coming decades, how lithium batteries need safe recycling, and planning for this new waste stream. 📄 Read-aloud
- Health Risks of Unsafe Recycling How burning cables and using acid to extract metals exposes workers and neighbours to lead, mercury and toxic fumes, and the costs to children's health. 📄 Read-aloud
- Building Formal E-Waste Recycling How formal recyclers compete with informal collectors, the costs of safe recycling, and how collection networks, incentives and integration can grow the formal sector. 📄 Read-aloud
- Towards a Circular Electronics Economy How design, repair, reuse and recycling can create a circular economy for electronics, and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud