Informal Electronic Waste Recycling In India Breeds Severe Health Hazards

Unprotected laborers in India face severe health risks while dismantling discarded electronics for minimal daily wages, exposing a devastating human cost.

Photo Credit: iStock

In India, some workers spend hours taking apart discarded electronics with no protection, breathing in toxic fumes and picking up burns and cuts for dollars a day.

The reality makes plain one of the human costs behind the many phones, laptops, and household appliances people throw away each year.

What’s happening?

According to Al Jazeera, workers processing e-waste in Mustafabad take apart broken air coolers, cables, computers, and scrap metal in cramped workshops with little or no protective equipment.

“Sometimes the extraction is difficult, and I don’t have any protective gear — no gloves, no mask. Often, I get burns on my hands as well,” e-waste worker Mateen Malik told Al Jazeera. “The chemical residue is also there.”

According to the outlet, workers may earn about $8 over a 12-hour shift, including roughly $1 for dismantling a mobile phone and about $2 for a TV.

Muhammad Faizan sometimes burns off the coating to reach the copper inside wires and says he regularly ends up inhaling the smoke. “It is hazardous work,” he told Al Jazeera, which reported that informal recyclers may handle about 95% of India’s discarded electronics.

Only China and the United States generate more e-waste than India, which the outlet said produced more than 1.4 million metric tons of e-waste in 2025-2026.

Why is this concerning?

According to the World Health Organization, toxins released through informal recycling can include lead, mercury, cadmium, and dioxins. Exposure to these materials has been linked to neurological harm, reduced lung function, and respiratory illness, particularly in children.

Because dismantling often takes place in the same spaces where people live, the health risks can extend beyond workers to their families.

What are people saying?

Bharati Chaturvedi of Chintan, an environmental research and action group, said informal workers should be brought into safer, more formal systems.

“The way I look at it is that you have to formalize people. You can’t keep them informal,” Chaturvedi told Al Jazeera, pointing to the need for effective health and safety regulations.

Despite calls for more formal regulations, some informal recyclers say they rely on the hazardous work to survive.

“We have no other work; we are dependent on this,” Shakila, a migrant worker from West Bengal, told Al Jazeera. “It gives us income and helps us survive in a city like New Delhi.”

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Future Outlook

As digital consumption surges, India faces the monumental task of transitioning millions of informal recyclers into safer economies. Enforcing strict environmental protocols while safeguarding livelihoods remains a complex socioeconomic challenge for policymakers navigating the global electronics disposal crisis.

FAQs

What toxins are released during informal e-waste recycling?

Informal recycling processes release highly dangerous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and dioxins into the immediate environment.

How much e-waste did India produce recently?

India generated more than 1.4 million metric tons of electronic waste during the financial span of 2025-2026.

Why do laborers continue doing hazardous e-waste work?

Many impoverished and migrant workers rely entirely on informal electronic waste dismantling as their sole source of income to survive in major cities.

What percentage of electronics does India’s informal sector manage?

Unregulated, informal recyclers process an estimated 95% of the total discarded electronics across the country.