Mayapuri

Although Selampur and Mandoli are ideal places to find electronic waste, it is virtually impossible to buy any off them, besides the fact that both places are discouragingly far away. Seelampur is under threat of demolition again, and is getting exceedingly difficult to talk to anyone there, without being viewed with suspicion and distrust. Mandoli on the other hand was hostile from the very beginning of my research. The workers there refuse to talk about the nature of work done there.
I needed about 10 kgs of electronic waste. The next and nearest option for me was Nehru palce. The dealers I found in Nehru Place, seated on small mats in the middle of the market, they have a good spread of circuit boards and other computer hardware. These small dealers mostly sell their wares for reuse. When some pieces do not get rejuvenated they are finally send to the graveyards. I have been told by one such dealer that sumo’s come from the Punjab side and buy loads of waste. The prices that these buyers offer was no where close to my budget. I had to find cheaper options.
I got a few contacts from the yellow pages about sealers of e waste in West Delhi. I found a dealer in Mayapuri. Mayapuri is predominately a car/truck/road roller/bike/crane/tanker scrap market. Its really quiet well organized and quiet fascinating. Tucked away in the dead end of one of the alleys, behind a pile of old tires I found the shop I was looking for. He had a modest amount of e waste. Not the gargantuan piles I had in mind, but a good spread none the less. Metal rings with copper wires, circuit boards of various sizes and shapes, wires. I selected 7kgs of e waste. I was waiting for him to quote some insane price, considering the fact that one mother board costs upto 300 Rs. He surprised me by asking for 700 Rs. I tried my luck and said I would give 500. Eventually I left with 7 kgs for 300 Rs. I was driving away delighted at my bargaining skills, when a motorcyclist drove right into the front right door of my car. After all I was in West Delhi; I was waiting for this to happen.
Aastha Chauhan

Seelampur

You will bless the metro when you get to Seelampur. I cannot imagine how I would have found my way otherwise.
A short walk from the Welcome metro station is the sprawling basti of Seelampur. It is by far one of the filthiest places I have visited in Delhi and I HAVE visited quiet a few. There is a large gutter that divides Seelampur Ext and Seelampur. Walk along the nala and you will know why it is choking with weird things. They said it is the biggest e-waste market in Asia, and looking at the size of the place, I guess I will give then the benefit of doubt. It’s surprisingly well organized. The units there do not confuse their priorities. If you are looking for circuit boards, you will find them all (computers/televisions) in one unit, Air-conditioner in one and even the ball-bearings of fans have a separate unit to themselves.
Under the threat of the sealing undertaken by the government and the illegal nature of the business, the people there are extremely suspicious of any strange face. I decided to become a furniture designer looking for interesting material, instead of the researcher I was in Mandoli. And I must admit that furniture designers are treated with lesser suspicion than researchers are.
The nature of the trade it seems is to procure electronic/ electrical waste and segregate it. The picture tubes were being repairs in s few units. But largely the people were employed in segregation. Opening up watches to remove the metal from the dial, cleaning the circuit boards of wires, spilling the insides of the tube-lights and gorging out the batteries of air conditioners.
Some claims were made regarding the shipment of the reusable material to Germany. The waste first reaches the ports of Gujarat, from where it is sent to Delhi and other parts of Mumbai for disposal and segregation.
The old electronics spent their lives in the bustle of seelampur before they are finally buried in the land to poison the soil and spike the underground water. The big manufacturers turn their attention to the production n marketing. The government turns its attention to petty politics. The burden of the waste is there…….. to soil the hands of the impoverished labour and gradually add to the Global dump created by the incompetence of manufacturers and the nonchalance of the government.

man-dole

You can get up as early as you like, but honestly it’s no point. To get to Mandoli it WILL take you about an hour an a half or more, depending on where you are located (from Goa might take a few hours extra) Past majnu ka tila drive past Wazirabadh and straight down Mangal Panday Marg. Past Guru Nanak Sar, Rajiv Vihar, Kajouri, Bhajan Puri, Yamuna Vihar and Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, there is a yet another fly over under construction there. Turn left from the construction. The road gets steadily narrower and murkier.

Somewhere down the road, on the border of U.P and Delhi, the recycling plants begin to mushroom. You will be able to tell you have arrived, the stench of acid and burning plastic will announce it for you. Looking down I could spot chimneys fumigating the environment with poison, landfills of plastic ash and miserable fields.

Snaking my way down one of the lanes I tried searching for a friendly face, there were none. Within brick walled courtyards I could see piles and piles of circuit boards or phenoleg as they call it. Large plastic drums frothing with acid, piles of burnt plastic and scattered amongst this women bent over piles of electric equipment searching for copper. I used a lame story- mai Kurukshetra university ki student hun. Research kar rahi hun. Jaana chahte hun ki kis tareh se en boards se aap tamba nikalte hai? (I am a research student from the Kurukshetra university. I would like to know the process you use to extract copper from these circuit boards).

The labor employed is mostly women. Each of these groups had a leader. The labor I later learnt earns Rs. 50-70 per day and the leader Rs. 1500-3000 per month. I visited about 12 such units. Of the 50 odd people I met, barely 4 spoke to me. I was mostly told of their ignorance and that the owner knew what it was and that they were clueless about what they were made to do. Some just chose to disregard my presence. I had to check in the mirror to see if I had suddenly vanished. The few, who did speak, after much coaxing, told me – the circuit boards are sent from Seelampur, where the electric goods are first dismantled. The boards are then washed and scrubbed in water and caustic soda. The weaker boards are burnt while the stronger ones are soaked in acid (hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid and nitric acid). The tiny quantity of copper wedged between the fine patterns of the circuit boards are extracted from the boards and the acid, caustic soda, dirty water, plastic ash are thrown on the surrounding land. This land incidentally has fields of vegetation. I hear the food grown on this land is sent for the mid-day meals provided in schools. The material is purchased at Rs. 2- 12 per Kg and is sold on the percentage of impurities at Rs. 50-100.

When I inquired about the health of their children, cattle, crops, they said it was fine. I did not have to ask, I could see the rash on the forearms caused by constant exposure to sun and acid, I could see the tired look on the faces of the children, I could see the buffalo’s hide raw and burnt like a dry scorched paddy field.

It did not bother me that these people were not ready to communicate. After all if the government did take an action against their boss, they in turn would loose the meager salary they earn. The problem is not that the government allows tonz of toxic e-waste to find its way to our shores and neighborhoods. The problem is not that the units that dispose off electronic waste are extremely dangerous for their employees or that the residue they leave behind is causing lead and harmful acid to mingle with our ground water and food. Or that in turn this is potentially a grave ecological problem. The biggest problem is that most of us are too poor to leave the tiny bit of money w can make at the cost of our lives, the lives of our children and the masses. That if any action is taken it would mean that one more man will sleep hungry.

The e-waste sites were not the only proud share holders. The rest of the land is shared with battery recyclers and factories of cloth dyes.

When I was walking out of the lane, one cheeky young boy dug his hands deep into his trouser pockets and said- bahut log aate hai madam. Sab apne kitabo me likhte hai, par kuch nahi hota. Aap bhi likh lo. (Lots of people come here madam. They write in their note pads and leave. Nothing ever happens, nothing ever changes. You also write)