What to do with hazardous e-waste in #Bhutan?

With the growing number of computers, printers, and other electronic devices in the Kingdom, the amount of e-waste is also increasing. While alkaline batteries are safe to dispose in ordinary waste, there are many other e-waste items that are dangerous and require special disposal or recycling, because they contain hazardous materials that are harmful to people and/or the environment. Here are some items of this type:

• Toner cartridges from printers contain hazardous chemical waste
• Televisions and computer monitors 
• Mobile phones contain heavy metals which are toxic, such as cadmium, lead, beryllium and antimony
• Rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries of mobile phones and other devices
• Computer accessories such as keyboards, mice and speakers
• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) batteries, like car batteries, contain hazardous materials such as lead and must be recycled.

"BATTERY MUST BE RECYCLED"A typical UPS battery available in Bhutan

We searched for a local government agency or company who collects e-waste, but unfortunately it looks like there is currently no solution. In some countries, computer and electronic shops accept e-waste from customers (sometimes for a small fee) and take care of their disposal. That is currently not the case in Bhutan. A 2011 report by the MOIC talks about a plan for e-waste management under the Chiphen Rigpel project. The report talks about plans for awareness and training, but not about collection, disposal or recycling.

Recycling of e-waste can be a profitable business (called demanufacturing): precious metals such as gold and silver  as well as copper, zinc, iron, nickel, lead and other valuable materials are extracted from the e-waste. Whether such a business can be profitable in Bhutan requires research. In any case, there should be some local solution, otherwise we will all be suffering the consequences of a toxic environment in the near future.