Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is developing an innovative model to tackle electronic waste (e-waste) by linking stakeholders in the formal and informal economy. Called e-Source, it will be an exchange platform that will serve as an online marketplace for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and facilitate a formal supply chain between various stakeholders (buyers and sellers). This initiative is being spearheaded by Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS). The IGCS team believes that the problem of e-waste could be resolved by connecting different buyers and sellers of used and waste electronic equipment and components without compromising their interests. The e-Source initiative aims to make WEEE as a key resource in the evolution of a circular economy by establishing traceability and recovery of post-consumer e-waste in the market.

Every industry needs to step up and commit to environmental goals, but tech has a big problem – 53.6 million tonnes worth of a problem, to be exact.  According to the Global E-waste Monitor, that’s how much electronic waste, known as e-waste, was generated globally in 2019. Even worse, only 17.4% of it was correctly recycled, meaning 83% was discarded through improper means – mostly in landfills, which could leak harmful toxins into the earth.