Exploring the Awareness Regarding E-waste and Its Management among Electronic Repair Workers and Scrap Dealers of South Delhi, India

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Abstract
Introduction: In India, E-waste and its proper disposal is an emerging environmental and public health issue. Aim and Objectives: To assess the level of awareness regarding E-waste and its management among the electronic repair workers and scrap dealers of Delhi. Material and Methods: It was a community based, cross-sectional, descriptive study, was of one year (1st April, 2015-31st March, 2016). Electronic repair workers and scrap dealers were included after getting their written consent and selected by non-probability convenient sampling. A pre-tested, semi- structured, interviewer administered questionnaire was used. The data was entered in MS Excel and was analyzed using the SPSS version 21.0. Results: A total of 300 workers i.e. 150 electronic repair workers and 150 scrap dealers participated. Most of the electronic repair workers (57%) and scrap dealers (48%) were of 20-39 yrs old. 70% of electronic repair workers and 79% of scrap dealers had not heard about e-waste. As education among these groups increases, awareness regarding E-waste also increased and it was statistically significant. Conclusion: Adequate IEC (Information, education and communication) services focusing on health hazards of E-waste should be widely disseminated.

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