Rachna Arora | Indian Institute Of Technology, Roorkee (original) (raw)

Papers by Rachna Arora

Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the worl... more Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. According to a recent study carried out by MAIT and GTZ in 2007 about 380,000 tons of e-waste are generated annually in India and the generation of e-waste is expected to touch 470,000 tons by 2011. The study also reveals that only about 6 percent of the ewaste is recycled, of which 95 percent is recycled through the informal sector. E-waste recycling in the informal sector provides jobs to thousands of people and supports the formal waste management agencies like municipalities. Investigations of the authors showed that the existence of an informal but entrepreneurial SME based infrastructure permits a profitable e-waste management business. At the same time, the informal sector is lacking skills and technologies, and manages hazardous material without any regard to occupational health and safety (OH&S) requirements and in an environmental harmful manner. It is observed that with ris...

The construction sector in India requires enormous amounts of natural resources such as sand, soi... more The construction sector in India requires enormous amounts of natural resources such as sand, soil, stones, and the demand is expected to increase manifold in coming decades. Serious environmental impacts of extraction of these resources have often led to bans and restrictions, leading to price spikes and supply disruptions. Construction and demolition (CD therefore, a recognised certification scheme would help their market uptake. In addition, the processing facility being located in the south, a decentralized option for waste generated in the northern part of the city was found to be optimal. In Bengaluru, preliminary analysis showed that C&D waste processing enterprises located close to designated C&D waste disposal sites as well as to product markets are likely to be commercially viable under high-capacity utilisation scenarios. Attractive payback periods of 5 years or less were found for existing stone crushing units with idle capacity. Lessons from these cases can benefit C&D ...

India’s rapid economic growth necessitates rapidly increasing resource consumption. However, reso... more India’s rapid economic growth necessitates rapidly increasing resource consumption. However, resource extraction, processing, use and disposal typically have considerable environmental impacts. In addition, there are concerns about the adequate and affordable supply of resources in the future, especially for certain critical resources for which India is highly import dependent. Therefore, resource efficiency is critical for sustainable development in India going forward. While considerable resource reuse and recycling is already existent in the Indian economy, there is no overall strategic approach to resource efficiency such as those adopted by European Union nations. The Indo-German bilateral cooperation project “Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Management of Secondary Raw Materials”, funded by the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, is being jointly implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH a...

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers

IntroductIon 1 rama Mohana r. turaga and Kalyan Bhaskar E lectronic waste (e-waste), that is, was... more IntroductIon 1 rama Mohana r. turaga and Kalyan Bhaskar E lectronic waste (e-waste), that is, waste arising from end-of-life electronic products such as computers and mobile phones, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world today. Annual global production of e-waste is estimated to surpass 50 million tons in 2020. 2 India is among the top five e-waste producing countries in the world with estimated annual production of 2 million tons. Like some of the other developing countries, e-waste management in India is dominated by the informal sector with estimates of more than 90 per cent of the waste being processed in this sector. E-waste contains several precious metals, rare earth metals, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastic, wood and glass. Unscientific practices in the processing of e-waste are associated with several environmental and health externalities. 3 In response to these concerns, many developed and devel-1 The earlier versions of the articles in this colloquium (except for the article by Hitesh Sharma) were written for the report 'E-waste Roadmap 2023 for India', an initiative under the India E-waste Program of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The programme was supported by the Government of Japan and the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund of the World Bank. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Neeta Misra, Sarina Bolla and Kalyan Bhaskar, the editors of the 'E-waste Roadmap 2023 for India' report, who worked with a team of experts on e-waste in India and were responsible for the editing of the initial versions of many of the articles in the colloquium.

IIMB Management Review

Abstract The objective of urban mining is the safeguarding of the environment and the promotion o... more Abstract The objective of urban mining is the safeguarding of the environment and the promotion of resource conservation through reuse, recycling, and recovery of secondary resources from waste. Urban mining maximises the resource and economic value of the waste streams generated in urban spaces and will be a significant concept in the planning and designing of sustainable cities, making the process consistent with the sustainable development goals. This review article brings out comprehensive information on urban mining as a concept and its relevance to the Indian and international context as a source of secondary raw material.

2012 Electronics Goes Green 2012, Sep 1, 2012

In order to promote the development and sales of green products, including green electrical and e... more In order to promote the development and sales of green products, including green electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), eco-labels have proven to be an effective instrument. Eco-labels verify eco-friendly characteristics and make products comparable. In India, one successful scheme in this regard is the Standards and Label-ling programme on energy efficiency administered by The Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Star Label). Hundreds of products have been certified. However, “green” EEE should comprise more characteristics in addition to energy efficiency. Considerations like resource efficiency and reduction of hazardous substances are important aspects as well. India's Ecomark scheme under the authority of the Central Pollution Control Board is based on such a holistic approach. Yet, in its 20 years of existence less than 30 Ecomark licenses have been granted, none of which for EEE. Key barriers are a lack of consumer awareness and insufficient government support, as well as the broad scope of the scheme. As part of the EU-financed WEEE Recycle project (www.weeerecycle.in) the authors have assessed which lessons can be drawn from the successful Star Label scheme and how these can be applied to foster a more widespread implementation of the Ecomark scheme.

IDS Bulletin, 2015

Due to their size and rapid growth, large cities in developing countries are increasingly challen... more Due to their size and rapid growth, large cities in developing countries are increasingly challenged by burgeoning waste generation. Waste management, however, has traditionally provided employment opportunities to the many urban poor in the informal sector. These traditional models, working largely in parallel with state-led interventions, are under pressure because they fail to address the waste management crisis. This failure, coupled with the lack of capacities of local governments, has paved the way for formal private sector participation. We examine the case of Delhi where a complex interplay of competing approaches have accompanied efforts of urban local bodies, civil society and the private sector (informal and formal) at finding a sustainable working solution. Our analysis of the complex relationship within the private sector players, and between private and public actors, provides novel insights into potential contribution of public-private partnerships for effective waste management in developing countries.