India’s e-waste workers face toxic health risks in New Delhi

NEW DELHI — India’s e-waste workers are dismantling discarded electronics in cramped, smoky rooms, and the cost shows up in cuts, infections, and toxic exposure. In Mustafabad, New Delhi, Mateen Malik sorts copper wires from broken devices with his bare hands while the smell of burnt plastic clings to the blackened walls of the workshop.

In places like this, a small cut is never just a small cut. Every day brings scratches, infections, and fumes from the dismantling of old phones, televisions, laptops, and cables.

India’s e-waste workers do risky work for low pay

Malik, who is in his early 20s, works as an informal electronics sorter. He has no gloves, no mask, and no protective gear. When wires are hard to remove, he uses a blow torch to break apart devices. The method speeds up the job, but it also releases dangerous chemicals into the air.

“Sometimes the extraction process is difficult, and I don’t have protective equipment — no gloves, no masks. Often my hands get burned too. This is routine in our work. Chemical residue is there too,” Malik told Al Jazeera. “But I depend on this job.”

The same picture appears in another workshop in the crowded neighborhood. Muhammad Faizan, a migrant worker from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, burns insulated cables to pull out copper. Thin black smoke rises from the floor and settles under the low ceiling while he sits there from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“This is dangerous work. I sit in the same place every day. While dismantling electronics, I often injure my hands. When I burn plastic to extract metal, I breathe in the smoke,” he said. His pay depends on how much metal he manages to separate. Less output means less money to take home.

India’s e-waste workers live close to the poison

The problem is growing because India’s electronic waste volume keeps climbing. The country is now the world’s third-largest e-waste generator after China and the United States. The amount recycled is also said to be rising by nearly 23 percent a year.

In March, India’s Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, told parliament that the country generated more than 1.4 million metric tons of electronic waste in 2025-26. Of that total, about 979,000 metric tons had been recycled.

Data submitted by India’s Central Pollution Control Board to the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi also showed that the capital accounts for nearly 10 percent of national e-waste. The figure is estimated at 230,000 metric tons a year. That means the burden of processing old electronics is not spread evenly. It piles up in informal pockets such as Mustafabad.

Behind it all sits a wide network: scrap dealers, repair shops, and backyard dismantlers. Many work without enough understanding of the toxins released by old devices. They break down discarded goods, but they also strip away the last layer of protection for their own bodies.

Why India’s e-waste workers face health risks at home

Bharati Chaturvedi, founder and director of Chintan, an environmental research and action group, said one of the most striking features of India’s informal e-waste economy is how often home and workplace merge.

“Very often, a worker lives upstairs, while dismantling happens on the ground floor or on the roof,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The first thing you notice is proximity to these items, many of them broken, dumped with lead dust and other toxins. They can catch fire,” Chaturvedi said. “Workers also often use blow torches while dismantling them, which releases even more toxic substances into the air.”

The consequences do not stop with the worker. Children and other family members are exposed because they live in the same space. In these small workshops, piles of discarded devices sit almost side by side with dining areas, beds, or children’s play corners.

“There is an impact, especially on children, because of extreme toxins. There is a lack of accountability in improving workers’ conditions,” Chaturvedi said. She listed several health risks from informal recycling: cuts, infections, lead exposure, toxic dust, and hazardous chemicals.

She also pointed to the effects of lead on the body. “If you are exposed to lead, iron absorption becomes very difficult. People can remain anemic and weak. The same applies to women and children, because they live in the same space where they work,” she said.

Why India’s e-waste workers matter beyond New Delhi

India’s case offers a lesson that feels close to many developing countries, including Indonesia. As gadget consumption rises, so does the pile of old phones, broken laptops, and used cables. Without a safe collection and recycling system, that burden usually falls on the informal sector: scavengers, scrap dismantlers, and small workshop workers who rarely have protective equipment.

The World Health Organization says informal recycling can release lead, mercury, cadmium, and dioxins into the environment. Exposure does not stay inside the workshop. It can spread through the air, settle in household dust, and reach children sleeping in the same room.

The problem often looks cheap at first. But the social and health costs are far higher. People get sick. Productivity falls. Children grow up with greater exposure to toxins. The cycle runs long.

Al Jazeera reported that it had contacted India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee about worker safety and enforcement, but had not received a response. That silence raises an old question again: who is responsible when electronic waste keeps growing, while the hands processing it remain the most vulnerable?

Going forward, the pressure will only rise. Devices are being replaced faster, and the waste stream will keep expanding. If worker protection keeps lagging behind, India’s e-waste workers like Malik and Faizan will continue paying a price that never appears on a product label.

Quick summary:

1. India’s e-waste workers dismantle discarded devices without adequate protection and face cuts, smoke, and toxic exposure.

2. India generated more than 1.4 million metric tons of electronic waste in 2025-26, with New Delhi accounting for a large share.

3. The risk does not stop at workers; family members and children living in home-workshops are also exposed.

Short FAQ:

What is the main source of risk? Burning cables, manual dismantling, lead dust, and chemicals from broken electronics.

Why do workers keep doing it? Because the work provides daily income, even if it is small.

What is the lesson for Indonesia? Safe recycling systems and protection for informal workers need to be built before electronic waste piles up further.