A recent story on Moneycontrol reported that every year, India loses gold worth Rs 6,347 crore as part of e-waste. We also learnt that in 2016, India disposed 728 kilotonnes (kt) Iron, 96.8 kt copper, 110.6 kt Aluminium, 71 tonnes silver, 22 tonnes gold and 9 tonnes palladium. And basically discarded gold and silver worth Rs 6,347 crore and Rs 300 crore in a literal trash heap.

Significant in the report is the fact that India is throwing away valuables including precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium worth over Rs 18,677 crore as electronic waste every year. Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also considered e-waste.

On Digging Deeper with Moneycontrol, we dive deep into a toxic heap... well, thankfully, only in a metaphorical sense, to bring home the widespread issue of wasteful, e-waste in India.