Every individual can lend a hand in minimizing his/her e-waste foot print. This can be effectively done by following the three golden Rs of E-Waste management, i.e. to reduce, to reuse and to recycle. An individual should be very specific in his choices when buying any electric or electronic equipment. He/She should go for the need of the product rather than buying it impulsively, out of affectation. Thus a person should reduce his wants. Next, if a technology gets old or outdated, still it could be useful for some with limited utility. Such equipments with obsolete technology should be donated to other people who could make use of it effectively in their work. This is the concept of reuse. Last but not the least, if equipment has to be discarded due to non-functioning, it should be handed over only to authorized recycling vendors for recycling, in order to avoid improper dumping.

In developed countries like USA, 75% of the electronic equipments bought in past few years have been converted into E-Waste. Of the total municipal waste generated in developed countries, about 1% tends to be WEEE which is expected to increase three folds in the next two years. E-Waste amounts to 5-7 million tons per annum or 14-15 kg per capita in developed countries which is sure to increase several folds in the coming years. Developed countries offload their E-Waste to countries like India for dismantling and disposal on account of liberal environmental laws and low cost of labor in these countries.

Due to constant upgradation in technology loads of E-Waste is generated accompanying potential health hazard. On dumping those electronic equipments, we are thoughtlessly throwing away large recyclable resources. On upgrading to higher technology, old electronics equipments are dumped, though mostly they are functional and can be utilized by someone else with limited use. E-Waste harvesting can be an opportunity that has to be explored in order to decrease the E-Waste footprint of earth. Obsolete electronic equipments contain a fair amount of useful components which can be extracted to be reused in manufacturing new equipments. Reuse and recycling can be a complete resource generating process along with reduction in potential hazardous impacts of E-Waste. The phenomenon ensures greater availability of E-equipments and appliances to larger population without recreation and dumping.

Due to constant upgradation in technology loads of E-Waste is generated accompanying potential health hazard. On dumping those electronic equipments, we are thoughtlessly throwing away large recyclable resources. On upgrading to higher technology, old electronics equipments are dumped, though mostly they are functional and can be utilized by someone else with limited use. E-Waste harvesting can be an opportunity that has to be explored in order to decrease the E-Waste footprint of earth. Obsolete electronic equipments contain a fair amount of useful components which can be extracted to be reused in manufacturing new equipments. Reuse and recycling can be a complete resource generating process along with reduction in potential hazardous impacts of E-Waste. The phenomenon ensures greater availability of E-equipments and appliances to larger population without recreation and dumping.