IIT Roorkee researchers working on technologies to tackle Plastic, e-Waste

A research group headed by Prof. K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, is working on e-waste Conversion to Valuable Products and Metal Recovery, which is a generation of wealth via a zero-waste discharge concept, the institute said.

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) are developing sustainable technologies to tackle plastic and e-waste, the institute has informed.

A research group headed by Prof. K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, (formerly part of IIT Delhi) is working on the development of sustainable technology to tackle the ever-growing menace of plastic waste and e-waste along with the generation of wealth via a zero-waste discharge concept, it said.

The institute informed that they have developed e-waste recycling processes that are in accordance with Indian ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ initiatives via a zero-waste discharge concept.

“The proposed closed-loop recycling process can potentially be scaled-up and used as a viable environmentally benign alternative to traditionally used acid-leaching techniques posing immense hazardous risks,” IIT Roorkee said.

Elaborating on the importance of such research, Prof. K K Pant, said, “It is important to develop sustainable processes to handle plastic and e-waste, which are being generated in huge quantities in India, especially with the exponential increase in the use of electronic devices. If such processes are not developed and implemented across the country at the earliest, the e-waste could lead to long-term ecological and environmental degradation.”

Further, he added, “The closed-loop recycling process proposed by IIT Roorkee researchers can potentially be scaled-up and used as a viable environmentally-benign alternative to traditionally used acid-leaching techniques posing immense hazardous risks.”