Seelampur: Where the World’s Discarded Technology Ends Up

In the absence of enough authorised recycling facilities, even unauthorised units are filling a vital gap.

Seelampur, on the outskirts of Delhi, is almost like a huge marketplace for discarded technology. Old laptops, broken mobile phones, outdated computers and damaged monitors are piled up everywhere. The narrow, crowded lanes are filled with the constant sounds of hammers hitting metal, tools scraping against machines and workers shouting instructions.

But behind this chaotic marketplace lies a vast and complex network. According to a February 2023 report published in the Economic and Political Weekly, around 5,000 unregistered e-waste processing units operate in Seelampur. Although they do not have official authorisation, these units play an important role in India's e-waste management system.

The network of workers here is quite complex. At one end are kabadiwallas, who collect discarded electronic items from different parts of Delhi. These items then pass through several hands before reaching the people who dismantle, repair, recover or recycle them.

And the story does not end with waste generated within Delhi—or even within India.

What is even more worrying is that e-waste reaching Seelampur does not always come only from within India. Reports indicate that truckloads of electronic waste also enter India from countries such as China, Dubai, and many other developed nations.

Why would anyone send e-waste all the way to India? The answer is simple: properly treating and recycling e-waste is expensive. Sending it to places where labour and processing costs are much lower can save large amounts of money.

This points to a problem that extends far beyond Seelampur. India has rules prohibiting the import of e-waste. The 2016 e-waste rules specifically prohibit such imports, and the international Basel Convention, adopted in 1989, also regulates the movement of hazardous waste across national borders.

Yet, despite these regulations, illegal imports continue. E-waste can enter through loopholes in the system, false or altered documents, and informal networks of middlemen and transporters. Old computer monitors, CPUs and other electronic equipment that should not be imported may be mixed with legitimate goods.

Once they enter the country, they can make their way through a chain of traders and transporters until they finally reach places such as Seelampur. Thus, what we see in the crowded lanes of Seelampur is not merely a local waste problem.

It is part of a much larger global e-waste chain, connecting consumers, traders, transporters, recyclers, and even international waste flows.

So, why does so much of this waste end up in the informal sector?

One of the main reasons is quite simple: India does not have enough authorised recycling facilities to deal with the enormous amount of e-waste being generated. As of February 2025, India had only 322 registered and authorised e-waste recyclers. This number is far too low to handle the rapidly growing volume of electronic waste.

As a result, a large share of e-waste continues to be collected, dismantled and processed by informal scrap dealers and unorganised collectors. There is also a practical reason for this. People often find it easier to hand over their e-waste to a nearby scrap dealer or kabadiwalla rather than search for an authorised recycler.

This is what allows informal hubs such as Seelampur to remain an important part of India's e-waste ecosystem.

Seelampur is one of the best-known examples of such an informal e-waste hub. Similar informal e-waste processing centres exist in many parts of India, including several locations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

More information on this in my next article. Till then, have a great weekend!

(The writer is an environmentalist. Views personal.)