Environmental management in semiconductor and printed circuit board industry in India. Part I: Survey results and case studies

During the 1990s electronics has assumed the role of providing a forceful leverage to the socio-economic and technological growth of developing society. The initial thinking that the IT & electronics manufacturing activities, involving high technologies would be clean and free from pollution problems, is no more valid today. As the electronics industry rapidly expanded it became evident that the diversity of the industry and its products could cause considerable environmental damage if not properly managed. The major impacts include pollution from manufacturing, waste disposal and use of toxic materials and chemicals that can cause damage to water, soil and air eventually polluting our Oceans and our Planet. In order to ameliorate the environmental impact from the hazardous processes and products, the IT & electronics sector has to adopt increased environmental safety standards. A systematic and integrated approach to environmental management is thus inescapable in the long run. Department of Information Technology in collaboration with United Nationals Development Programme (UNDP) has drawn up a National Programme on "Environmental Management in Semiconductor and Printed Circuit Board Industry in India" to foster environmental management and pollution prevention in Indian Electronics and IT industry. The implementation of this programme has been supported by National and International partners, such as Fraunhofer IZM, Germany, by training and consultancy, US EPA and industry in USA & Europe in providing the information about cleaner production technologies being practiced. The topic will be presented with two papers: Part I describes the Indian initiative on cleaner production technologies in communication, information and electronics sector, objectives and scope of the DIT project. The results of phase I activities of the DIT project cover the survey findings according to the general framework of electronics manufacturing in India and the role of domestic electronics industry in global supply chains. The technological status of electronics manufacturing and the main environmental aspects to be addressed are specified. Best available technologies and practices in Indian context are analyzed in detail. Best practice case studies presented in the paper cover examples from PCB and semiconductor industry. The case studies comprise material flow analysis for these specific technologies and environmental assessment. The part I paper concludes with an outlook on phase II activities of the DIT project.