Seelampur: India’s E-waste Graveyard

Seelampur is the home of India’s largest e-waste dump yard providing a livelihood for more than 50000 people.

A worker taking rest after work at Seelampur.

( Photo Credit: Ribhu Chatterjee/The Quint )

Located in suburban East Delhi, old Seelampur, is home to India’s largest e-waste dump yard. The locals refer to it as 4 Number Gali.

A worker taking rest after work at Seelampur.

Boys extracting metal from the debris.

One of the workers is trying hard to come out from his electronic den.

The pathway is filled with broken cell phones, wires, and batteries.

House of Waste.

One of the workers at the dump yard. 

Inside the alley one can find a pathway filled with broken cell phones, wires, and batteries. India is the third largest e-waste producer in the world, producing around 2 million tonnes annually.

Wall of Computers.

Sorting out unused mobile phones.

Collections of Circuits.

Trapped in Idiot Boxes.

The e-waste is weighted before they are sold.

Mobiles are dismantled and packed in sacks to be transported.

Everyday hundred metric tonnes of waste are accumulated in Seelampur to be recycled. Almost 50000 people make a living out of this e-waste.  

A lady worker segregating copper wires.

Often young boys join hands in this waste business. 

An e-waste worker breaking down an old CPU. 

Sack of withered cell phones.

The workers are trying to extract copper wires from discarded printers.