Nepal’s Informal E-Waste Trade: Health Risks, Environmental Damage & Urgent Policy Gaps

In Kathmandu Valley’s busy lanes and back alleys, a hidden economy thrives — one that handles discarded phones, chargers, televisions, circuit boards, and more. This is the informal e-waste trade: loosely organized collectors, scrap dealers, itinerant buyers, and dismantlers working without formal oversight. These workers recover value from discarded electronics, but the costs — human, environmental, and economic — are largely hidden. Understanding the contours of this informal trade is critical for meaningful reform.

In this article, we expose the realities of Nepal’s informal e-waste trade: how it works, who is involved, what risks people face, what losses are incurred, and what must change. As an environmental researcher, e-waste expert, and founder of Green Smith Nepal, I believe bringing these issues into the open is the first step toward systemic change.

1. The informal trade: Structure & scale

Numbers, actors, and workouts

• A study “Electronic waste and informal recycling in Kathmandu, Nepal: challenges and opportunities” (Parajuly, Thapa, Cimpan & Wenzel, 2018) estimates that over 10,000 informal workers play a role in the e-waste recycling chain in Kathmandu. These include collectors, kabadiwalas (scrap dealers), dismantlers, and itinerant buyers. (Astrophysics Data System)
• More broadly, in the Kathmandu Valley, 10,000 to 15,000 informal waste workers operate across plastic, metal, e-waste and general recyclable streams. (SpringerLink)
• The informal economy in Nepal contributes about 38.6% of GDP, indicating how widespread informal labor is, including sectors like waste and scrap. (Kathmandu Post)

The process: how e-waste moves through informal channels

• Items discarded by households or small businesses are collected by itinerant buyers or kabadiwalas, often without separation. Many collect mixed waste.
• Items with resale or reuse potential (phones, chargers, wires, parts) are stripped, cleaned, or tested; others are dismantled for parts (metal, plastic), with wires burned for copper, circuit boards acid-washed or heated to extract precious metals.
• Residues, plastics, circuit boards with toxic coatings, empty batteries often end up in open dumps or landfills. Disposal of hazardous components rarely meets safe standards.

2. Hidden health, environmental, and human costs

Health of informal workers

• In a cross-sectional survey of 1,278 informal waste workers (IWWs) in Kathmandu Valley and adjacent Nuwakot, 66% reported an injury in the past year; many reported respiratory symptoms (≈ 70%) and cuts from metals/glass. PPE (personal protective equipment) usage was low — ~ 67% did not use PPE consistently. (PubMed)
• Another study on mental health among IWWs found that 27.4% of workers reported depressive symptoms. Female workers, older persons, divorced/separated individuals, or those with existing health issues had markedly higher risks. (SAGE Journals)

Environmental harm

• Toxic substances common in electronics — lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic — leach into soil and groundwater when disposed improperly or when open burning/acids are used. These can bioaccumulate, harming ecosystems and human health. (Kathmandu Post)
• Air pollution from burning wires, plastics; contaminated water from leachate in dumps; risks of heavy metal exposure to nearby residents, especially children.

Economic losses and inefficiencies

• Resource loss: informal recycling often recovers only small percentages of valuable materials; plastics and components get destroyed or contaminated, reducing their reuse potential.
• Cost to the public: soils and waterways polluted require cleanup; health treatment costs for affected workers and community; lost tax or formal economic value because much trade is unregistered.
• Opportunity cost: formalizing and improving recycling could retain greater value, create safer jobs, and reduce environmental cleanup and health burdens.

3. Why the informal trade persists

Understanding why informal trade is dominant helps us see what levers exist.

A. Lack of formal infrastructure and regulation

• Nepal has no separate law specifically governing e-waste. While the Solid Waste Management Act 2011 and the National Waste Management Policy 2022 include provisions, standard operating procedures and enforceable regulations for e-waste are largely missing or poorly implemented. (Kathmandu Post)
• Many people do not know where or how to safely dispose of e-waste; convenient facilities are rare. Informal trades fill the gap. (greensmithnepal.com.np)

B. Low awareness and weak incentives

• Studies (for example the Kathmandu University students survey in Kathmandu’s E-Waste Challenge) show that while many people have heard of “e-waste,” fewer understand what it means, what risks it carries, or what safe disposal means. (greensmithnepal.com.np)
• Because informal collectors provide low cost or no cost services, and because formal alternatives may be costly or inconvenient, many people send their e-waste to informal channels.

C. Economic necessity and marginalization

• For many informal workers, poverty, lack of alternative employment, and minimal entry barriers make e-waste trade one of few livelihoods available. The work is unstable but accessible.
• Informal workers often lack legal status, social protection, health access. But formal sector does not always absorb them. (Nepjol)

4. Investigations & case evidence

Some case studies shed light on what is happening “behind the scenes”.

• Case: Health outcomes in KMC IWWs — The survey in KMC found almost half of informal workers had job-related illnesses in past year; only ~15% receive medical benefits; PPE use low; many reused found or torn gloves; cost and distance of care are barriers. (Nepjol)
• Case: Odour-, pollution-linked community complaints — Locations near informal scrap yards and dumps in/outside Kathmandu report soil contamination, water pollution, and air quality decline. Local media reports and NGO assessments have documented these (e.g. “Emerging problem: How to handle hazardous e-waste” in Kathmandu Post) where burning wires and improper disposal are common. (Kathmandu Post)

5. Also Read: Related Green Smith Nepal Articles to Deepen Understanding

• Nepal’s E-Waste Crisis: Tackling the Toxic Time Bomb — covers health & environmental risks of e-waste in Nepal. (greensmithnepal.com.np)
• Kathmandu’s E-Waste Challenge: Lack of Facilities, Data Fears, and the Urgent Need for Secure Disposal — explores the limited infrastructure and awareness among urban populations. (greensmithnepal.com.np)
• How Does the Informal Sector Contribute to Nepal’s Economy and Waste Management Practices? — shows economic value and scale of the informal sector, including scrap and recyclable material trading. (greensmithnepal.com.np)

6. What must change: policy, practice, and protection

To mitigate the hidden costs and dangers of the informal e-waste trade, a multi-layered approach is needed.

Level	Recommended Actions
Legal & regulatory	Enact specific e-waste law; define responsibilities for producers, importers; require licensing of recyclers and scrap dealers; enforce standards (PPE, waste handling)
Formal infrastructure & safe processing	Establish formally certified e-waste recycling facilities with safe dismantling, chemical recovery, plastic recycling; ensure collection points accessible; fund drop-offs and periodic e-waste drives
Worker protection	Provide health insurance or services; ensure vaccinations (tetanus, hepatitis, etc.); supply PPE; training in safe dismantling; regulations to limit exposure to toxic substances
Awareness & consumer action	Public education on dangers of improper e-waste disposal; encourage repair, reuse, resale; incentivize safe drop-offs; campaigns to reduce product turnover
Economic incentives & inclusion	Support informal workers via cooperatives; subsidies or microfinance to enable safe processing; integrate informal trade into formal systems, providing legitimacy, income stability
Data collection & accountability	Monitor health outcomes; environmental pollution metrics; quantities of e-waste collected and processed formally; mapping of hotspots; regular reporting

7. Long-term benefits of reform

• Health improvements: Reduced exposure to toxicants, fewer occupational illnesses, and cleaner air/water.
• Environmental protection: Less soil and water contamination; reduced pollution; protecting ecosystems.
• Resource efficiency: Recovering metals, plastics, reducing imports and environmental cost of raw extraction.
• Social equity: Recognizing informal workers, improving their conditions, incomes, and dignity.
• Economic gains: Jobs in formal recycling, better value capture, local enterprise growth.

8. Challenges and pushbacks

• Cost of setting up formal infrastructure is high; obtaining finance, land, compliance with safety/environmental standards is tough.
• Resistance from informal sector fearing loss of livelihood; any reform must include them.
• Weak enforcement: even when policies exist, implementation is often inconsistent due to capacity, corruption, lack of awareness.
• Consumer behavior inertia: people may prefer cheap repair or sale through informal channels, or store electronics in home “drawers” rather than disposing or recycling properly.

9. Conclusion: Exposing hidden costs to build informed action

Nepal’s informal e-waste trade is more than an environmental issue — it is a social, health, and economic crisis with invisible costs. Workers pay with injuries, illnesses, stigma; communities with polluted land, water, and air; the economy with lost resource value and cleanup costs.

But there is hope. With effective policy, investment, formalization, and public awareness — Nepal can shine as a case of inclusive, sustainable reform. The hidden dangers can be exposed, the hidden costs can be reduced, and the value in our e-waste can be captured.

Every time you pass by a discarded charger or broken phone, think: that is part of a chain. Your actions, your choices matter.

About the author (≤100 words)

Bhuwan Chalise is an environmental researcher, e-waste management expert, and founder of Green Smith Nepal. He leads on studies of waste characterization, informal sector livelihoods, and policy advocacy for sustainable recycling and safe disposal in Nepal.