· India is the fifth-largest electronic waste producer in the world
· Raw material extraction by scrap dealers poses a greater health and environmental hazard
· Globally, the e-waste refurbish industry is estimated at US$12 - 15 Billion by 2021.
· According to a market survey, the volume of the reused equipment business in India is 10-20% as compared to the new equipment sales
· “Reuse the World” - xfurbish, an IT & enterprise product refurbish startup launched in 2020, has nearly sold 8 Crores worth Refurbished products in India
Electronic Waste is emerging as a serious public health and environmental issue in India. India is the "fifth-largest electronic waste producer in the world"; approximately 5.2 million tons of e-waste are generated annually and an undisclosed amount of e-waste is imported from other countries around the world.
In India and other parts of the world, gold is recovered from circuit boards by bathing boards in hydrochloric and nitric acid. This poisons waterways many of which supply homes with water. Residual waste, including chemicals, is often dumped improperly in the ground leading to ecological harm. And those who extract valuable minerals from e-waste are exposed to noxious fumes that are extremely hazardous to health
Refurbishing means reusing a computer while recycling means destroying the computer and then environmentally recycling its constituent materials. Refurbishing is preferable to recycling. because even effective recycling processes produce some waste. Refurbishing e-waste is the only responsible way to dispose of such waste.
Considering the e-waste management issue, a Bangalore based start-up launched Xfurbish.com in Jan 2020, an organised and technology driven platform where e-waste can be sold by dealers and refurbished IT and enterprise products could be bought by the consumers and sold nearly Rs.8 Crores worth Refurbished IT & enterprise products in a year. This is just tip of an iceberg, there’s huge potential in this and it makes all the sense to get into this business, which is environment friendly, says the visionary founder Venkatesh Rao, Managing Director, Xfurbish. Globally, the e-waste refurbish industry is estimated to reach US$12-15 Billion by 2021.
According to a market survey, the volume of the reused equipment business in India is 10-20% as compared to the new equipment sales. Xfurbish aims to increase this by at least 30-40% by this year end. This will also significantly help decrease the pollution generated by recycling of the e-waste”, adds Rao.
Also, starting April, they are setting up the chain of Xfurbish exclusive stores in metro cities so that customers can walk in and buy certified xfurbish products like laptops, desktops, servers, etc. The customers can also sell their old IT products at the store. While the online platform enables the dealers to sell and consumers to buy. The brand is looking at adding 25 stores this year through the Franchise model and scaling upto 150 Stores in 2022.
The price offered by Xfurbish for a used IT product is almost 3-4 times more as compared to the price offered by scrap dealers, while also preventing the health and environmental hazard due to raw material extraction by them. So, next time, you plan to discard your used IT & Enterprise products, look out for an Xfurbish store nearby to earn more money and save environment.
Xfurbish is not only providing the much needed e-commerce platform, also avidly educating the individuals to reuse the electronic waste, giving them the Xfurbish protection and encouraging sellers through authorized partner program.
Reuse instead of recycle and save the environment from e-waste.