According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India’s e-waste recyclers often fail to follow standard recycling practices. Instead, they are known to store waste under dangerous circumstances, or even lack the capacity to manage such waste, leading to a significant environmental issue. E-waste, or electronic waste, consists of discarded electronic items such as computers, televisions, and cell phones.
India generates over two million tonnes of e-waste annually, majority of which gets processed in an unorganized sector. The Global E-Waste Monitor 2014 by the UN ranks India fifth in the world for generating e-waste. In 2017, the Centre introduced the E-waste Rules, mandating that companies that manufacture or sell electronic equipment must collect a portion of e-waste generated from their goods at their “end-of-life”. Despite this, several manufacturers, including some e-giants, were served notices by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for failing to comply with e-waste procurement norms in the same year.
Negligence of Recycling Agencies
The CPCB and State Pollution Control Boards have authority to check whether recycling agencies adhere to the E-waste Rules. However, numerous violations were identified within these recycling facilities. These included adopting non-environmentally friendly methods of storage, handling, and processing of e-waste. Moreover, many facilities remained non-operational or couldn’t handle the vast amount of e-waste they received. Although specific registration and authorization are required for each activity related to e-waste management, most registered firms only provided dismantling services, often manually. Upon dismantling, there were no disposal yards available for environment-friendly waste disposal. Furthermore, the high costs associated with specialized recycling equipment rendered it unaffordable for small recycling firms.
Solutions and Strategies
In India, e-waste recycling largely depends on the informal sector that lacks adequate resources to manage increasing quantities and certain processes. This leads to unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. It’s critical to develop a mechanism to formalize recyclers and collaborate with manufacturers. Such collaboration can benefit all stakeholders involved.
India currently has only 178 registered e-recyclers, which is significantly less compared to the enormous volume of waste being generated. Therefore, it’s vital for the government to introduce schemes to promote this industry, which can in turn boost job creation. Education and awareness campaigns should be launched to encourage consumers to dispose their e-waste responsibly at registered recycling firms. Enforcement of legislations and rules can bring about better outcomes.
E-Waste Management Rules, 2016
To tackle this crisis, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change notified the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016, which replaced the earlier e-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011. The new rules brought producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and set targets for e-waste collection and exchange. They also introduced Deposit Refund Scheme as an additional economic instrument for securing end-of-life electronic items’ return.
The rules called for more involvement from State Governments to ensure safety, health, and skill development of workers involved in dismantling and recycling operations. Penalties were introduced for rule violations. Urban Local Bodies too were assigned duties to collect and channel orphan products to authorized dismantlers or recyclers.
E-Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2018
The e-waste collection targets under EPR were revised and applied from October 1, 2017. The phase-wise collection targets were set at 10% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the EPR Plan during 2017-18, with a 10% increase every year until 2023. From 2023 onwards, the target shall be 70% of the quantity of waste generation.
The rules also introduced separate e-waste collection targets for new producers, i.e., those producers whose number of years of sales operation is less than the average lives of their products. Under RoHS provisions, cost for sampling and testing shall be borne by the government for conducting the RoHS test. If the product fails to comply with RoHS provisions, then the cost of the test will be borne by the producers.
