What do you mean by the e-waste?

Government is to place legal liability for reducing and recycling electronic waste with producers for the first time under the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011.

The rules, which form part of the Environment Protection Act, will come into effect from 1 May 2012. Putting the onus of re-cycling of electronic wastes (e-waste) on the producers, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has for the first time notified e-waste management rules on June 9, 2011. The e-waste (management and handling) Rules, 2011 would recognise the producers’ liability for recycling and reducing e-waste in the country.

Personal Computer manufacturers, mobile handset makers and white goods makers will be required to come up with e-waste collection centre’s or introduce ‘take back’ systems. These rules will apply to every producer, consumer and bulk consumer involved in manufacture, sale, and purchase and processing of electronic equipment or components.

The ministry is giving the producers of electrical and electronic equipment a breathing period of one year to set up their collection centres.The rules will come under the Environment Protection Act (EPA). India, at present, generates about 400,000 tonnes of e- wastes annually of which only 19,000 tonnes are getting recycled according to the recent data by hardware manufacturers association, Mait. According to Mait, around 40 per cent of the unused and obsolete electronic products sit idle at homes, god owns and warehouses as one does not know what to do with it or there is no systematic mechanism to dispose it.

E-wastes are considered dangerous, as certain electronic components contain substances such as lead, cadmium, lead oxide (in cathode ray tubes), toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. These substances are considered hazardous depending on their condition and density. Under the new rules, producers will have to make consumers aware about the hazardous components present in the product.

However, according to the rules, bulk consumers such as enterprises and government will be responsible for recycling of the e-wastes generated by them. The bulk users have to ensure that the e-waste generated by them is channelized to authorized collection centre’s or is taken back by the producers.

They also have to maintain records of e-wastes generated by them and make such records available with State Pollution Control Boards or the Pollution Control Committees. The State Pollution Control Board will be required to prepare and submit to the Central Pollution

Control Board (CPCB) an annual report (based on the data received by consumers) with regard to implementation of these rules, by September 30 of every year. On receiving which, the CPCB will have to prepare a consolidated annual review on management of e-waste and forward it to the government along with its recommendations by December 30 of every year.

E-Waste Management Rules:

India recently notified the first e-Waste Management Rules to restrict the use of four heavy metals and two classes of brominates flame retardants (BFRs) in certain electrical consumer products. Highlights of the new rule are summarized as:

i. Producers will have to restrict the use of lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium (VI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PDBEs) in each homogeneous material of the product

ii. Producers to affix a wheelie bin logo on products or information booklets (Fig 1)

iii. Specifies procedures for seeking authorization and registration for handling e-wastes

iv. Specifies procedures for registration with State Pollution Control Board

v. Specifies procedures for storage of e-wastes. Renewing e-waste

The e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, have the potential to turn a growing problem into a development opportunity. With almost a year to go before the rules take effect, there is enough time to create the necessary infrastructure for collection, dismantling, and recycling of electronic waste.

The focus must be on sincere and efficient implementation. Only decisive action can eliminate the scandalous pollution and health costs associated with India’s hazardous waste recycling industry. If India can achieve a transformation, it will be creating a whole new employment sector that provides good wages and working conditions for tens of thousands. The legacy response of the States to even the basic law on urban waste, the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, has been one of indifference; many cities continue to simply burn the garbage or dump it in lakes.

With the emphasis now on segregation of waste at source and recovery of materials, it should be feasible to implement both sets of rules efficiently. A welcome feature of the new e-waste rules is the emphasis on extended producer responsibility. In other words, producers must take responsibility for the disposal of end-of-life products. For this provision to work, they must ensure that consumers who sell scrap get some form of financial incentive.

The e-waste rules, which derive from those pertaining to hazardous waste, are scheduled to come into force on May 1, 2012. Sound as they are, the task of scientifically disposing of a few hundred thousand tonnes of trash electronics annually depends heavily on a system of oversight by State Pollution Control Boards. Unfortunately, most PCBs remain unaccountable and often lack the resources for active enforcement. It must be pointed out that, although agencies handling e- waste must obtain environmental clearances and be authorised and registered by the PCBs even under the Hazardous Wastes (Management; Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008, there has been little practical impact.

Over 95 per cent of electronic waste is collected and recycled by the informal sector. The way forward is for the PCBs to be made accountable for enforcement of the e-waste rules, and the levy of penalties under environmental laws. Clearly, the first order priority is to create a system that will absorb the 80,000-strong workforce in the informal sector into the proposed scheme for scientific recycling.

Facilities must be created to upgrade the skills of these workers through training and their occupational health must be ensured.

Hazard from e-Waste

Nearly five million people, mostly poor and destitute, are reckoned to be directly engaged in the highly risk-prone waste-handling and processing activity, also exposing, in the process, several millions more to health hazards due to emission of harmful gases and radiation, environmental degradation and water contamination, among hosts of other perils.

Much of the imported waste consists of life-expired electronic items, or e-waste, which was unheard of till a few decades ago, and which contains some of the most dangerous toxic materials like mercury, cadmium, lead, heavy metals and radioactive substances.

The import of hazardous wastes, for instance, is estimated to have grown by 48 per cent in last three years. According to an estimate, India annually generates $1.5 billion worth of e- waste domestically, with the booming IT sector being the largest contributor, as 30 percent of its machines reach obsolescence annually.