The Union government’s recent announcement of a policy for disposing of electronic waste (e-waste) is a step in the right direction. The E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, are in line with the norms followed in several countries to hold producers of electronic goods liable for the safe recycling or disposal of out-of-use e-products. Manufacturers of e-products have been given a year to put in place an e-waste collection system, with collection centres or other methods of taking back age-expired equipment for proper extermination. Significantly, the government also seeks to involve bulk consumers of electronic equipment, such as business enterprises and government departments, in ensuring that e-products discarded by them are channelled to authorised collection centres. The need for such a policy has been long felt, given the rapid proliferation of personal computers, mobile telephones, televisions, refrigerating equipment, air-conditioners, and a host of other electric and electronic devices. Their lifespans vary from a few months to a decade or so. Once discarded, their safe and systematic disposal is necessary since they contain toxic metal and other substances including cadmium, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, barium, beryllium, arsenic and so on. Many of these elements are potentially hazardous since they are radioactive materials. They can inflict damage on the environment and human health. If dumped in landfills, which is one of the main options available now, such material can pollute the air and contaminate groundwater.
It is estimated that India may currently be generating around 400,000 tonnes of hazardous e-waste annually. Worse, India has been a destination for e-waste dumped by developed countries, often in the name of charity! Hardly 20,000 tonnes of e-waste is either recycled or disposed of appropriately. As much as 40 per cent of obsolete e-products are reckoned to be lying in godowns of bulk users or individuals’ homes for lack of disposal avenues. A substantial amount of e-waste either finds its way to informal recyclers through junk collectors (kabadiwallahs) for disposal in the most rudimentary and hazardous manner or gets mixed with other municipal garbage to reach landfill sites. However, the new e-waste management system, though tried out successfully in several countries, may not work to its potential in India. For, a sizable number of electronic and electric equipment are assembled in the unorganised sector with parts sourced from different manufacturers and sold without receipts. Tracing producers and sellers of such equipment would be difficult. To deal with such cases, it would have been better to incorporate provisions in the new policy for recognising third-party e-waste disposal units where these appliances could be handled and recycled in a scientific manner. It is worth recalling that the draft e-waste management rules, released by the environment ministry last year, had proposed a ban on the import of second-hand electronic appliances for charity and reuse. Surprisingly, this significant provision has been omitted in the final e-waste disposal rules now notified. Steps must be taken to curb such imports without hurting genuine donors and importers.