New e-waste rules threaten jobs, collection network

July 31, 2022

In News:

A proposed framework by the Central government for regulating e-waste in India has upset a key link of India’s electronic waste collection system and threatens the livelihood of thousands.

What’s in today’s article:

E-waste in India (Statistics, E-waste management rules, 2016, Amendment, Challenges, etc.)
News Summary (Draft guidelines for e-waste management, Criticism)

Electronic-waste in India:

According to a 2020 report by the Central Pollution Control Board, India generated 10,14,961 tonnes of e-waste in FY 2019-2020 – up 32% from FY 2018-2019.
Of this, the report found that only 3.6% and 10% were actually collected in the country in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
It also said that the informal sector controls more than 90% of e-waste collection and handling processes in the country.

E-waste Management Rules, 2016:

The Central Government, in the exercise of the powers provided under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, had notified e-waste management rules in 2016.

The rules aim to enable the recovery and/or reuse of useful material from e-waste, and to ensure the environmentally sound management of all types of waste of electrical and electronic equipment.
For the first time, the rules brought the producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), along with targets.

Producers have been made responsible for the collection of E-waste and for its exchange.

The manufacturers, dealers, e-retailers, and refurbishers have been brought under the ambit of these rules to ensure that the e-waste is effectively channelized and disposed of.
The urban local bodies have been assigned the responsibility of collecting back the e-waste arising from the orphan products and channelizing it to authorized dismantler or recycler.
The EWM Rules 2016, have prescribed strict criteria for achieving effective collection, transportation, storage, channelization, and disposal of the e-waste in an environmentally sound manner.

Amendment to EWM Rules, 2016:

In 2018, the EWM Rules were further amended.
The new E-Waste (Management) Amendment Rules, 2018 has the provision of introduction of Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) registration.

PRO is defined as a professional organization which can take the responsibility for collection and channelization of e-waste to ensure environmentally sound management of such e-waste.
PROs are now required to register with CPCB under the new Rules.

PROs will also have to prove that all collection is legitimate and share proofs for such collection.
Earlier, PROs were not able to procure waste from private and government institutions.
The Rules address this lack of acknowledgement of legitimate PROs by asking them to register with CPCB.

Challenges associated with E-waste Management in India:

In India, about 4.5 lakh child laborers in the age group of 10-14 are observed to be engaged in various E-waste related activities

There is absence of any public information on most SPCBs/PCC websites.
15 of the 35 PCBs/PCC do not have any information related to E-waste on their websites, their key public interface point.
Even the basic E-waste Rules and guidelines have not been uploaded.

Limited reach out and awareness regarding disposal, after determining end of useful life.
Also, only 2% of individuals think of the impact on environment while disposing off their old electrical and electronic equipment.

News Summary:

In May 2022, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced a draft on new regulation to replace the current E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016.
Proposed Changes include –
- Addition of new items:
  - The scope of the e-waste management rules be expanded to include more electronic products, from 21 covered in the current framework to 95 in total.
- Doing away with PROs:
  - Under the current framework, brands must take back a fraction of their products at the end-of-life stage and send it to authorised dismantlers and recyclers.
  - To do this, they can employ a producer responsibility organisation (PRO) — a company that oversees the collection, dismantling, and recycling of their products, on the brand’s behalf.
  - The new draft rules propose doing away with PROs, dismantlers, and collection centres.
  - It also proposed to revise the definition of extended producer responsibility (EPR) to shift the burden away from brands.
- Imposition of fine:
  - Among the changes listed in the draft proposal is the introduction of fines that violators, from brands to recyclers, will have to pay if they fail to comply.
  - It also suggests that recyclers and brands be asked to upload information on how much e-waste they have managed to recycle on an online portal.
- Recycling target:
  - The recycling target has been set at 80% for FY2024 onward.

Criticism:

Under the proposed definition of EPR, brands would no longer be responsible for the collection of e-waste, and can purchase certificates from recyclers to show they have met their targets under the rules.
With brands no longer responsible for a take-back system, collection will become the responsibility of recyclers, and that the concept of EPR will be reduced to just purchasing certificates from recyclers.
There are also worries that the rules will enable recyclers to engage further with the informal sector when it comes to collection and dismantling.
The increase in product types that will have to be recycled could also pose a problem for the ecosystem’s capacity to process e-waste.
- This massive jump in product types and categories (from 21 to 95) will only make recycling that much harder.