India must wake up to address this threat to health & environment

India is sitting on a time bomb called e-waste. It is producing e-waste at a compound annual growth rate of 30 per cent & by 2020 this is going to go up to 5.2 million metric tonne per year

Electronics waste (e-waste) is a global challenge and India is also facing the problem due to rapid rise in use and fast disposal of electronic gadgets and lack of safe disposal facilities. Developed countries and a few developing ones are preparing themselves to address these challenges. The increasing ‘market penetration’ in developing countries, ‘replacement market’ in developed countries and ‘high obsolescence rate’ of the products make e-waste one of the fastest growing waste streams. Environmental issues and the trade associated with e-waste at local, trans-boundary and international levels have driven many countries to urgent interventions. According to a study published by United Nations University (UNU) in 2017, India generated 1.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2014. ASSOCHAM predicts that India would generate 5.2 million tonnes per annum of e-waste by 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 per cent, out of which a mere 1.5 per cent of e-waste gets recycled.

Hazardous effect on health and environment

Findings say that e-waste becomes hazardous both for health and the environment when it is dismantled and processed. Various elements, metals and compounds are used for developing components and modules which are required in the core of the electronics products for their functioning at the desired performance level. Sometimes these elements are hazardous. Dr Sandip Chatterjee, Director, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) says “during the useable life of the products, these elements do not pose any threat to the consumers. However, recovery of valuables from the e-waste by unscientific, crude methods in informal sector is hazardous for the operators as well as seriously damaging to the environment. Exposure of the six identified elements (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers) during recycling of e-waste by primitive means can have serious health issues including cancer.”
The present rules stipulate that every producer of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and their components or consumables or parts or spares shall ensure that new EEE do not contain pollutants such as Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers beyond a maximum concentration value. Every producer shall provide the detailed information on the constituents of the equipment and their components or consumables or parts or spares along with a declaration of conformance to the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) provisions in the product user documentation. Further, CPCB shall conduct random sampling of electrical and electronic equipment placed in the market to monitor and verify the compliance of RoHS provisions and the cost of sample and testing shall be borne by the producer. The random sampling shall be as per the guidelines of CPCB. If the product does not comply with RoHS provisions, the producer shall take corrective measures to bring the product into compliance and withdraw or recall the product from the market within a reasonable period of time as per the guidelines of the CPCB.

By 2020 India would produce 5.2 million tonnes of e-waste
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India generated 1.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2014 and may generate 5.2 million tonnes by 2020. Dr Sandeep Chatterjee says “with rising aspiration among young population and economic development, it would be very difficult to restrain the e-waste generation. However, creating awareness among stakeholders, providing affordable technology for recycling e-waste and creating adequate infrastructure could change the situation. Once this is provided the e-waste would be properly channelised and disposed of in formal sector and jobs would also be generated for the locals and resource materials could be recovered for fresh electronics products, which is the key theme of the circular economy.”

Did India wake up late

Developed countries like those of North America consume 11.6 Kg/inhabitant, Europe consumes 16.6Kg/inhabitant whereas, India consumes only 1Kg/inhabitant of electronic products. India has now started the aspirational rise in consumption and therefore if awareness is created and adequate recycling facilities could be created in the country, India can deal with the issue. The behaviour of the citizen to distinguish between normal solid waste and hazardous e-waste will be critical.
In this regard, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is pursuing an awareness programme on Environmental Hazards of Electronic Waste on pan-India basis since 2015 to create awareness among the public about the hazards of e-waste recycling by the unorganized sector and to educate them about alternate methods of disposing their e-waste. So far, 31 States and UTs, covering nearly 21.7 crore audience has been covered under the mass awareness programme. The programme has also created nearly 1260 expert trainers on pan-India basis, who could be able to carry out further training. The programme has created training tools, content materials, films, printed materials, videos and jingles, etc. for every strata of the society.

Law needs to be further strengthened

E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 enacted October 1, 2017 had enough provisions to address the issue. The 21 products (Schedule-I), majorly originators of e-waste, were included under the purview of the rule. The rule also extended its purview to components or consumables or parts or spares of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) along with their products.
The present rule has strengthened the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR), which is the global best practice to ensure the take-back of the end-of-life products. A new arrangement entitled ‘Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO)’ has been introduced to strengthen EPR further. PRO, a professional organization, would be authorised or financed collectively or individually by producers to share the responsibility for collection and channelisation of e-waste generated from the ‘end-of-life’ of their products to ensure environmentally sound management of such e-waste.
The rule has provisioned the target for the producers, which was missing in the first version of the Rule (2012). Now manufactures are mandated to take-back their sold products with recommended mechanisms. The EPR collection targets in India were kept very conservative (10 per cent) in the initial year (2017) for providing adequate time for the producers to prepare themselves and align with complex collection mechanism of the end-of-life products. Gradually this target would be enhanced to 70 per cent in 2023. This initiative would definitely enhance the materials flow to formal sector in future. Presently, the regulators in the State (SPCBs) have knowledge barrier and they require better training and understanding of the clauses of the rules and they also should be provided adequate resources to address the situation in the ground. The major challenge for e-waste management in India is limited recycling capacity and infrastructure. Effective enforcement of the E-waste Rules requires a level playing field for producers, creating standards in the entire value chain, and introduction of recovery targets so as to ensure efficient and responsible recycling practices. The regulator needs to be empowered to implement the rule more stringently and close down the illegal, informal operations. This would enable the concentration of feedstock for recycling at some designated places rather than being scattered across numerous informal recycling sites, which is today a big disincentive for setting up modern state-of-the-art recycling facilities. It is evident that this subject of managing e-waste calls for transformative actions in order to protect human health and the environment; just as electronic gadgets have had a transformative impact on our lives.