The growing
concern of e-waste propelled the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules,
2011 in India and the new concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was
introduced. Through this concept the manufacturers were made liable for safe
disposal of electronics. This law recognized the producer’s liability for
recycling and also in reducing the e-waste in the country. It was one of the
apt initiatives by the Government in addition to the Environment Protection
Act, 1986.
The 2011
Rules which came into effect from the year 2012 stated that all the
manufacturers and importers of electronic were supposed to have a plan to
manage the e-waste. The manufacturers and the importers had to set up e-waste centres
where the consumers could go and deposit the scrap so that it was not discarded
with the domestic waste. Even the companies were to make their customers aware
about the hazardous materials that the product which was purchased by the customer contained.
The States were supposed to keep a record and track the electronic waste
that was generated and handover the data to the Pollution Control Boards. The
Pollution Control Boards were set up as per the law. This was the need of the
hour after there were major companies entering the market who made various
electronic products available at a very cost cutting rate.
In the year
2016 the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 superseded the 2011 rules. The new
rules were more stringent. These rules stated the target goals for certain
industries in-order to reduce their collection of electronic waste. There were
also certain amendments to the rules in the year 2018. The legislations on
e-waste aim towards managing e-waste in an efficient manner and minimise illegal
recycling. Thus, these are the legislations dealing with electronic waste in India.
The
legislations aim to reduce the amount of hazardous waste and create
environmentally sound management of electronic waste in India. It also promotes
and encourages efficient collection of e-waste mechanism. Including these rules
in the curriculum of law students will further enhance the dissemination of
knowledge pertaining to e-waste. The study of electronic waste and its
consequences is necessary as electronics have become an integral part of each
and every one of us. Knowing the legislations pertaining to e-waste is also
essential to tackle the issue of e-waste in an efficient manner. We have good
legislations in India but the execution of the same is vital. We too have our
part to play along with the laws so that they can be aptly executed.
My quest to
research more about e-waste made me visit a centre which exclusively deals with
collecting and recycling e-waste. I wanted to explore a lot more about the
topic of e-waste and so I went on to interact with one of the employees of the company
that deals into collecting and recycling electronic waste and according to the
employee almost everyday people are replacing their old gadgets with the new
ones. There are also many unauthorized buyers of e-waste who collect e-waste
generated in home, office and other places but are in actual sense responsible
towards the harmful effects of the increasing electronic waste. The procedure
that is adopted by these buyers to dispose the materials is neither sustainable
nor scientific.
According to
the employee it is very important to dispose of e-waste in a proper manner. The recycling process of electronic waste needs to be done under the supervision of
skilled persons. I got to know that various top organizations varying from I.T
companies to hospitals and banks discard their electronic waste and this
organization collects the e-waste from such diversified sectors. I was keen to
know on what kind of e-waste do hospitals and banks discard and I was informed
that the computers and laptops used by these sectors are given to this
organization for recycling.
The scarp collected is always in bulk as one
single unit of electronic device won’t fetch the recycling goal and also the
cost of recycling single unit of the scrap would be expensive. The scrap is
segregated from one that can be recycled and the obsolete ones are burnt
according to the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and E-waste Management Rules,
2016. I was also enlightened about the online auction that takes place of such
e-waste that is collected. There are Government tenders as well that encourage
such bulk e-waste to be sold to them so that they can be recycled in a proper
manner. There are also quotations to be submitted manually as per the
prescribed form for filling of such tenders. The tie-ups with various
organizations enable these agencies to know about the various auctions, tenders
and the quotations.
This was my research on e-waste. I wanted to learn more about the handling and managing of e-waste which is generated from various sectors of the society so I also explored some of the other organizations which contribute in collecting e-waste. I got to know of an e-waste drive in a college. I met the professor in-charge of this e-waste drive to learn more about the drive that was undertaken in the college. I also wanted to know the response that the college got as a result of this e-waste drive. The e-waste was collected from the students in the form of laptops, desktop, wires, remotes, chargers, speakers, keyboards etc. Though the response of the students was average yet the e-waste that was collected by the Physics department was sent to Croma who further sent it for recycling. Through the drive the students were made more aware about the dangers of throwing e-waste along with the regular waste. The professor also added that the recycling helps them to do their bit towards the environment. According to the suggestion from the professor the e-waste collection drive should be carried out on a door-to-door basis and awareness should be created among larger masses. On seeing the response of the students, the professor was of the opinion that e-waste drive should be conducted quite frequently.
