e-waste Management

The e-waste management policies are in place since 2011 in India, implementation has been sluggish. As of today, some 95% of e-waste is managed by the informal sector which operates under inferior working conditions and relies on crude techniques for dismantling and recycling.
 

What is e-waste?

e-waste is Electronic waste  i.e., waste arising from end-of-life electronic products, such as computers and mobile phones, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world today.
The world dumped a record 53.6 million ton (Mt) of e-waste in 2019, recycling only 17.4% of it (Global E-waste Monitor, 2020).
 

Issues:

• The life span of devices is getting shorter with the rapid pace of technological advancements, improved specifications and better performance leading to product replacements much before these run out of their usable periods.

• The pace of policy implementation has not been satisfactory.

• Less than five percent of the waste is treated through formal recycling facilities, leaving the rest to be handled by the informal sector with very little enforcement of environmental and occupational safety norms (Government of India, 2019).

• India generated 708,445 tonne e-waste in 2017-18 and 771,215 tonne the following fiscal, the report estimated. In 2019-20, the figure rose 32 per cent to 1,014,961 tonne. 

• E-waste management is limited by both the demand and the supply side factors and requires an in-depth analysis.

• An attempt is made here to outline key policy measures to improve recycling capacity in India through market-based mechanisms for policy enforcement.

 

e-Waste Management:

e-Waste value chain:

To critically assess each in the different stages of processing, it is important to understand the e-waste value chain. The process involves four stages - generation, collection, segregation and treatment/ disposal (The Electronics Recycling Landscape, 2016).
The major stakeholders in the value chain include importers, producers/ manufacturers, retailers businesses/ government/ others), consumers (individual households, businesses, Government and others), traders, scrap dealers, dissemblers/ dismantlers and recyclers (UNEP, 2007).
e-Waste can be managed either formally through collection or disposal in waste bins or informally through developed e-waste management infrastructure or even without it. (Global E-waste Monitor, 2020).
 

Formal Collection:

The activities usually fall under the requirements of national e-waste legislation, in which e-waste is collected by designated organisations, producers, Government (such as municipal collection sites), retailer take-back, and producer take-back. This e-waste is then taken to a specialised treatment facility, which recovers the valuable materials and manages the toxic substances in an environmentally controlled manner. Residuals are incinerated or safely landfilled.

Waste Bin Collections:

The disposer resorts to openly dump the product in a waste bin along with other household wastes. Since segregation of such waste is rudimentary, the e-waste ends up being incinerated or landfilled as other domestic waste. As a result, besides losing the resource value it harms the environment.

Informal Collection:

Some countries may have an established network of individual waste dealers or companies who collect and trade the e-waste through various channels wherein possible metal recycling may occur at the destination. In others, the e-waste may be picked door-to-door and sold to an informal dealer who may repair, refurbish, or sell again to a backyard recycler. This recycler dismantles the product through burning, leaching, and melting, thus converting it into secondary raw materials. Irrespective of how the e-waste is disposed of in the two processes, it still runs the risk of not being aptly treated to secure the disposal in an environmentally sound manner.

Indian Regulatory System:

The Government also started focusing on formalizing the electronics recycling industry by issuing registrations and e-waste management guidelines1, following suggestions by industry associations like Manufacturer’s Association of Information Technology (MAIT).

To streamline e-waste management, Government notified Electronic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011, introducing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), whereby producers were required to collect and recycle electronic items.

By shifting the burden of waste management onto manufacturers, the EPR framework, in theory, created incentives for more environment-friendly product designs.

The e-waste rules being amended in 2016 to include collection targets and implementing a deposit refund system (DRS) by the producers (Government of India, 2016). In a DRS, an upfront deposit is charged to the consumer at the time of purchase of the product, and the deposit is refunded when the product is safely returned to the producer.
 
The 2018 amendment also made provision for the registration of Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). PROs in India offer comprehensive compliance services, from negotiating the most cost1 effective regional collection and recycling contracts with different recyclers to helping producers meet outreach and awareness raising requirements (CRB and the Green Electronics Council, 2018).
 
EPR regulations in India were not quantified through collection or recycling targets as in other countries with better implementation framework and mechanisms. In the absence of targets, and in a relatively lax regulatory environment, producers had little incentive to ensure the collection of their used products. This resulted in the e-waste rules being amended in 2016 to include collection targets and implementing a deposit-refund system (DRS) by the producers (Government of India, 2016).
 

Way Forward:

It is important that consumers responsibly consume the product for its useful life and then weigh between the chances of repair or disposal with utmost consciousness towards the environment.

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 of their e-waste.

To increasing disposal through formal channels and catalyzing sustainable consumption patterns.

There is a need for a well-designed, robust and regulated e-waste recovery regime that would generate jobs and wealth. The focus of this analysis is to inform policymaking about measures to improve recycling capacity through market-based mechanisms, unlike the current policy approach of subsidy-based efforts. Sustainable business solutions and proactive people’s participation can guide the time-bound achievement of EPR targets and breathe a second life for digital debris.

Also Read: e-Waste in India

Source: Yojana