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.