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In the year 2016 the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 superseded the 2011 rules.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.