1

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

PROJECT REPORT

ON

LAW RELATING TO ELECTRONIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA: A

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

SUBMITTED BY

MRS. PRACHI SHASHIKANT PHONDE

SEAT NO.

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF

PROFF. SWATI D. RAUTELA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW GROUP VI SEM IV

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

2022-2023

Mahatma Gandhi Road, Kolivery Village, Univerity of Mumbai, Vidya Nagari,

Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai , Maharashtra - 400032
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INTRODUCTION OF THE PROPOSED TOPIC

The amount of "E-waste," or electronic waste, in India has now become a big issue. E-
waste disposal is becoming a global environmental and public health concern, as
electronic waste has become the world's fastest growing portion of the formal municipal
waste stream.

E-waste, also known as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), is any
electrical or electronic device that has been thrown, surpluses, obsoleted, or broken.4 In
India, the majority of discarded electronic gadgets are kept in households because
individuals do not know how to dispose of them properly. This ever-increasing trash is
extremely complicated in nature, and it's also a rich source of metals like gold, silver, and
copper that may be recovered and reintroduced into the manufacturing process. As a
result, e-waste trade and recycling coalitions employ a large number of people in India. In
Delhi alone, 25,000 employees, including minors, are employed in primitive dismantling
plants, which handle 10,000 –20,000 tons of E-waste by hand each year. E-waste that is
improperly dismantled and processed is hazardous to human health and the environment.
As a result, the importance of effective e-waste management has been identified.
Reviewing the public health concerns and ways to tackle this growing threat is required.

The most important legislation directly dealing with electronic waste is the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 in which three penal provisions are given i.e., section 15, 16 and
17.

The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is an umbrella act and E waste rules are the
product of EPA only.1

In India, E-waste is covered in Schedule 3 of “The Hazardous Wastes (Management and

Handling) Rules, 2003”. Under Schedule 3, E-waste is defined as “Waste Electrical and

1
The Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2003
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Electronic Equipment including all components, sub-assemblies and their fractions

except batteries falling under these rules.”

The India Waste Management Market size is estimated at USD 32.09 billion in 2023, and
is expected to reach USD 35.87 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 2.25% during the
forecast period (2023-2028).

An addition to the Environmental Protection Act of 1986, the E-Waste (Management and
Handling) Rules of 2011 came into effect in May 2012. The rules stated that all
manufacturers and importers of electronic goods were required to come up with a plan to
manage their electronic waste.

E - Waste Management Laws in India has indirect laws to tackle the problems of e-waste
management but recently the initiation has been taken by the Government of India with
the help of strait legislation and rules to solve the matter of e-waste disposal. Prior to this
attempt there are inherent laws at national level to tackle the issues of pollution free
environment and regulation and disposal of wastes that is presumed to be hazardous.
These laws generally remain oblivious of inadequacy of linkage in handling of hazardous
substances and e-waste. The Environment Protection Act, 1986 confers an omnibus
power to Central Government to take all such measures as it deems necessary or
expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and
preventing, controlling and abating environmental pollution including measures to lay
down standards for the quality of environment, procedures and safeguards for the
handling of hazardous substances, manufacturing process and materials.

Apart from this, there are several other rules, policies and related laws that are indirectly
or directly related with the e - waste management issues. These have been given as under;

a) DGFT (Exim policy 2002-07): Second hand personal computers (PCs)/laptops are not
permitted for import under EPCG scheme under the provisions of para 5.1 of the Exim
Policy, even for service providers. Second-hand photocopier machines, air conditioners,
 4

diesel generating sets, etc, can also not be imported under EPCG Scheme under the
provisions of Para 5.1 of EXIM Policy even if these are less than ten years old 24.

b) ‘MoEF Guidelines for Management and Handling of Hazardous Wastes, 1991.

c) Guidelines for Safe Road Transport of Hazardous Chemicals, 1995.

d) The Public Liability Act, 1991.

e) Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001.

f) The National Environmental Tribunal Act, 1995.

g) Bio-Medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998.

h) Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 and 2002’25.
Recently the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rule, 2011 places responsibility on
the producers for the entire lifecycle of a product, from design to disposal. Apart from
Extended Producer Responsibility principle, the rule is a significant step towards
international standards of Restriction of Hazardous substances in electronics.26

These new rules that have been framed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests will
be effectively implemented throughout the country from May 1, 2012. Greenpeace has
said it a welcoming move to control the e-waste danger.
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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The recycling of e-waste serves a lot of useful purpose. For example, include protecting
human & environmental health by keeping those devices out of landfills. Or recovering
the parts within the devices that still have value and providing manufactures with
recycled metal that can be used to make new products. Initiatives such as Extended
producer Responsibility (EPR); design for environment (DIE), Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
(3Rs), technology platform for linking the market facilitating a circular economy aim to
encourage consumers to correctly dispose their e-waste, with increased reuse and
recycling rates and adopt. The major objective of e-waste management is to reduce,
rescue and recycle. Some of the e-waste consists of valuable covering or material inside
which can be reused or recycled.

The major objective of e-waste management is to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Some of the
e-waste consists of valuable covering or materials inside which can be reused or recycled.
Whereas some of the e-waste may contain hazardous chemical materials which should be
disposed of carefully without causing harm to nature.

The recycling of e-waste serves a lot of useful purposes. For example, include protecting
human & environmental health by keeping those devices out of landfills. Or recovering
the parts within the devices that still have value and providing manufacturers with
recycled metal that can be used to make new products.

 Aims of E-Waste Management:

 The aim is the disposal of unwanted electronic gadgets;

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 Compared to the past days the e-waste products or items have increased
abundantly nowadays;
 The major everyday use electronic products are computers, ACs, mobile phones,
television, fax machines, etc.;
 A proper methodology should be followed to control the pollution caused by e-
waste products.

 Objectives of E-Waste Management:

 Some of the e-waste consists of valuable covering or material inside which can be
reused or recycled;
 EPR or Extended Producer Responsibility is one of the concepts introduced in e-
waste management;
 One of the major objectives of e-waste management is to reduce, reuse & recycle;
 In this policy, the producers are given a vital responsibility for the disposal and
treatment of the products;
 Whereas some of the electronic waste may contain hazardous chemical materials
which should be disposed of carefully without causing harm to nature.

2
E-Waste Management Authorisation Process in India
 7

SCOPE AND UTILITY OF RESEARCH

India is third largest e-waste generator in the world. The quantity of e-waste generated in
FY 2021-22 was 1.6 million and that of e-waste collected and processed was 0.5 million.
With the rising number of electric vehicles, electronic devices, solar panels, etc.

With the rise in e-waste recycling plants, the demand for employees with all levels of
qualification and skills also increases. Recycling e- waste also helps recover precious
metals like gold, silver, cobalt etc. this is especially useful for India as it has to depend on
other countries to meet its metal requirements. E-Waste is growing at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 per cent in the country. ASSOCHAM, one of the apex
trade associations of India.

The term e-waste, every so often also occurring as expanded form electronic waste, refers
to all electronic devices, surplus, broken or obsolete, which have been redundant by their
original owners. According to estimates by the UN, the world produces up to 50 million
tonnes of e-waste per year. The decreasing outlay of electronic goods has only
compounded the problem. In practice, computers, televisions, mobile phones and
electronic gaming devices form the biggest proportion of e-waste, since they are the
things mainly likely to be replaced in the short term when people are eager to purchase
the latest know-how.

In this sense then there is a correlation between the problem of electronic waste and what
manufacturers describe as planned obsolescence, the intentional situation of an artefact
becoming obsolete after a certain period of time, thereby forcing the end-user to replace
it. E-waste is predominantly significant because clearance of electronic items can result in
noxious trash, such goods containing perilous metals similar to lead, cadmium and
 8

mercury, which can contaminate air and water when they are dumped. Concern regarding
the ecological issues surrounding e-waste has led governments across the globe to
implement laws prohibiting its clearance in landfills and issue directives on
remanufacturing. In the European Union, a few liabilities has been placed back on the
manufacturer in the form of directives which make them financially or physically liable
for their tool at the end of its life and thereby facilitate a competitive incentive for
companies to plan 'greener' goods. There is also now stringent regulation on the
movement of electronic waste, which traditionally found its way into Asian nations such
as China and India.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

One way E-waste is processed is by melting circuit boards, burning cable sheathing to
recover copper wire and open- pit acid leaching for separating metals of value.

Possible waste disposal methods are recycling, composting, incineration, landfills,

bioremediation, waste to energy, and waste minimization. As for waste management, it is
the measures utilized to manage waste in its entire life cycle, from waste generation to
disposal or recovery.

A very crude e-waste disposal method that involves burning the waste in an extremely
high temperature incinerator. This has the twin benefit of significantly reducing the waste
volume and generating energy that can be repurposed for other applications.

The best way to process e-waste is by melting circuit boards, burning the cable sheathing
to recover copper wire and open- it acid hang on for separating metals of value. In order
to reclaim a waste material such as electrolysis, osmosis, electrolytic recovery,
condensation, filtration, centrifugation, etc.

The paper aims to define and analyse the main areas of research on electrical and
electronic waste, while offering a broader analysis of the relevant literature in order to
summarize the information available and to create common knowledge. Based on this
few key points were observed. Firstly, many countries don’t have any standardized
method to estimate e-waste generation. Further, there is a need to implement and frame
polices for proper e-waste management in developing countries so as to solve
environmental issues related to informal recycling practice. There is a need for
 10

developing a legal framework for the management of this waste fraction is one of the
challenges for the policy makers in developing countries. Awareness programs should be
generated and training should be provided in handling e waste.

In recent years, researchers have increasingly used quantitative and qualitative research
(mixed methods) techniques to expand the scope and improve the analytic power of their
studies. Quantitative research method is a statistical and interpretive technique used to
describe or explain the meaning and relationships of a phenomenon under investigation.
Quantitative research typically involves probability sampling to allow statistical
inferences to be made. In contrast, qualitative research method is a non-numerical,
precise count of some behaviour, attitudes, knowledge, or opinion for ascertaining and
understanding the meaning and relationships of certain phenomena for generalisation. It
typically involves purposeful sampling to improve understanding of the issues being
examined .

This study adopts a qualitative research method to explore the issues relating to e-waste
in the selected countries from existing research over the past years to guide future
research in this area. To achieve the aim of this study, the five-phase approach of
Wolfswinkel et al. for conducting a systematic review and analysis of the literature is
adopted. Adopting this five-phase approach enables the researchers to conduct a thorough
search process and critically review and analyse the articles retrieved from the databases.
The five-phase approach includes: (a) defining the scope of the review, (b) searching the
literature, (c) selecting the final samples, (d) analysing the samples using content
analysis, and (e) presenting the findings.

The first phase is to define the scope of the review. This includes the definition of
specific criteria for the inclusion and exclusion of relevant sources and the criteria for
identifying and retrieving those sources in the literature. In this study, four prominent
databases are used to source literature, including ProQuest, Emerald, Science Direct, and
Web of Science. The selection of these databases is due to their representativeness and
coverage in the publication of top academic papers on e-waste in the selected countries.
 11

To ensure broad coverage of the studies in these databases, several keywords have been
used for the search, which includes “electronic waste”, “e-waste”, “waste electrical and
electronic equipment”, “e-waste management”, “e-waste recycling,” “e-waste disposal
methods”, “e-waste problems and challenges” and “environmental management of e-
waste”. Several criteria are used to set the limitation, including restricting the document
type to scholarly journals, peer-reviewed conference papers, book chapters, and other
institutional reports from United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO);
the language in English, and the publication date from 2005 to 2020. These document
types have been selected as they represent state-of-the-art research outputs with high
impact.

The second phase is to run the search query within the selected databases for retrieving
the search results. A total of 688 articles are returned using the above pre-defined search
strings. This initial search enables us to gain a general understanding of the coverage of
e-waste topics.

The third phase involves selecting the final samples for detailed analysis. The search is
limited to the title and the abstract to focus on the search results. Titles and abstracts of
all initial articles are screened for checking the relevance to e-waste. This leads to the
identification of 235 relevant articles. Duplicate articles are removed. A total of 210
articles is assessed for eligibility, and after excluding those articles that did not meet
eligibility criteria, a total of 185 articles is identified for further review.

This study adopts a qualitative approach for studying e-waste management practices of
the selected countries in the Asia Pacific region. As per Wolfswinkel et al., this study
adopted a five-phase approach. In the first phase, secondary data from 2005 to 2020 has
been considered for reviewing existing literature on e-waste management in the selected
countries. Then, a total of eight (8) keywords are used to identify and analyse the relevant
articles. Finally, challenges and practices associated with e-waste management are
discussed to present the proposed policy approaches and recommendations.
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E-waste management has become a contentious issue due to the presence of hazardous
materials and the health hazards it may cause if not managed properly. In fact, for more
than a decade, scholars have conducted studies on informal e-waste collection and
disposal methods. However, these studies were limited to e-waste generation, prevention,
quantification, recycling, treatment, reuse, pollution control, legislation, and life-cycle
assessment, as noted in recent studies. Undoubtedly, these studies presented opportunities
to address some of the challenges associated with e-waste management. However, there
is a limited study in addressing the environmental and health implications associated with
e-waste for achieving sustainable e-waste management. Moreover, prior studies on e-
waste are centred on a small number of developed countries, which represent a
“standard” or “benchmark” for developing e-waste management policies for emerging
countries. Therefore, this study aims to address these gaps.

Future research should use a quantitative approach or other research methods and expand
the number of selected countries to understand e-waste generation and management
practices of countries in the Asia Pacific region. This will provide additional viewpoints
in the management, recycling, and environmental management of e-waste in the regions.

_______________________
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LITERATURE REVIEW

In a study by Jalal Uddin (2012), through innovative changes in product style below
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (ERP), use of environmentally friendly
substitutes for dangerous substances, these impacts can be mitigated. A legal framework
must be there for imposing EPR, RoHS for attaining this goal. Adoption of
environmentally sound technologies for usage and employ of e-waste at the side of EPR
and RoHS offers workable answer for environmentally sound management of e-waste.
Manufacturers & suppliers need to set goals for reducing electronic waste. Encourage
them to buy back old electronic products from consumers, disposing bulk e-waste only
through authorized recyclers and send non-tradable e-waste to authorized private
developers for final disposal.

According to Vijay N. Bhoi et al. (2014), most of the waste is inherently dangerous. It
will degrade to provide leachate, which can contaminate water, and make lowland gas,
that is explosive. Additionally, owing to the risks related to lowland sites, there are
currently terribly strict needs on the development, operation and medical care of such
sites. Most designing authorities desire a figured out quarry to be used for landscaping
instead of a lowland web site that nobody desires in their “back yard”. Product style
should be used to assist to reduce not solely the character and quantity of waste, however
conjointly to maximise end-of-life utilization. Makers, retailers, users, and disposers
ought to share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of merchandise. A
product-centred approach ought to be adopted to preserve and shield setting.
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Kuehr and Williams (2003) stated that an increasing market for reused PCs in
developing countries is allowing people to own PCs and access technology at more
affordable prices. Moreover, charitable organizations, such as Computer Mentor,
Computer Aid, World Computer Exchange, Computers for Schools and others are
expanding their boundaries and providing used and refurbished computers to
organizations (e.g., schools) around the world. Furthermore, reuse also reduces the
environmental impacts of technological artifacts by increasing their life spans and
thereby reducing the demand for new equipment.

Ramzy Kahhat, et al., (2008) stated in his article that some states are adopting e-waste
regulations, but so far the U.S. does not have a federal regulation that addresses the
complete e-waste situation, including residential and non-residential sectors. Federal
level policies and regulations present the best way to address the e-waste situation (U.S.
GAO, 2005) as they will overcome the lack of regulations in most states and will
standardize regulations and policies in the country. This will create a more efficient
national e-waste management system. In this scenario, the e-Market for returned deposit
system will be the mechanism for residential customers to dispose of their devices in a
way that motivates collection, recycle and reuse of e-waste.

In a 2011 report, "Ghana E-Waste Country Assessment", found that of 215,000 tons of
electronics imported to Ghana, 30% were brand new and 70% were used. Of the used
product, the study concluded that 15% was not reused and was scrapped or discarded.

Sivakumaran Sivaramanan (2013) confirmed that the public awareness and cooperation
of manufactures are essential for the advancement of e-waste management system. And
also it is the responsibility of government to allocate sufficient grants and protecting the
internationally agreed environmental legislations within their borders. Licensing of
certification like estewardship may ensure the security to prevent illegal smugglers and
handlers of e-waste. As e-wastes are the known major source of heavy metals, hazardous
chemicals and carcinogens, certainly diseases related to skin, respiratory, intestinal,
 15

immune, and endocrine and nervous systems including cancers can be prevented by
proper management and disposal of e-waste.

According to Peeranart Kiddee et al. (2013) e-waste can be managed by developing eco-
design devices, properly collecting e-waste, recover and recycle material by safe
methods, dispose of e-waste by suitable techniques, forbid the transfer of used electronic
devices to developing countries, and raise awareness of the impact of e-waste. No single
tool is adequate but together they can complement each other to solve this issue. A
national scheme such as EPR is a good policy in solving the growing e-waste problems.

Yamini Gupt & Samraj Sahay (2015) suggested that financial responsibility of the
producers and separate collecting and recycling agencies contribute significantly to the
success of the extended producer responsibility-based environmental policies. Regulatory
provisions, takeback responsibility and financial flow come out to be the three most
important aspects of the extended producer responsibility. Presence of informal sector
had a negative impact on the regulatory provisions.

In Sukeshini Jadhav (2013) observed that proper e waste management will help efficient
sourcing and collection right upto extraction and disposal of material, ensuring that e-
waste will turn into lucrative products and business opportunity. The manufacturers have
to take responsibility for adopting the guideline for manufacturing sound environment
product and sustainability management should be started from the product manufacturing
stage i.e raw material selection, product and process design can be the important factors
for the designed for environment practices, which can facilitate the recycling and reuse.
Manufacturer should also try and initiate a take back program to handle the waste so that
proper management and disposal of e-waste can be done. This way as 60% e-waste is
coming from industry, can contribute to a very large part of Electronic waste
management collection and establishing clean e-waste channels.

UNEP (2010) report predicts that by 2020, E-waste from old computers in India will
increase to 500%; from discarded mobile phones will be about 18 times high; from
 16

televisions will be 1.5 to 2 times higher; from discarded refrigerators will double or
triple; than its respective 2007 levels. Considering the growth rate, studies show that the
volume of E-waste will reach nearly 2 million MT by 2025.

Samarkoon M.B. (2014) in his study states that improper handling of e-waste can cause
harm to the environment and human health because of its toxic components. Although the
current emphasis is on end-of-life management of e-waste activities, such as reuse,
servicing, remanufacturing, recycling and disposal, upstream reduction of e-waste
generation through green design and cleaner production must be introduced to enhance a
sustainable e-waste management system for Sri Lanka.

Xinwen Chi et al. (2010) in their study gathered information on informal e-waste
management, in China and identifies some of the main difficulties of the current Chinese
approach. Informal e-waste recycling is not only associated with serious environmental
and health impacts, but also the supply deficiency of formal recyclers and the safety
problems of remanufactured electronic products. Experiences already show that simply
prohibiting or competing with the informal collectors and informal recyclers is not an
effective solution. New formal e-waste recycling systems should take existing informal
sectors into account, and more policies need to be made to improve recycling rates,
working conditions and the efficiency of involved informal players. A key issue for
China’s e-waste management is how to set up incentives for informal recyclers so as to
reduce improper recycling activities and to divert more e-waste flow into the formal
recycling sector.

Shubham Gupta et al. (2014) studied that in developing countries like India, China,
Indonesia, Brazil, commercial organizations tend to focus more on economic aspects
rather than environmental regulations of e- waste recycling. So, for the profitable
recovery of reusable materials and sustainable environment, the efficient recycling of this
waste has been rendered indispensable, and is considered as a challenge for today’s
society.
 17

Sikdar & Vaniya (2014) in their research stated that government should introduce some
topics related to disposal of e-waste materials and its recycling and adverse effects of e-
waste on health of human body in Environmental Education as a compulsory subject
from lower to higher grades. The researcher realized recently that the education system
alone is a powerful medium to ensure environmental protection. It should reach most
parts of the population at a young age, and more e-waste friendly behavior should be
practiced on daily basis.

Binegde et al.. (2015) studied that the repair shops of electronic goods of the study area
contributed an important role in extending the life span of electronic goods and thus
reduce the number of thrown away e-goods. The study indicated that the high repair cost
of the electronic goods and availability of comparatively cheaper new electronic goods
with more features attracts the consumers towards the throw away culture, leading to
accumulation of obsolete electronic items. Strengthening of formal recycling of e-waste
is very essential for attaining sustainable development.

According to Norazli Othman (2015) the quantity of electronic wastes can be controlled
if there is a sustainable integrated technique in managing the electronic waste.
Sustainable integrated technique should consider electronic wastes management from the
production until its disposal point. Implementation of new Legislation and Act should
also be considered by the authority as to develop human capital in managing electronic
waste. The combination of human capital with a sustainable technique for managing
electronic waste will lead to efficiency in managing electronic wastes in the future.

Hassan Taghipour et al. (2012) suggested that a policy should be framed extending
producer responsibility (EPR) programme in combination with a training programme at
different levels of society. An approach consisting of a mandated product take back is
proposed for implementing EPR in Iran. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry and the
Environmental Protection Agency should strictly supervise E-waste collection, storage,
and recycling and/or disposal, and the Trade and Industry Ministries must have more
control over the import and production of electronic goods
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RESEARCH PROBLEM

E- waste: A striking Problem in India. It is no secret that electronic dumps contain

substantial quantities of toxic elements like lithium, mercury, arsenic, barium, cadmium,
cobalt, etc. The chemicals leach into the ground, aquatic bodies, and air, causing
detrimental impacts on the environment and human health.

E-waste can be toxic, is not biodegradable and accumulates in the environment, in the
soil, air, water and living things. For example, open-air burning and acid baths being used
to recover valuable materials from electronic components release toxic materials leaching
into the environment.

Many researchers had given their insights and findings on e-waste and related topics
since this problem under study start itching the society and intensity starts increasing
exponentially. Electronic-waste is also known as E-waste, very trendy yet casual name
given to electrical and electronic appliances & gazettes, either discarded or of further use.
According to California Integrated Waste Management Board Mobile phones,
Computers, televisions, VCRs, Music Systems, Photo copier, wax and other printers fall
under this category. It is not very clear to add home appliances in this solid waste or not.
But yet they are considered as either electronic or electrical products.
4
Prestige e-Journal of Management and Research
Volume 4, Issue 1 (April, 2017) ISSN 2350-1316
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Wang write in detailed that electronic & electrical waste is actually a family and it has
many branches which includes all personal, commercial, educational, transportation,
private or public products which mainly work on power and have some at least sort of
automation to function to meet the requirement. Kohler explained that the home
appliance like automatic ovens, fridge or chilling machines and many others which also
work on programming and computer related activities are very difficult to differentiate
from WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) as they are also part of either
electrical or electronic family. Electronic waste" or "E-Waste" may be defined as
discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics,
Mobile Phones,

Television Sets, and Refrigerators. This includes used electronics which are destined for
reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal. Others are re-usable (working and repairable
electronics) and secondary scrap (copper, steel, plastic, etc.) to be "commodities", and
reserve the term "waste" for residue or material which is dumped by the buyer rather than
recycled, including residue from reuse and recycling operations, because loads of surplus
electronics are frequently commingled (good, recyclable, and non-recyclable), several
public policy advocates apply the term "e-waste" broadly to all surplus electronics.
Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) are considered one of the hardest types to recycle.

 Problems related to E-waste in India

1. Volume of e-waste generated :

India stands fifth in e-waste generation producing around 1.7 lakhs metric tonnes per
annum.
2. Involvement of Child labour-
In India, about 4.5 lakh child laborers in the age group of 10-14 are observed to be
engaged in various E-waste activities and that too without adequate protection and
safeguards in various yards and recycling workshops. So, there is a urgent need to
bring out effective legislation to prevent entry of child labor into E-waste market- its
collection, segregation and distribution.
 20

3. Ineffective Legislation -
There is absence of any public information on most SPCBs/PCC websites. 15 of the
35 PCBs/PCC do not have any information related to E-waste on their websites, their
key public interface point. Even the basic E-waste Rules and guidelines have not been
uploaded. In absence of any information on their website, especially on details of
recyclers and collectors of E-waste, citizens and institutional generators of E- waste
are totally at a loss to deal with their waste and do not know how to fulfill their
responsibility. So, there is failure in successful implementation of E-waste
Management and Handling Rules, 2012.

4. Lack of infrastructure
There is huge gap between present recycling and collection facilities and quantum of
E-waste that is being generated. No collection and take back mechanisms are in place.
There is lack of recycling facility.
5. Health hazards –
E-waste contains over 1,000 toxic materials, which contaminate soil and ground
water. Exposure can cause headache, irritability, nausea, vomiting, and eye pain.
Recyclers may suffer liver, kidney and neurological disorders. Due to lack of
awareness, they are risking their health and the environment as well.
6. Lack of Incentive scheme-
No clear guidelines are there for the unorganized sector to handle E-waste. Also no
incentives are mentioned to lure people engaged to adopt formal path for handling E-
waste. Working conditions in the informal recycling sector are only slightly worse
than in the formal sector. No incentive schemes for producers who are doing
something to handle e-waste.
7. Poor awareness and sanitization –
Limited reach out and awareness regarding disposal, after determining end of useful
life. Also Only 2% of individuals think of the impact on environment while disposing
off their old electrical and electronic equipment.
 21

8. E-waste import –
Cross-border flow of waste equipment into India- 80 percent of E-waste in developed
countries meant for recycling is sent to developing countries such as India, China,
Ghana and Nigeria.
9. Reluctance of authorities involved-
Lack of coordination between various authorities responsible for E-waste
management and disposal including the non-involvement of municipalities.
10. Security implications -
End of life computers often contain sensitive personal information and bank account
details which, if not deleted leave opportunity for fraud.

11. High Cost of setting up recycling Policy –

In addition, the study also states that the advanced technology recycling projects
(including metallurgy and refining of non ferrous metals) are at further economic
disadvantage compared to basic process activities and are in general not
economically viable. The formal recycling companies in India except some are only
limited to pre-processing of the e-waste material, where the crushed e-waste with
precious metals is sent to smelting refineries outside India. Formal sector in India still
has a long way to go in adopting state - of-art technologies for e-waste recycling due
to problems in sourcing e-waste and partly due to difficulty in making it profitable
with high end investment in such superior and costly technologies.
12. Lack of Research -
Government must encourage research into the development and standards of
hazardous waste management, environmental monitoring and the regulation of
hazardous waste-disposal.

5
current-affairs on 11-11-2022/e-waste-management-rules-202 /
legalservicesindia.com/article/2249/E-Waste-Management-Issues-Challenges-and-Proposed-Solutions
 22

HYPOTHEESIS

The hypothesis of e-waste is that the improper disposal and management of electronic
waste can have detrimental environmental and health impacts. This includes the release
of hazardous materials into the environment, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, which
can contaminate soil, water, and air.

All e- waste is made up of deadly chemicals such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury
and brominated flame reardants. Disposing of gadgets and device improperly increase
the chances of these dangerous chemicals contaminating the soil, polluting the air and
leaching into water bodies.

“Electronic waste” may be defined as all secondary computers, entrainment device

electronics, mobile phones, and other items such as television sets and refrigerators,
whether sold, donated or discarded by their original owner or user.

There are primarily four methods to manage e-waste. These methods can’t give the
guarantee of reducing e-waste by 100% but somehow can condense it and save the
environment. These five methods are repair, reuse, reduce and recycle. Repair is the most
common method and is another way to look at reusing is to repair a broken item. Breathe
new life into the item and could provide several more years of service. Reuse is another
popular method where instead of throwing unwanted item away, they can be put to reuse
by donation to someone who needs it.
 23

GENRAL SCHEME OF CHAPTERIZATION

Chapter 1 - ELECTRONIC WASTE - DEFINITION

Due to the speedy advancements in technology at every single breath we take, it becomes
very difficult to give a very precise definition of ‘e-waste’ as it could range from the most
uncommon thing to the most common thing we use in our daily life cycle. Even then
several definitions have been proposed so far. E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016
defines e-waste as “any electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part discarded as
waste by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing,
refurbishment and repair processes”. This definition seems to be an inclusive one as it
includes all sorts of electronic components.
This definition could be equated by the one proposed by European Union (EU) Directives
which attempts to explain “waste electrical and electronic equipment” (WEEE) as “an
electrical or electronic equipment which is a waste including all components, sub-
assemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding”.

On the other hand, Basel Action Network (BAN) tried to define the term ‘E-waste’ more
expansively as it uses the term “wide and developing” and it is comprehensive in nature.
It explains the range of E waste which goes from large appliances to consumables ones.
 24

Therefore, the definition highlights and include the imminent technological evolutions.
As per BAN, “E-waste includes a wide and developing range of electronic appliances
ranging from large household appliances, such as refrigerators, air-conditioners, cell
phones, stereo systems and consumable electronic items to computers discarded by their
users”. This definition is an illustrative definition as it put forth various instances so as to
paint a clearer picture.

Further, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) put forth the shortest and the most exhaustive
definitions so far. UNEP defines ‘E-waste’ as “any electrically powered appliance that
fails to satisfy the current owner for its originally intended purpose”20 and for OECD,
“any household appliance consuming electricity that has reached its end of life is E-
waste.”21 The use of the word ‘any’ in the definitions makes them very extensive,
practical and suitable for the needs of the present as well as future because it is open to
interpretation and is too broad to include anything and everything that uses electricity.

Lastly, it can be concluded that E-waste is an electronic appliance or electrical equipment

which has been discarded and is of no use. E-waste includes everything that uses
electricity in one way or other. For instance, computers, mobile phones, printers,
chargers, televisions, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.
 25

Chapter 2 - ELECTRONIC WASTE: EVOLUTION OF LAW

This issue remained insidious and overlooked for a very long time. Up until very
recently, no proper estimate was available to determine the amount of E-waste generated
neither at a global level nor at national level. The first development at International level
emerged at 1989 when the Basel Convention4 came into existence, the purpose of which
was to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations and specifically to
prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs).
The Convention also ensures environmentally sound management of toxic and hazardous
waste and assist LDCs for the same. Basel Convention had an indirect application on
electronic waste due to the presence of toxic and hazardous materials till then. The Basel
Convention started to address e-waste issues in 2002 through the adoption of The Mobile
Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI). After which the Nairobi Declaration was adopted
which gave a mandate to the Secretariat to implement the environmentally sound
management of e-waste.
7

6
E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016
7
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal,
usually known as the Basel Convention, 1989, available at:
https://www.basel.int/portals/4/basel%20convention/docs/text/baselconventiontext-e.pdf

The Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI) was adopted by the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
to the Basel Convention in 2002, available at:
http://www.basel.int/Implementation/TechnicalAssistance/Partnerships/MPPI/Overview/tabid/3268/Default.asp x

The Nairobi Declaration on the Environmentally Sound Management of Electrical and Electronic Waste. It was
adopted in Eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of
 26

Parallely, at national level, the Environment Protection Act (EPA) came into being in
1986 for protection and improvement of the environment and the prevention of hazards to
human beings, other living creatures, plants and property in the wake of Bhopal Gas
Tragedy. This Act being umbrella legislation dealt indirectly with e-waste as it deals with
hazardous substance.Soon after that, the first comprehensive Rules to deal with
hazardous wastes were issued by the Central Government9, in July 1989, called the
Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1989, framed under the enabling
provisions of EPA, 1986. However, the 1989 Rules suffered from certain inherent
limitations. Therefore, the rules have been amended later in the years 2000, 2003 and
with final notification of the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and
Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008.10

Meanwhile, a Private Member introduced ‘The Electronic Waste (Handling and

Disposal) Bill’ in 2005 in Parliament of India which lapsed in July 2010.This bill rightly
criticized the improper way of disposal of electronic waste which is hazardous to human
health and environment and called for a regulation for the same.Therefore, to deal with
this ever growing concern of disposal and recycling of electronic waste, Ministry of
Environment, forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), for the first time, notified a set of
rules known as Electronic waste (management and handling) Rules in 2011 under section
6 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.These rules were transported in to tackle the
safe and environment friendly management, transporting, storing, recycling of e-waste
and also to diminish the usage of hazardous substances during manufacturing of electrical
and electronic equipment.

Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal in Nairobi in 2006, available at:
http://www.basel.int/portals/4/basel%20convention/docs/meetings/cop/cop8/nairobideclaration.pdf

Art. 21 of Indian Constitution imposes a duty on the state to protect the life and liberty of the people. The concept
of this article has been broadened by judicial pronouncements. In the case of Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar,
(1991) 1 SCC 598, it was held that ‘right to life’ includes the right to have pollution-free water and air. Through this
case the right to a wholesome environment as part of the Fundamental Right was recognized. 8 EPA provides for
definition of E-waste in s. 2(e) - "hazardous substance" means any substance or preparation which, by reason of its
chemical or physico-chemical properties or handling, is liable to cause harm to human beings, other living
creatures, plant, micro-organism, property or the environment.
 27

E-waste rules were later revised in 2016 and became E waste (management) Rules, 2016.
For the first time, the concept of ‘Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)’ was also
introduced which made manufacturers liable for safe disposal of electronic goods. The E-
Waste Management Rules, 2016 have lately been modified by the Centre; vide
notification G. S. R. 261 (E)14, dated 22nd March, 2018 to expedite effective
implementation of the environmentally sound management of e-waste and it also
amended the collection targets under EPR provision.

On the other hand, Judiciary has played an equally important role in the development of
environmental jurisprudence in India while protecting the environment from the very
beginning. Judiciary has given many landmark judgments related to protection of
environment and also embarked upon the Right to life and accorded a wider
interpretation to include right to healthy environment.15 However, Judiciary has not dealt
with the punitive issues related to electronic waste which results in a legal vacuum. This
gives one an insight into the significance given to this issue in India. So far there is no
data on the convictions under EPA related to electronic waste which has been discussed
in detail in the latter part. Judiciary at different levels has dealt with very few issues
related to e-waste mostly related to customs16 and impact of electronic waste on
environment and human health.

8
Art. 48- A and art. 51-A (g) of Indian Constitution puts a duty on the State as well as the citizens of India to protect
and conserve the environment.

Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008, available at:
http://cpcb.nic.in/displaypdf.php?id=aHdtZC9taHRydWxlczIwMDgucGRm

It was introduced by Shri Vijay J. Darda, who is a Member of Parliament from Maharashtra in 2005.

Rajya Sabha of India, Report by research unit on E waste in India (June, 2011), available at:
https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/publication_electronic/E-Waste_in_india.pdf. (last visited on December 27, 2018).

S. 6 of EPA, 1986 - Rules to regulate environment pollution- (1) The Central Government may, by notification in the
Official Gazette, make rules in respect of all or any of the matters referred to in s. 3.
 28

Chapter 3 - Nature and Composition of Electronic Waste

E-waste normally comprises of diverse materials and some of them are valuable and
some are potentially toxic materials. Consequently, E waste can be broadly divided into
two categories of hazardous and non-hazardous depending on multiple factors such as the
type of electronic device, the model, manufacturer, date of manufacture, and the age of
the scrap.

Largely, any electronic equipment consists of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics,
glass, wood and plywood, printed circuit boards, concrete, ceramics, rubber and other
items. A proper classification has been shown through a pie chart below. Non-ferrous
metals consist of metals like copper, aluminum and precious metals like silver, gold,
platinum, palladium and so on. For instance, a mobile phone contains more than 40
elements, base metals such as copper (Cu) and tin (Sn); special metals such as lithium
(Li) cobalt (Co), indium (In), and antimony (Sb); and precious metals such as silver (Ag),
gold (Au), and palladium (Pd). Circuit boards found in most of the electronic devices
may contain arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), and
other toxic chemicals.

E-waste turns out to be hazardous in nature because of its certain composition and
presence of elements like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, hexavalent
chromium, and flame retardants including polybrominated biphenyls, polyvinyl chloride,
polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers beyond threshold

E waste (management) amendment rules, 2018, available at:

http://cpcb.nic.in/uploads/Projects/EWaste/ewaste_amendment_notification_06.04.2018.pdf (last visited on
December 27, 2018).
 29

quantities. These substances which are potentially toxic and hazardous in nature can
create irremediable harm to the environment as well as human health upon improper
disposal. For instance, the Cobalt-60 radiation incident in Mayapuri, Delhi which led to
radiation poisoning and consequent death of an individual.

E-wastes are very precarious and hazardous in nature which is why they demand
specialized waste disposal mechanisms and shouldn’t be dealt with by conventional
waste disposal. For instance, obsolete computers pose the most significant environmental
and health hazard among the e-wastes.

The basic composition of an electronic or electrical equipment

9
UNEP, Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics, Sustainable Consumption & Production Branch, EWaste
Management, available at: http://www.unep.fr/scp/waste/ewm/faq.htm (last visited on January 3, 2019).

G. Gaidajis, K. Angelakoglou and D. Aktsoglou, “E-waste: Environmental Problems and Current Management”, 3
JESTR 193-199 (2010), available at: http://www.jestr.org/downloads/volume3/fulltext342010.pdf (last visited on
January 3, 2019)

Daniel Mmereki and Liu Hong, “The Generation, Composition, Collection, Treatment and Disposal System, and
Impact of E-Waste” in Florin-Constantin Mihai, E-Waste in Transition: From Pollution to Resource (In Tech Open,
2016), available at: https://www.intechopen.com/books/e-waste-in-transition-from-pollution-toresource/the-
generation-composition-collection-treatment-and-disposal-system-and-impact-of-e-waste (last visited on January
4, 2019). 23 Amit Jain, “Global e-waste growth” in Rakesh Johri, E-waste: Implications, regulations and
management in India and current global best practices 3 (TERI, New Delhi, 2008).

Liu Q, Li KQ, et.al., “The global challenge of electronic waste management” 16 ESPR 248-249 (2009).
 30

Chapter 4 - IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC WASTE

It is highly imperative that e-waste gets recycled in a safe, appropriate, and efficient
manner. Conversely, the scenario in most developing countries like India is quite
unsettling. The reasons for this situation is poor infrastructure, lack of awareness and
ineffective implementation of legislation, as a very small percentage of the total e-waste
generated gets recycled in India. Most of the electronic waste is being sold as scrap and is
further smashed, dismantled and recycled by the informal sector.

Currently, a majority of e-waste in India is being managed by the large organized

informal sector which does not have the adequate means or awareness to deal with E-
Waste appropriately. Informal sector indulges essentially in manual dismantling where
they end up in open burning to recover precious materials used in E-waste, and open
dumping of residual. This manual recycling process by the informal sector is often known
as “backyard recycling syndrome”, which is prevalent in almost all the developing
countries to an extent. Moreover, the materials which are retrieved from E-wastes are
often re-sold and re-exported to other countries. Therefore, this in turn leads to
ineffective e-waste management which actually causes huge damage to the environment
as well as human health. It has been noticed that informal recycling is the most pressing
environmental issue associated with e-waste due to inherent dangers of toxicity.

10

The Basel Action Network (BAN) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), Exporting Harm: The HighTech
Thrashing of Asia, February 25, 2002. 26 Supra note 3.
10
F.O. Ongondo, I.D. Williams and T.J. Cherrett, How are WEEE doing? A global review of the management of
electrical and electronic wastes, Waste Management, Volume 31, Issue 4, April 2011, available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X10005659 (last visited on January 6, 2019).

Eric Williams, Ramzy Kahhat and Braden Allenby, “Environmental, Social and Economic implications of Global
Reuse and Recycling of Personal Computers” 42 IJEST 6446-54 (2008).
 31

The organized informal sector extract and recover valuable materials from E-waste with
the use of the primitive tools and methods of extraction such as open burning of plastic
waste, exposure to toxic solders, and acid baths. It has been reported that about 95
percent of electronic waste in India is treated and processed in urban slums, where
untrained workers carry out practices unsafe for human and environmental health as it
results in the pollution of the land, air, and water. Seelampur is the largest informal sector
of e-waste dismantling in India. Mandoli, a region near Delhi is a similar place where e-
waste burning takes place.

Accidental leakages and evaporation of these substances occur at the electronic wastes
dumping sites. As a result, most of these salvageable materials escape into the soil,
polluting big areas of lands and making them unhealthy for farming. Moreover, metals
such as mercury, cadmium and lead, which are usually discovered in device circuit
boards, may percolate into groundwater, triggering devastating health issues. First-hand
reports of the Alaba Computer Village in Lagos, Nigeria, disclosed lead, mercury,
cadmium, arsenic, antimony trioxide, polybrominated flame retardants, and selenium,
chromium, and cobalt contents in soil samples at rates far greater than usual.

There are numerous health effects also of these crude methods of disposal of E-waste.
For instance, reports have shown that continued contact and exposure to these hazardous
materials of E-wastes ends in negative birth consequences, cancer, long-term and
permanent neurologic damage, and end-organ disease of the thyroid, lungs, liver, and
kidneys. It has been reported by the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at
Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi that extreme level of lead, mercury and
chromium is discovered in the bodies of these recyclers and dismantlers. This
subsequently has a bearing on their bodies and results in damage to the respiratory,
 32

urinary and digestive systems. It also damages the immune system and have been
associated to certain kinds of cancer. Therefore, the need of the hour is proper handling
of electronic wastes to avert human suffering and in the foreseeable future, the long-term
degradation of our environment and ecosystem is averted as well.

11

11
V. Ranganathan, “Health hazards caused by unorganized e-waste disposal” (June, 2018), available at:
https://yourstory.com/2018/06/unorganised-e-waste-disposal-dangers/ (last visited on January 7, 2019).

Miles Park, “Electronic waste is recycled in appalling conditions in India” The Conversation, Feb 15, 2019, available
at: https://theconversation.com/electronic-waste-is-recycled-in-appalling-conditions-in-india-110363 (last visited
on February 16, 2019).

Kurian Joseph, “Electronic Waste Management in India–Issues and Strategies”, Proceedings of the Eleventh
International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium, Italy (October 2007), available at: http://
www.swlf.ait.ac.th/UpdData/International/NRIs/Electronic%20waste%20management%20in%20India.pdf (last
visited on January 8, 2019).

V Ranganathan, “The Electronic Menace: Why E-waste is a Major Concern Today”, Entrepreneur (December, 2018),
available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/324789 (last visited on January 9, 2019).

Olagbaju Abioye, “Electronic Waste Management in Nigeria: A Great Challenge”, 3 IULR 84 (2003).
Xijin Xu, Yulin Zhou, et.al., “Birth outcomes related to informal e-waste recycling in Guiyu, China” 33 Reproduction
Toxicology 94-98 (2012
 33

CHAPTER 5 - E-WASTE PROBLEM IN INDIA

India ranks 177 amongst 180 countries and is amongst the bottom five countries on the
Environmental Performance Index 2018, as per a report released at the World Economic
Forum 2018. This was linked to poor performance in the environment health policy and
deaths due to air pollution categories. Also, India is ranked fifth in the world amongst top
e-waste producing countries after the USA, China, Japan, and Germany and recycles less
than 2 per cent of the total e-waste it produces annually formally. Since 2018, India
generates more than two million tonnes of e-waste annually, and also imports huge
amounts of e-waste from other countries around the world. Dumping in open dumpsites is
a common sight which gives rise to issues such as groundwater contamination, poor
health, and more. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM) and KPMG study, Electronic Waste Management in India identified that
computer equipment account for almost 70 per cent of e-waste, followed by
telecommunication equipment phones (12 per cent), electrical equipment (8 per cent),
and medical equipment (7 per cent) with remaining from household e-waste.

E-waste collection, transportation, processing, and recycling is dominated by the informal

sector. The sector is well networked and unregulated. Often, all the materials and value
that could be potentially recovered is not recovered. In addition, there are serious issues
regarding leakages of toxins into the environment and workers’ safety and health.

Seelampur in Delhi is the largest e-waste dismantling centre of India. Adults as well as
children spend 8–10 hours daily extracting reusable components and precious metals like
copper, gold and various functional parts from the devices. E-waste recyclers use
processes such as open incineration and acid-leeching. This situation could be improved
by creating awareness and improving the infrastructure of recycling units along with the
 34

prevalent policies. The majority of the e-waste collected in India is managed by an

unorganized sector.

Also, informal channels of recycling/reuse of electronics such as repair shops, used

product dealers, e-commerce portal vendors collect a significant proportion of the
discarded electronics for reuse and cannibalization of parts and components.

Impact of Recycling E-Waste in Developing World

Almost all e-wastes contain some form of recyclable material, including plastic, glass,
and metals; however, due to improper disposal methods and techniques these materials
cannot be retrieved for other purposes. If e-waste is dismantled and processed in a crude
manner, its toxic constituents can wreak havoc on the human body. Processes such as
dismantling components, wet chemical processing, and incineration are used to dispose
the waste and result in direct exposure and inhalation of harmful chemicals. Safety
equipment such as gloves and face masks are not widely used, and workers often lack the
knowledge and experience required to carry out their jobs properly. In addition to this,
manual extraction of toxic metals leads to entering of dangerous material in the
bloodstream of the individual doing so. The health hazards range from kidney and liver
damage to neurological disorders. Recycling of e-waste scrap is polluting the water, soil,
and the air. Burning to retrieve metal from wires and cables has led to the emission of
brominated and chlorinated dioxins as well as carcinogens which pollute the air and,
thereby, cause cancer in humans and animals. Toxic chemicals that have no economic
value are simply dumped during the recycling process. These toxic chemicals leach into
underground aquifer thereby degrading the local groundwater quality and rendering the
water unfit for human consumption as well as agricultural purposes. When e-waste is
dumped in landfills, the lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and PCBs make the soil toxic
and unfit for agricultural purposes. Very recent studies on recycling of e-waste has
pointed towards increasing concentrations of PCBs, dioxins and furans, plasticizers,
bisphenol-A (BPA), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and heavy metals in the
surface soil of the four metro cities of India, that is, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and
 35

Chennai where e-waste is being processed by the informal sectors (Chakraborty et al.,
2018 and 2019). In those studies, it has been observed that the sites engaged in metal
recovery processes are the prime sites for such persistent toxic substances. Studies from
the same group also reported that the persistent organic pollutants produced or released
during the recycling process are escaping in the ambient air due to their semi-volatile
nature.

It is estimated that 50 million tonnes of e-waste was generated globally in 2018. Half of
this is personal devices such as computers, screens, smartphones, tablets, and TVs, with
the remainder being larger household appliances and heating and cooling equipment.
 36

Chapter 6 - PENAL PROVISIONS DEALING WITH ELECTRONIC

WASTE

It is a well-known fact that the environmental quality is dwindling at a very fast pace due
to such informal, unplanned and untrained treatment of E-wastes. And as has been
discussed earlier, various reasons could be assigned for such deterioration. But one
significant cause for such environmental degradation due to E-wastes is the inability of
the law to deter violators. In many countries there are now legislations and statutes in
place specifically to deter such crimes. In India also many environmental legislations and
the rules are there which are dealing with E-waste either directly or indirectly. Such
legislations have, inopportunely, not resulted in preventing environmental dilapidation as
penal provisions in environmental laws dealing with electronic wastes are weak, lenient,
hard to impose, and unlikely to affect ‘business as usual’. The situation is aggravated by
other problems like slow justice delivery system, poor monitoring and enforcement
capacity of regulators, and lack of comprehensive databases to evidence violations,
among others.
12
There are various legislations/rules dealing with E-wastes in environmental laws either
directly and indirectly, to name a few are –
1. Electronic waste (management) Amendment rules, 2018.
2. Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules,
2016.
3. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

12
Kirsten Zeller, “E-Waste: A Burden on Human Health and our Ecosystem Alike” Reset (2013), available at:
https://en.reset.org/blog/e-waste-burden-human-health-and-our-ecosystem-alike (last visited on January 9, 2019).

Image is depicting the harmful impact of burning, available at: https://www.slideshare.net/blaznrunners/ewaste-

management (last visited on January 9, 2019). 37 Refer next chapter of this research paper.
 37

4. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

5. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974

Out of these legislations and legal provisions, only few legislations provide for penal
provisions to deal with the menace produced by improper disposal of electronic waste.
Improper disposal like burning and segregating electronic waste in open areas and not in
the manner which environmentally sound causes leakage in the environment which
results in pollution to the air, water and soil. This action of pollution attracts the
application of legislations discussed above.

The most important legislation directly dealing with electronic waste is the Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986 in which three penal provisions are given i.e., section 15, 16 and
17. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 is an umbrella act and E waste rules are the
product of EPA only. Therefore, penal provisions of EPA directly apply to the E waste
rules as well. In fact, section 15 clearly mentions that it provides for the contravention of
the provisions of the Act, rules, orders and even directions passed under EPA.
Section 15 deals with the liability of individuals, section 1639 created the liability of the
companies Provision to deal with the electronic waste is section 15, which prescribes for
imprisonment for a term which may extent to five years or with fine which may extend to
one lakh rupees, or with both. In case of failure, additional fine can be imposed up to five
thousand rupees.
Other legislations dealing with E-wastes indirectly are the Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The
Air Act consists of five penal provisions which are section 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 and
along with these provisions section 21, 22 and 31A are of immense importance.

13

13
Environment Protection Act, 1986 “S. 15 - Penalty for contravention of the provisions of the Act and the rules,
orders and directions. (1) Whoever fails to comply with or contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, or the
rules made or orders or directions issued thereunder, shall, in respect of each such failure or contravention, be
 38

Section 37, 38 and 39 deals with individual liability and seeks to punish a person who
fails to comply with the provisions of section 21 and 22 of the Act and directions issued
under section 31A of the Act. Section 40 is meant to create liability on the part of the
companies and section 41 is meant to create liability of the government departments.

Similarly, the Water Act has seven penal provisions and they are section 41, 42, 43, 44,
45 A, 47 and 48 and along with these provisions, section 20(2), 20 (3), 24, 26, 32(1)(c),
33(2) and 33 A are important too as they are made the basis of several offences under the
Act. These provisions have an implied application as improper dismantling and recycling
of the electronic wastes result in the contamination and pollution of the Air as well as
Water.
Section 37 of the Air Act prescribes for an imprisonment for a term not less than one year
and six months but which may extend to six years and with fine, and an additional fine
which may extend to five thousand rupees in case of failure. In fact, the maximum
punishment prescribed is two to seven years of imprisonment and fine. Here, in
comparison to EPA a minimum amount of punishment has been prescribed.

On the other hand, the situation is much worse with section 41 of the Water Act as it
prescribes for even lesser degree of punishment and penalty i.e. imprisonment for a term
which may extend to three months or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees
only. The maximum punishment ranges from two to six years only here as well.

Section 37 of the Air Act, 1981 and section 41 of Water Act, 1974 are the most
important penal provisions and are based on the same footing as the provision relating to
penalty has been provided in section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or with fine which may extend to one
lakh rupees, or with both, and in case the failure or contravention continues, with additional fine which may
extend to five thousand rupees for every day during which such failure or contravention continues after the
conviction for the first such failure or contravention
 39

Now if one would look at these provisions critically, one would find various ambiguities
within these provisions. First, the penalty and punishment provided in section 15 of EPA,
37 of the Air Act and 41 of the Water Act provides for is neither stringent nor strict.
Rather the penalty seems to be very lenient one looking to present day gigantic problem
of environment pollution. The quantum of pecuniary penalization that has been
contemplated under this law also doesn’t seem to be rigorous enough for the present time.
Rather, the proportionality of the penalization in case of violation of this law should be
subjective in nature. It should be decided on a case to case basis keeping in background
the degrading impact that these informal recycling activities have on the environment.
This is also not in consonance with the “Polluter Pays Principle” of International
Environmental Law, which states that the polluter should pay in proportion to the damage
caused to the environment.

The degree of discretion given in all the penal provisions dealing with environmental
degradation is also one of loopholes that can be easily identified. As the language of
section 15 of EPA only suggests that the imprisonment is extendable to five years or with
fine which may extend to one lakh rupees, is extremely discretionary. Section 16 and 17
of EPA also shows higher degree of discretions is in hands of judges as the text of the
legislation says that the offenders should be punished accordingly. In all the penal
provisions of EPA and Water Act no minimum amount of punishment has been
prescribed. In Air Act minimum amount of punishment has been prescribed but it is very
less and rarely awarded. Consequently, these penalty provisions don’t result in significant
deterrence for the defaulters.

Secondly, the terminologies used in the statutes are not clear in establishing the
culpability of a person as the penal provisions lack clarity in the determination of mens
rea which is important for courts for punishing a person. For instance, provisions of EPA
nowhere use clear terminology to imply the degree of mens rea attached to a particular
offence. Section 15 uses the term “whoever fails to comply” only, which nowhere
 40

includes the terms like intention/knowledge/negligence to indicate the degree of mens

rea. Further, section 16 in its sub-section (1) again isn’t clear with mens rea part and
seems more like a strict liability offence than a criminal conduct on a plain reading.

But the proviso brings back the element of mens rea through the words “without his
knowledge”. Furthermore, section 17 again lacks clarity in the determination of mens rea.
Same is the situation with other legislations as well as they have all been drafted on the
same lines.

Thirdly, the legislations prescribe no minimum amount of punishment and use common
phrase i.e. “shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly”. This leaves
a place for ambiguous interpretation as to decide whether an offence is cognizable or
non-cognizable.

Fourthly, one of the most important aspects of criminal law which sets the process of
criminal justice in motion is missing. The individual victims of pollution and health
hazards produced by mishandling of electronic waste cannot file an FIR against the
accused persons. Therefore, cognizance of offence can only be taken by the central
government or any authority or officer authorized in this behalf by that Government. In a
case when an individual has to file a complaint, he has to give a notice of not less than
sixty days, in the manner prescribed, of the alleged offence and of his intention to make a
complaint, to the Central Government or the authority or officer authorised. This makes
the complaint mechanism complex and often delayed due to lack of motivation among
the concerned authorities. It also results in discouragement among the people to take up
such matters to the concerned authorities and ultimately produces a hindrance in creation
of environment-sensitive surroundings.

Fifthly, the pollution control boards (PCBs) which deal with air and water pollution were
created only in the 1970s. They do not have execution officers, no means to address
grievances and have no policing roles. They just issue permits. In most cases, the PCBs
 41

just issue a show-cause notice to the entities concerned, and do not register cases with the
magistrate. This is why the data does not represent the real extent of such crimes.

These arguments could be substantiated by a critical analysis of the report of National

Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) of 2016, which shows the cases reported under EPA,
Air Act and Water Act in environment related offences. The report categorically shows
how many environments related offences were reported out of which how many were
investigated and how many are still pending. As per the report, number of cases which
were reported and even investigated under EPA, Water Act and Air Act are the lowest in
all environment related legislations when the real state of the environment continues to be
gloomy. This could be interpreted in following ways- 1) higher degree of discretions
provided in the provisions 2) poor implementation 3) under reporting of cases of
pollution 4) inadequate coverage of laws.
One can’t rely on this report completely as there are few limitations of this report. This
report doesn’t provide for detailed information as in how many cases were reported in a
particular provision of legislation. Also, there is no data on cases reported under
electronic waste rules as such, which is a shortcoming of this report and is only helpful to
an extent. In comparison to other legislations a very limited attention has been given to
the offences related to environmental crimes. This only manifests the gravity and
weightage given to environmental matters in India when these matters need immediate
attention.
On the other hand, on analysis of the rules dealing with E-wastes, few loopholes can be
identified. To start with, E-waste rules talks about only manufacturers, producers,
collection centers, dealers, refurbishes, recyclers, dismantlers and consumers. Further, it
provides for the mechanism of the collection and channelization of E-wastes through
these stakeholders and tries to enforce a duty upon them to recycle the waste in an
environmentally sound manner. But at the same time, the rules miserably defines the term
“environmentally sound manner”. Moreover, the rules don’t blatantly address the issue of
 42

recycling and dismantling done by the informal sector which is recycling 90 percent of
the electronic wastes.
14

Further, the rules put forth a mandate of seeking an authorization from the concerned
State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) for all the facilities to work and about extended
producer’s responsibility (EPR). Therefore, technically speaking these rules seem to
cover only the formal sector working for recycling of electronic waste. Though, in reality,
formal sector doesn’t really exist. The informal sector which actually exists and is doing
majorly all the work related to the recycling and dismantling of electronic wastes is being
ignored here.
There are no provisions delegating a duty upon the State authorities to provide for proper
infrastructures as well as awareness and skill trainings to these informal sectors.
Moreover, no penal provision or penalty could be imposed on these unofficial and
informal workers as they have been ignored very conveniently. And this is the lacunae of
the rules as well as the only piece of legislation concerning this subject matter.

The above analysis of the offences under the subject statutes provides a very simple
conclusion that all the pollution control laws are neither clear nor effective.

15

14
National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB) of 2016
15
Ministry of Home Affairs of India, Report by National Crime Records Bureau on Crime in India (2016), available at:
http://ncrb.gov.in/StatPublications/CII/CII2016/pdfs/NEWPDFs/Crime%20in%20India%20- %202016%20Complete
%20PDF%20291117.pdf (last visited on January 20, 2019).
 43

 Penal Provisions in IPC dealing with E-waste

The different provisions were enacted during British rule to deal with environmental
crimes and deterioration. At that time there was no specific law to deal with protection of
environment for which many reasons could be allocated like low rate of awareness, less
hazards to environment, less pressure on environment due to less population and
industrialization, etc. Also, earlier environment protection was a part of religious practice
for which moral injunctions were imposed.

Later, Indian Penal Code (IPC) was enacted in 1860. Chapter XIV48 of IPC has various
provisions dealing with offences related to pollution of environment and some of these
provisions can be applied to pollution by electronic wastes also. For instance, sections
268, 269, 270, 277, 278, 284 and 290 deals with offences relating to public health and
safety and are applicable to E-wastes also to an extent.
Public Nuisance has been defined in section 268 as:
"A person is guilty of a public nuisance who does any act or is guilty of illegal omission
which causes any common injury, danger or annoyance to the public or to the people in
general who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity, or which must necessarily cause
injury, obstruction, danger, or annoyance to persons who may have occasion to use any
public right.”
The section further explains that a common nuisance is not excused on the ground that it
causes some convenience or advantage. The public nuisance covers all types of pollutions
i.e. pollution of land, water, air, noise pollution etc. This provision could very well be

S. 3(1)(O) of Electronic waste (management) Amendment rules, 2018 – “environmentally sound management of e-
waste' means taking all steps required to ensure that e-waste is managed in a manner which shall protect health
and environment against any adverse effects, which may result from such e-waste.
 44

applied to the pollution produced by open burning and dumping of electronic waste and
exposure of electronic waste to toxic solders and acid baths.
16

As regards water pollution, section 277 provides that:

“whoever voluntarily corrupt or fouls the water of any public spring or reservoir so as to
render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, shall be punished with
simple or rigorous imprisonment for a term extending to three months or fine of five
hundred rupees or with both.”

Section 269 of I.P.C. also could be invoked against a water polluter. The section
provides-
“whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has
reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life,
shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
six months, or with fine, or with both.” There are similar other sections as well which are
applicable to electronic waste.”

Unlike environmental laws mentioned above these provisions state the element of mens
rea in a very clear and concise manner. Also, all these provisions are cognizable which
gives power to the police officers to take an action voluntarily. It authorizes individuals
also to file an FIR in case of violation of any of the provision.

Yet, the number of complaints regarding environmental issue filed under these provisions
is very low like in environmental laws. As per a little survey done by this research paper,
around 400 cases were scanned which were filed under above stated provisions. Out of
these 400 cases only 8 to 10 complaints have been filed under these provisions for
environment related issues.

16
Chapter XIV - Of offences affecting the Public Health, Safety, Convenience, Decency and Morals
 45

Since the enactment of the Indian Penal Code. This essentially indicates that
environmental matters aren’t taken as seriously as other offences are. Reasons behind this
low rate of complaints are unawareness about the law and impact on environment due to
the pollution caused by mishandling of electronic waste. Also, the weak side of these
provisions is that
the penalty specified for the above cited infringements are too inadequate considering to
contemporary day enormous problem of environment pollution.
17

CHAPTER 7 - REGULATORY REGIME FOR E-WASTE

While the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000 regulates the
clearance of municipal solid wastes in an ecologically acceptable manner and the
Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling & Trans boundary) Rules, 2003 define and
regulate all aspects of the perilous waste, there are no precise ecological laws for the
management and clearance of e-waste. None of the existing ecological laws has any
direct reference to the electronic waste or its handling as perilous in nature. Even, there
are several provisions in these laws which have been applied to various aspects of the
electronic waste.

1. The Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2003 -

In 1986, India enacted its first comprehensive ecological law, namely, the Ecological
(Protection) Act, 1986 (EPA) after the Bhopal Gas tragedy and as a commitment under
the Stockholm Conference [5] in 1972. Section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act,
1986, gives all-encompassing powers of setting standards, laying down procedures and
supervision on the Central Government. The Rules under the EPA bestows upon the
Union Government comprehensive powers to “take all such measures as is necessary or

17
Survey was done through the help of a Research tool “Manupatra”. At manupatra one can find all the case laws
filed under a particular section/provision.
 46

expedient for the purposes of protecting and improving the quality of environment and
preventing, controlling and abating ecological pollution.”

In furtherance to the execution of the objectives of the EPA, the Hazardous Waste
(Management and Handling) Rules were enacted in 1989. It was felt that it was essential
to have a dividing line between waste and by-artifact streams. These Rules were amended
in the year 2000 primarily to bring them in line with the Basel Convention. The
amendment made in the Rules in the year 2000 classified the waste by method of waste
generation (Schedule-I) and as per their characteristics (Schedule-II). Classification of
waste by method of waste generation covers the perilous wastes generated in the diverse
industrial methods used and method variants. Thus, 44 categories were identified
comprising 148 waste streams in Schedule-I and 79 types of wastes in Schedule-II. The
amendment made in the Rules in the year 2003 streamlined the list of methods/ waste
streams in Schedule-I. Thereby, the number of industrial methods generating perilous
waste was reduced from 44 to 36 and the number of waste streams from 148 to 123. The
Schedule-II was essentially left unaltered.

Bringing further amendments to the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling)

Rules, 1989, the draft amendment Rules, 2002 were notified as The Hazardous Wastes
(Management and Handling) Rules, 2003 on 20 May 2003. Since e-waste or its
constituents fall under the category of perilous and non-perilous waste, they have been
covered under its purview. As per the Rules, perilous waste is defined as any waste which
by reason of any of its physical, chemical, reactive, noxious, flammable, explosive or
corrosive characteristics causes danger or is probable to cause danger to health or
environment, whether alone or when in contact with other wastes or compounds.

2. The Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement)

Rules, 2008
In its Endeavour to frame appropriate law for e-waste, the Central Government drafted
the Hazardous Material (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules,
 47

2007 to prohibit cross-border movement of perilous waste as envisioned by the Basel

Convention, to which India is a signatory. On 24 September 2008, these Rules were
notified as the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary
Movement) Rules, 2008 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in supersession of
the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989 except in respect of
things done or omitted to be done before such supersession. Supersession rules include
directions for appropriate management and handling of perilous wastes together with
electrical and electronic wastes. As per these Rules, every person desirous of
remanufacturing or reprocessing perilous waste together with electronics and electrical
waste is required to register with the Central Pollution Control Board. The units handling
e-waste are required to register with the CPCB.

Under the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement)

Rules, 2008, the Ministry of Environment and Forests is the nodal Ministry to deal with
the cross-border movement of the perilous wastes and to grant permission for transit of
the perilous wastes in the course of any part of India. It has placed trade-in of perilous
waste items fewer than three categories i.e., compounds that can be trade-in with prior
approval, free imports under Open General License and compounds which are prohibited
for import in India. The first category includes metal and metal bearing wastes of
antimony, lead, galvanic sludge and waste lead acid batteries whole or crushed. An
importer is required to have a license from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. The
list in the second category comprises resources such as iron, steel, zinc scrap, lead scrap
except lead acid batteries waste of copper and its alloys. The wastes listed in this category
are traded under Open General License. The third category prohibits trade-in of waste
containing mercury, beryllium, arsenic, selenium, thallium, chromium compounds etc. as
given in Schedule VI.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has constituted a Coordination

Committee to oversee the execution of the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling
 48

and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, 2008. The Committee consists of the

representatives from the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), Ministry of
Commerce and Industry (DGFT), Ministry of Shipping, CPCB and selected State
Pollution Control Boards and experts.

3. The E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011-

Considering it necessary in the public interest to enable the resurgence or reuse of useful
material from e-waste, thereby reducing the perilous wastes destined for clearance, and to
make sure the ecologically effective management of all types of waste electrical and
electronic tool, the Government introduced the draft E-waste (Management and
Handling) Rules, 2010 [10]. After inviting objections or suggestions from the
stakeholders, the Ministry of Environment & Forests has finalized the draft modified e-
waste (Management and Handling), Rules 2010 in September 2010 and put it on their
website. These Rules have come into force with effect from 1 January 2012 and
implemented in the course of the State Governments or State Pollution Control Boards.
Meanwhile the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry
functioning under the jurisdiction of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, has exclusively taken up
the subject of electronic wastes and Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).It
has heard the Secretary, MSME on the draft rules in its Meeting held on 20 December
2010. It was felt by the Committee that the views of the MSME on the aforementioned
rules are important as hefty numbers of medium enterprises are involved in the
management and remanufacturing of e-waste. The committee envisaged all
recommendations from MSME in its report and submitted. Finally, we got the much
awaited specific law on e-waste in India so as to control e-waste problem and to provide
for its disposal.

4. Criticism of the e-waste rules, 2011

Even, the Rules on e-waste management framed by the Government have been criticized
on several grounds by various ecological groups. First and foremost, it ignores the
 49

unorganized and small and medium sectors where 90 percent of the e-waste is generated.
The law currently does not facilitate for any plan to rehabilitate those involved in
informal remanufacturing. The Electronics Industry Association of India (ELCINA) with
the support of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of
Science & Technology, studied the status and impending of e-waste management in India
in February 2009. Their findings proved that a symbiotic relationship between the formal
and the informal segment was crucial. It said:

“The informal segment’s role in assortment, segregation and dismantling of e-waste

needs to be nurtured to complement the formal remanufacturers as supply chain partners.
They should take on the higher know-how remanufacturing methods.”

The assortment and segregation and dismantling of e-waste is not perilous and the
methods are efficiently carried out by the informal segment because mainly the e-waste
can be refurbished and sold as second hand. The extraction of expensive metals is the
perilous method, which should be left for the formal segment. Secondly, the Rules also
do not detail the industry model for assortment of e-waste from end-users. The
legislations enacted by the Government cover generation, storage, transportation and
clearance of perilous waste except do not propose a streamlined assortment mechanism.
Never the less, other nations on e-waste have sought the participation and involvement of
manufacturers as they are best equipped to address the solutions to the complex
composition of such goods .

5. E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 -

Looking to growing problems of e-waste, the Central Government in the exercise of the
powers provided under Sections 6, 8 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
has notified these rules. E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 supersede the E-Waste
(Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. It consists of 24 rules divided in Six Chapters
and four Schedules. The rules aims to enables the recovery and/or reuse of useful
 50

material from ewaste, thereby reducing the hazardous wastes destined for disposal and to
ensure the environmentally sound management of all types of waste of electrical and
electronic equipment. These rules shall come into force from 1st October, 2016. These
rules shall apply to every Producer, Consumer and Bulk Consumer, Manufacturer,
collection centers, dealers, e-retailer, re-furbisher, dismantler and recycler involved in the
manufacture, sale, purchase and processing of electrical and electronic equipment,
including their components, consumables, parts and spares which make the product
operational but shall not apply to-
a. Used lead acid batteries as covered under the Batteries (Management and
Handling) Rules,
2001 made under the Act;

b. Micro enterprises as defined in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Development Act, 2006 and
c. Radio-active wastes as covered under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act,
1962 (33 of 1962) and Rules made there under.

Responsibilities under the Rule of 2016

I. Responsibility of Manufacturer
A. The manufacturer shall be responsible to collect e-waste generated during the
manufacture of any electrical and electronic equipment and channelize it for
recycling or disposal.
B. The manufacturer shall ensure that no damage is caused to the environment during
storage and transportation of e-waste and also file annual returns to the concerned
State Pollution Control board before the 30th June.

II. Responsibility of Producer

 51

A. The producer shall be responsible for the collection of e-waste generated from the
„end of life‟ of their products and channelizing it for recycling or disposal. And to
ensure that such e-waste are channelized to registered dismantler or recycler.
B. The import of electrical and electronic equipment shall be allowed only to
producers having Extended Producer Responsibility-Authorization and also filing
annual returns to the Central Pollution Control Board on or before 30th June of the
financial year.
C. The producer shall also be responsible for providing contact details such as
address, telephone numbers/helpline numbers to consumer(s) or bulk consumer(s)
so as to facilitate return on fused electrical and electronics equipment.
D. Further, the producer shall be responsible to create awareness among consumers or
bulk consumers with regard to hazardous constituents, hazards of improper
handling and improper recycling of e-waste and instructions for handling the
equipment after its use along with do‟s and don‟ts.

III. Responsibilities of Collection Centers -

The collection centers are responsible to collect e-waste on behalf of producer or
dismantler or recycler or re-furbisher. The collection centre shall also ensure that
e-waste collected by them is stored in a secured manner and no damage is caused
to the environment during storage and transportation. The collection centre shall
file annual return to State Pollution Control Board on or before the 30thday of
June and also maintain the records of the e-waste.

IV. Responsibilities of Dealers

The dealer shall collect the e-waste by providing the consumer a box, bin or a
demarcated area to deposit e-waste, or through take back system and send the e-
waste so collected to collection centre or dismantler or recycler. The dealer or e-
retailer shall refund the amount as per take back system to the depositor of e-
waste; every dealer shall ensure that the e-waste thus generated is safely
 52

transported to authorized dismantlers or recyclers and no damage is caused to the

environment during storage and transportation of e-waste.

V. Others Responsibility
A. Of Re-furbisher
B. Of Consumer
C. Of Dismantler and etc.

18

CHAPTER 8 - OPPORTUNITIES OF E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN

INDIA

The Mo EFCC rolled out the E-Waste (Management) Rules 2016 to decrease e-waste
production and increase recycling. Under these rules, the Government of India introduced
EPR, which makes producers liable to collect 30% to 70% (over 7 years) of the e-waste
they produce, said the study.

The integration of the informal sector into a transparent recycling system is vital for
better control of human health and environmental impacts. There have been some
attempts toward integrating the present informal sector into the developing case.
Organisations like GIZ have developed alternative business models in guiding the
informal sector association towards authorisation. These business models promote a city-
wide collection system feeding the manual dismantling facility and a strategy towards the
best available technology to produce higher revenue from PCBs. By replacing the
traditional wet chemical leaching procedure for the gold recovery with the export to
18
“Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2003”, the Gazette of India Extraordinary,
Part II, Section 3 Sub Section (ii), Published by Authority No. 471, New Delhi, Ministry of Environment and Forests
Notification, New Delhi (May 20, 2003)
 53

integrated smelters & refiners, safer practices and a higher revenue per unit of e-waste
collected are produced.

E-waste is a rich source of metals like silver, copper, and gold, which can be recovered &
brought back into the production cycle. There is vital economic potential in the efficient
recovery of valuable materials in electronic waste and can provide income-generating
opportunities for both enterprises & individuals. The E-Waste Management Rules, 2016,
were amended by the Government of India in March 2018 to facilitate and efficiently
implement the environmentally sound management of e-waste in India. The amended
Rules revise the collection targets under the provision of EPR with effect from October
01, 2017. By way of revised targets & monitoring under the CPCB or the Central
Pollution Control Board , effective & improved management of e-waste would be
ensured.

19

Legal Position in India The issue of electrical and electronic tool clearance, trade-in and
remanufacturing has become the subject of stern discussion and debate among the
Government organizations, environmentalist groups and the private segment
manufacturers of computers and end-user electronic equipment’s. The Department of
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, environment & Forests in
its 192nd Report on the Functioning of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), has
concluded that e-waste is going to be a big problem in the future due to modern life style
and increase in the living standards of people and augmentation of financial expansion.
The Committee has suggested a proactive role for the CPCB by stating that it “should
conduct studies to make future projections and devise steps to check the menace”[3].
With the advancement stride that the India has made in the information technology
segment and the electronic industry, the issue of trade-in of e-waste and its handling and
clearance has assumed significance. The issue was brought to the notice of Parliament

19
Central Pollution Control Board [CPCB]
 54

and Government on 23 December 2005 when a Private Member‟s Bill on The Electronic
Waste (Handling and Clearance) Bill, 2005 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Shri Vijay
J. Darda, Hon‟ble Member from Maharashtra. The Bill had recognized that while there
was no appropriate law or guideline on the handling and clearance of electronic waste in
the India, every home had a number of electronic goods. And once these goods became
obsolete or redundant, they were either thrown in the garbage or found their way to scrap
dealers in the course of the Kabari wala’s who then dismantled the gadgets, kept what
was useful and threw the rest in landfills. Criticizing the improper way of clearance as the
electronic goods contain various elements which are perilous to health and environment,
the Bill called for a regulation of e-waste clearance before the situation reached alarming
proportions. The Bill sought to facilitate for appropriate handling and clearance of
millions of tons of e-waste being generated by redundant electronic devices by
prescribing norms and fixing responsibilities and duties on manufacturers,
remanufacturers and end-users with regard to the clearance of e-waste and for all matters
connected to it. The Bill, even, lapsed in July 2010 with the expiry of the tenure of the
Hon’ble member in the Rajya Sabha, but initiated a public urge of effective e-waste law
in India.

In India, the Constitution assigns solid waste management as a primary liability to the
Municipalities under the Twelfth Schedule [4]. Article 243W empowers the State
Legislatures to frame legislations in respect of waste management. The Municipal Solid
Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000 were enacted by the Central Government
which came into force from 25 September 2000. Some of the guidelines for handling
municipal solid wastes provided in the Schedules are relevant for the management of e-
waste and can be used as a model in the e-waste remanufacturing and clearance scheme.
The guidelines include organizing house to house assortment of waste i.e., appropriate
assortment of waste from slums and squatters, hotels, restaurants, office complexes and
commercial areas, organizing awareness programmers for segregation of wastes,
adopting suitable waste processing technologies and restricting land filling for non
 55

biodegradable inert waste. The Rules were examined by the Committee on Subordinate
Legislation of Rajya Sabha. In its 186th Report on the said Rules adopted and presented
to the Parliament in December 2009, the Committee while expressing concern on the
inadequate and ineffective State laws, acknowledged the financial and technological
constraints faced by Municipalities in the execution of the Rules. Furthermore, the
Committee observed that with increasing urbanization finding landfill sites was going to
get difficult for the ever increasing volumes of solid waste. The concerned Governments
had to make sure that in the interest of public health, such landfill sites were located in
„distant isolated places. The Rules had to facilitate a safe buffer between landfill sites and
human settlement.

It may be mentioned that after the enactment of the Environment Protection Act, 1986,
the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was delegated the functions to implement
rules on perilous wastes, bio-medical wastes, municipal solid wastes and plastic wastes.
Under the purview of the CPCB, the Division of Perilous Waste Management has been
overseeing the management of e-waste. According to the CPCB, there are 36,165
industries in the India generating regarding 6.2 MT (Metric Tones) perilous waste every
year, of which landfill able waste is 2.7 MT, incinerable waste 0.41 MT and recyclable
perilous waste 3.08 MT. Besides, as per the Department of Commerce, Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, Government of India, over 10,000 items, together with perilous
items, are trade-in to India. These items are classified under various heads. The category
others is given to those items that cannot be classified under any head. It is this category
that traders often end up misusing to trade-in perilous waste.

INDIAN SCENARIO -
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E-Waste Management Authorisation Process in India
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E-waste management assumes greater significance not only due to the generation of our
own waste but also dumping of e-waste from the developed countries. Rag pickers and
waste dealers found it easy to adapt to the new waste stream, resulting in a large number
of new business focusing on the reuse of components or extraction of secondary raw
materials. Some of the recycling processes are extremely harmful and have negative
impacts on the workers’ health and environment.
Main Sources
1. Imports –
2. PC retailers Manufactures
3. Government, Public and Private sectors discarding old devices
4. Secondary market of old PCs and individual households
Existing Legislation Transboundary movement of e-waste covered under the
basal Convention.Hazardous waste management and handling rules.

BENEFITS

Conversion of resources -
Recycling recovers valuable materials from old electronics that can be used to make new
product. As a result, we save energy, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and save resources by extracting fewer raw materials From the earth.

Elimination of health and environmental hazardous

The major benefits of e-waste recycling are the elimination of the health and environment
hazards caused by disposal of untreated e-waste. When e-waste finds its way into
landfills such toxic metals seep out and contaminate the soil and water, causing health
problems and polluting the atmosphere. Incinerating e-waste produces volatilized heavy
metals that cause an even more significant public health hazard.

Energy efficiency
 57

The benefits of e-waste recycling extend to significant reduction of energy requirements.

The energy cost to recycle e-waste for minerals is considerably less than the energy costs
to mine minerals. Energy savings resultant from e-waste recycling also produce many
indirect benefits such as less dependence on finite oil reserves, reduction of air pollution
caused by energy production, and decline in greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to
global warming.

Economic Growth
The financial benefits of recycling or the ability of recycled e-waste to generate income
makes it one of the fastest growing business opportunity. It generates jobs opportunity
which lead to the economic development of the country.

Increase Job Opportunities

E-Cycling creates jobs for professional recyclers and refurbishes and creates new markets
for the valuable components that are dismantled.

SHORTCOMINGS
Improper implantation of law –
Existing laws relating to e-waste management and handling have not been implemented
properly. There is a lack of uniformity. The US has not ratified the Basal Convention
which prevents the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed
countries like India.

Legally or illegally import-

Import of used computer and other electronic waste in our country from developed
countries such as USA, Australia, Canada and parts of Europe causes damage to the
environment and increases pollution. These imports are sometimes illegal also.

Lack of Proper Investment-

 58

Investment in this sector is a big problem. Investment is poor as the incentives in this
sector are low and with hardly any profit margin.

Old traditional of recycling –

Developing countries such as India still apply old traditional methods for recycling the e-
waste. Such methods include incineration, landfills etc.

Misuse of Indian low cost technology-

India is a developing country and has an inexpensive method of processing and handling
E-waste. Hence developed countries misuse Indian low cost technology and dump their
hazardous e-waste in our country in order to save on costs.

SUGGESTED CHANGES

Ban on import
There should be total ban on importing e-waste. The government is planning to Ban the
imports of used computers and e-waste. Even though there is a conflict between the
Finance Ministry which wants the ban and the Commerce ministry which is against the
ban since in their opinion commerce will suffer as a result of the ban.

Proper collection of e-waste

There should be proper collection of e-waste for recycling. It should be directly collected
by recyclers or their agents.

Improve the quality of electric or electrical appliances

The producers of electronic or electrical device should improve the quality of their
products. Age of Computer reduces 3-5 year from 7 year.

Impose penalty
Government should impose a heavy penalty on those who do not follow the prescribed
method or procedure for discarding e-waste.

Organize Awareness campaigns

The central as well as state government should organize awareness campaign to enlighten
 59

the citizen about the harms of improper e-waste disposal.

Attract investment in this sector

The government must provide subsidies to the recycler and thus encourage the private
banking sector to invest in it.

Improve environmentally sound recycling infrastructure

The recycler should stop traditional method of recycling the e-waste like incineration,
landfill etc and adopt sound, ecology friendly techniques and sound infrastructure for
recycling.

Amend the domestic rules and laws relating to e-waste

The government should make existing laws more rigid so that the developed countries
cannot dump their e-waste in our country.

Tie recycling in with take back product responsibility

There should be an agreement among the seller, buyer and recycler of any electronic or
electric products. There should be tri party agreement in which everyone has a liability
towards other, it means that buyer should give back the product to the seller when
products become obsolete or old and then the seller should give such products to the
recycler.

Low cost technology

India as a developing country needs simpler cost technology keeping view of maximum
resource recovery in an environmental friendly methodology.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
E-waste is one of the rapidly growing environment problems of the world. Disposal of e-
waste raises serious environmental and health issues. Improper recycling and disposal of
e-waste can result in dangerous health and environmental hazards from toxic chemicals
and persistent pollutants. Recycling e-waste is not just a viable solution to eliminate the
harmful effects of e-waste disposal but a sound business proposition in itself.
 60

CHAPTER 9 - EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR) AND E-

WASTE

One of the most widely used ways for regulating e-waste globally is the Extended
Producer Responsibility (EPR), which places the responsibility for product end-of-life
management on the manufacturers or producers. EPR was created with the intention of
forcing manufacturers to absorb the external expenses connected with their goods' end-
of-life disposal.6 The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
have two major EPR objectives. To begin with, the EPR transfers some of the waste
management responsibility from local governments to upstream companies. Second, the
EPR is supposed to offer incentives for companies to incorporate environmental
 61

considerations into their product design by forcing the absorption of external disposal
costs. Under the EPR approach, the government would have to reassess its policy
instruments. A forced take back with collection targets may not be the best device in the
presence of an informal sector with strong collecting logistics. Other than required take-
back, producer responsibility could take several forms. Economic tools such as an
advanced recycling charge (ARF) or an advanced disposal fee (ADF) on every unit of a
product sold in the market would relieve producers of the physical burden of collection,
with the proceeds going toward developing markets for end-of-life items. Some options
include: (a) Providing financial incentives for customers to deposit their e-waste at
specified drop-off locations, (b) directly funding recyclers or PROs, and (c) Assisting
informal sector employees with training or skill development or providing a larger social
safety net. These decisions could be taken in the informal sector consultative forum
mentioned in the previous point. The most difficult aspect of using economic instruments
is determining the appropriate fee. 7 According to economic principles, a fee equal to its
marginal external cost of end -oflife equipment should be charged. While estimating such
external costs is challenging in reality, the price should be high enough to cover the costs
of a reliable, environmentally friendly e-waste processing and disposal system.
EPR, one of the more widely used approaches for regulating e-waste globally, places the
responsibility of the end-of-life management of products on the manufacturers or
the producers. Conceptually, EPR is designed to make the manufacturers internalize the
external costs associated with the end-of-life disposal of their products.4 The Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) specifies two broad objectives of
EPR approach.5 First, the EPR shifts part of the burden of waste management from the
local governments to the upstream producers. Second, by forcing the internalization of
the external costs of disposal, the EPR is expected to provide incentives for producers to
take environmental considerations into their product design. For example, the producers
would have an incentive to design their products using materials that are more recyclable
or less toxic if EPR makes the producers internalize the social costs of disposal after the
useful life.
 62

Under the EPR approach, the producers can be made responsible in four distinct
ways.6 Economic responsibility makes the producers pay, typically a tax, towards the
costs of e-waste processing (e.g., collection, recycling, disposal). Physical responsibility
involves mandating, for example, take back of the products from the consumers, after
their useful life. The product take back requirements may also enforce collection rate
targets. Information responsibility might mandate providing information on the attributes
of the products (e.g., toxicity, recyclability), including such requirements as product
labelling. Finally, liability rules might specify financial liability for environmental
damage and clean up. EPR regulations may include any one or a combination of these
four types of producer responsibilities.

India’s first e-waste regulations, known as E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules,
2011 used EPR approach and required the producers of electronic products to set up
collection centres (i.e., physical responsibility) and inform the consumers (i.e.,
information responsibility) on how the used electronic products can be returned to the
collection centres. Early evaluation of these rules showed that while they may have
created demand for new formal dismantling and recycling centres, the rules have largely
been ineffective in improving the existing practices.7 Partly in response to the
ineffectiveness of the initial regulations, the government has since amended the rules
twice: once in 2016 and again in 2018. These amendments of the rules have introduced
take back targets for producers, whereby producers are required to collect a certain
percentage of their products sold in the previous financial year. The take back targets rise
from a modest 10 per cent in 2017–2018 to 70 per cent from 2023 onward.

Partly as a result of the regulations, during the last eight years, Indian e-waste sector has
been witnessing several changes: more serious efforts on the part of the producers,
expansion of the formal waste management sector, emergence of producer responsibility
organizations (PROs), and attempts to develop indigenous technologies to process and
recover different components of e-waste, to name a few. However, despite these
 63

developments, the bulk of e-waste continues to be handled by the informal sector in

India.

The objective of this colloquium is to take stock of the current status of the e-waste
management ecosystem by identifying various challenges that the sector faces and
potential paths for improvements. The colloquium brings together nine articles from
national and global sectoral experts on different aspects of e-waste related to technology,
finance, policies and regulations, formal and informal sector, business and PROs. The
experts come from diverse work backgrounds such as government, international
developmental organizations, civil society organizations, industry and academia.

Taken together, the articles in the colloquium identify several challenges, such as the
inadequate resources to monitor and enforce regulations, lack of awareness among the
consumers regarding the nature of e-waste and the associated regulations and a narrow
focus on compliance on the part of the producers. The central theme that cuts across all
the articles, however, is the role of informal sector. A strong, well-established network of
individuals operates in this sector, primarily in the collection of e-waste but also in
recovery and recycling. The sector generates livelihoods to a large population, mostly
belonging to the marginalized sections of the society. The practices they employ,
however, are unscientific and unsafe, posing risks to their own health and potentially
imposing environmental and health costs on the larger society. Most of the articles in the
colloquium grapple with this dilemma: How to bring this strong network of people into a
robust e-waste management system, which can preserve (and enhance) their livelihoods
while simultaneously mitigating the external costs associated with e-waste processing and
disposal.
 64

21

Chapter 10 - ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS FROM EWASTE

POLLUTION

Many toxic metallic pollutants, such as lead, cadmium, and beryllium, as well as
brominated flame-retardants, can be found in electronic equipment. In E-waste, metals
such as iron, copper, aluminum, gold, and other metals account for more than 60%, while
plastics account for around 30%, and hazardous pollutants account for only 2.70 percent.
8 Lead is the most extensively utilized dangerous heavy metal in electronic devices for a
range of reasons, resulting in a variety of health risks due to environmental
contamination. Food, water, air, and soil are all ways for lead to enter biological systems.

21
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
 65

Children are more susceptible to lead poisoning than adults because they absorb more
lead from their environment, causing damage to their neurological system and blood. 9 In
India, there is a deficit of evidence on the effects of heavy metal exposure on the human
body. Various e-waste dismantling activities expose a huge number of workers, including
little children. Landfilling of e trash can result in lead leaking into groundwater. When a
CRT is smashed and burned, hazardous vapors are released into the atmosphere. One cell
phone battery has enough cadmium to damage 600 meters of water. Furthermore,
uncontrolled fires during landfills may occur, and this might be a common occurrence in
many countries. 10 Although the findings of these studies cannot be applied universally
to India, they are alarming and clearly suggest that they are being replicated in
occupational contexts in India. There is no information about the health effects of these
workers. They may be destroying their life due to a lack of awareness.

Chapter 11 - PUBLIC POLICY FOR E-WASTE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

India’s e-waste regulations, employing the EPR approach, came into effect in May 2012,
with further amendments in 2016. The seven years of implementation has had limited
impact on the larger e-waste management system in the country. On the positive side, the
regulations may have led to establishment of hundreds of new recycling and dismantling
units, formally registered with regulatory authorities. The 2016 amendments, which sets
collection rate targets for producers of electronic products, appears to have generated
greater seriousness among the producers to comply with the regulations. More generally,
the regulations could be credited with bringing greater attention to the e-waste problem
 66

among the various stakeholders. Clearly, we are a long way from developing a policy
framework that could facilitate a robust e-waste management system in the country.

E-Waste Management: Issues and Challenges for Policy -

1. Poor information on e-waste generation rates: The 2012 regulations

acknowledged the lack of waste inventories as a limitation and placed the
responsibility of developing state-wise e-waste inventories on the respective state
pollution control boards (SPCBs). Seven years since these regulations, to our
knowledge, no SPCB has released an inventory as yet. The sales data on electronic
products, which is an important input in the estimation of e-waste quantities, is
often available at the national-level aggregation, making it challenging to produce
inventories at the state levels. In addition to domestic generation, e-waste is also
imported from developed economies, often illegally. There is little understanding
of the nature and amount of e-waste that gets imported into the country. Designing
systems for effective collection, transportation and processing requires reasonably
accurate knowledge of waste generation, composition and flows.

2. Environmentally unsustainable informal sector practices: Despite the growth in

the formal dismantling and recycling sector (in terms of the number of such
facilities), the actual waste processed in the formal sector still remains very low.
Anecdotal evidence indicates that most of these formal facilities are operating well
below their approved capacities because of their inability to source enough waste.
The lack of awareness regarding e-waste and costs of returning the end-of-life
equipment to formal collection centres are reducing the willingness of household
and institutional consumers to return their waste to formal sector. Most
importantly, the informal sector, through the convenience of household collection
and monetary incentives (even if nominal), makes it more attractive for consumers
to return their waste, relative to the formal sector, which is yet to invest in robust
 67

systems of collection and processing. The informal e-waste sector provides

livelihoods to millions of people, often belonging to the most marginalized groups;
on the other hand, the sector’s waste management practices pose serious
environmental and health hazards to the workers themselves as well as the larger
public. This presents a potential moral dilemma for public policy and sustained
success of any e-waste management system will hinge on our ability to resolve
this dilemma.

3. Frictions in markets for the end-of-life products: The inability to reliably source
e-waste quantities that create economies of scale restricts entry of private players,
such as PROs to set up e-waste management systems in the formal sector. For
example, employing effective recycling technologies for e-waste may require
significant upfront capital expenditures, which may not be justified for private
entities in the absence of certainty around sourcing of enough quantities of e-
waste. Also, these markets suffer from information barriers. First, given that e-
waste recycling is a relatively new business, potential lack of information on cost-
effective recycling technologies itself could be a market barrier. Second, the low
awareness, partly because of the lack of reliable information on e-waste
management among consumers, affects the functioning of markets. Public policy
may have to play a greater role (beyond the current e-waste regulations) in
enabling better markets for e-waste.

4. Inadequate regulatory design and enforcement: In the 2012 regulations, the

mandatory take back system for producers, without accompanying collection
targets, provided no incentives to take responsibility and thus induced little
improvements in e-waste management practices. This was addressed in the 2016
amendments, which provided more regulatory certainty by specifying gradual and
increasingly stricter collection targets. Nevertheless, the regulatory design places a
significant burden on the already ill-equipped regulatory agencies. The regulators
 68

are expected to review the EPR plan submitted by the producers, grant
authorization and enforce the provisions of the EPR plan. The regulations also
specified elaborate standards and processes for other entities—collectors,
dismantlers, recyclers and bulk consumers—and require the agencies to enforce
compliance with these standards. Regulatory capture by lobbies that benefit from
poor enforcement, lack of transparency and unwillingness to publicly share
information on compliance and regulatory actions have long afflicted
environmental regulatory enforcement in India, and e-waste regulations are no
exception. This poses a significant public policy challenge to the future of e-waste
management in the country.

Creating a Robust E-waste Management System -

By constantly evaluating the effectiveness of e-waste regulation and bringing in

necessary regulatory changes, the government may have to play a facilitating role
to bring together various stakeholders in the system. We outline a few steps that
should be considered to move forward.
1. Informal sector: The first step would be to more explicitly recognize (like in the
case of Municipal Solid Waste Rules in 2016) the informal sector as a critical
stakeholder in any future e-waste regime. Addressing the problem of informal
sector e-waste practices requires a greater understanding of the sector itself in
terms of their incentives and challenges. Engagement with the informal sector
workers and the groups, in a manner that recognizes their right to livelihoods,
builds trust and develops a shared understanding of the problems along with
potential solutions, is a critical initial step. The government should institute a
platform that facilitates consultations among various stakeholders such as the
informal sector workers, NGOs working with the informal sector, third party
private entities such as PROs and registered recyclers and manufacturers. Such
forums could be constituted under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
 69

Climate Change (MoEFCC) at the central level and under the State Departments
of Environment at the state level. Working towards such cross-sector partnerships
while evolving clearly defined roles for each stakeholder would be an important
goal.

2. Policy instruments under EPR: The government would need to rethink the
policy instruments under the EPR approach. In the presence of an informal sector
with strengths in collection logistics, a mandatory take back with collection targets
may not be the ideal instrument. Producer responsibility could come in many
varieties other than mandatory take back. Economic instruments such as advanced
recycling fee (ARF) or advanced disposal fee (ADF) on every unit of the product
sold in the market would relieve the producers of the physical responsibility of
collection and the revenues generated could be used to develop markets for the
end-of-the-life products. The revenues, which go into a separate fund, could be
used in several ways. Some examples include (a) subsidize consumers to deposit
their e-waste at designated centres, (b) directly fund recyclers or PROs and (c)
assist informal sector workers in training or skill development or provide greater
social security net to the workers. These decisions may be made within the
consultative forum recommended in the previous point on informal sector. The
key problem with economic instruments would be to determine the right fee.
Principles of economics would suggest a fee equivalent to the marginal external
cost of the end-of-life equipment. While the assessment of such external costs is
difficult in practice, the fee should be high enough to fund a robust,
environmentally safe e-waste processing and disposal. A sufficiently high fee
would also provide incentives for design for environment (DoE) changes in
product design, which has been one of the primary goals of EPR approach
globally. In the long run, to further incentivize DoE changes, the fee could be
based on such factors as the ease of dismantling, recyclability and environmental
impact of materials used in the equipment. The policy framework should also
 70

focus on the development of indigenous technologies and/or technology transfer to

encourage widespread application of environment-friendly e-waste recycling
technologies.

3. Regulatory enforcement: Shifting to economic instruments such as an ADF

would also relieve the regulatory burden since the producers need not be regulated
anymore. The long experience with tax collection should make it easy to divert the
ADF on electronic products to a separate fund. The SPCBs and the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will still be required to monitor and enforce
compliance with the standards specified for collection centres, dismantlers,
recyclers and PROs. The MoEFCC must make the regulatory actions related to e-
waste transparent. Regulatory actions such as authorizations and their conditions,
data on inspections of registered facilities and compliance status of inspected
facilities should all be made publicly available for scrutiny. A few SPCBs already
provide some of these documents publicly on their websites, but these practices
should be institutionalized as part of the regulations across the country.
Developing a regularly updated and publicly available inventory of district-wise
generation of e-waste quantities by e-waste type (e.g., computers, mobiles,
appliances), waste composition and flows will also play an important role in
enforcement.

4. E-waste imports: Under the existing regulations, e-waste is not allowed to be

imported for final disposal but can be imported for reuse and recycling. In the
absence of adequate infrastructure in the country for recycling, we should
seriously consider banning all kinds of imports, similar to what China did recently.
In order to develop accurate estimates of e-waste, data on imports must be
integrated with the e-waste inventory.
 71

5. Public awareness: The current e-waste regulations require the producers to

provide, on their websites, information on the impacts of e-waste, appropriate
disposal practices and such other issues. They are also required to run awareness
campaigns at regular intervals. Many producers have already provided information
on their websites, but evidence shows that the overall awareness levels, even
among bulk consumers, remain low. Stricter guidelines/regulations to the
producers on the frequency and mode of these awareness campaigns might
improve the situation. Alternatively, the producers should be mandated to run
these campaigns through grassroots-level organizations working in the area of e-
waste. The government on its part should consider integrating e-waste awareness
campaigns with other waste streams such as batteries and municipal solid waste.
Research on effective messaging techniques and evaluation of information
campaigns could also form a part of the government’s role. These awareness
efforts should be geared towards not only achieving safe handling of e-waste but
also reducing consumption of electronic products in the long run. Overall, the
public awareness generation initiatives should be based on partnerships and
collaboration among various stakeholders.

22

copper, gold and various functional parts from the devices. E-waste recyclers use
processes such as open incineration and acid-leeching. This situation could be improved
by creating awareness and improving the infrastructure of recycling units along with the

22
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 72

prevalent policies. The majority of the e-waste collected in India is managed by an

unorganized sector.

Also, informal channels of recycling/reuse of electronics such as repair shops, used

product dealers, e-commerce portal vendors collect a significant proportion of the
discarded electronics for reuse and cannibalization of parts and components.

Impact of Recycling E-Waste in Developing World

Almost all e-wastes contain some form of recyclable material, including plastic, glass,
and metals; however, due to improper disposal methods and techniques these materials
cannot be retrieved for other purposes. If e-waste is dismantled and processed in a crude
manner, its toxic constituents can wreak havoc on the human body. Processes such as
dismantling components, wet chemical processing, and incineration are used to dispose
the waste and result in direct exposure and inhalation of harmful chemicals. Safety
equipment such as gloves and face masks are not widely used, and workers often lack the
knowledge and experience required to carry out their jobs properly. In addition to this,
manual extraction of toxic metals leads to entering of dangerous material in the
bloodstream of the individual doing so. The health hazards range from kidney and liver
damage to neurological disorders. Recycling of e-waste scrap is polluting the water, soil,
and the air. Burning to retrieve metal from wires and cables has led to the emission of
brominated and chlorinated dioxins as well as carcinogens which pollute the air and,
thereby, cause cancer in humans and animals. Toxic chemicals that have no economic
value are simply dumped during the recycling process. These toxic chemicals leach into
underground aquifer thereby degrading the local groundwater quality and rendering the
water unfit for human consumption as well as agricultural purposes. When e-waste is
dumped in landfills, the lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and PCBs make the soil toxic
and unfit for agricultural purposes. Very recent studies on recycling of e-waste has
pointed towards increasing concentrations of PCBs, dioxins and furans, plasticizers,
bisphenol-A (BPA), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and heavy metals in the
surface soil of the four metro cities of India, that is, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and
 73

Chennai where e-waste is being processed by the informal sectors (Chakraborty et al.,
2018 and 2019). In those studies, it has been observed that the sites engaged in metal
recovery processes are the prime sites for such persistent toxic substances. Studies from
the same group also reported that the persistent organic pollutants produced or released
during the recycling process are escaping in the ambient air due to their semi-volatile
nature.

It is estimated that 50 million tonnes of e-waste was generated globally in 2018. Half of
this is personal devices such as computers, screens, smartphones, tablets, and TVs, with
the remainder being larger household appliances and heating and cooling equipment.

23

Chapter 12- PROPOSED SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM OF E- WASTE

 Domestic legal framework to address these gaps in import of E Waste

23
journals.sagepub.com was first indexed by Google in November 2016
 74

 Need to address safe disposal of domestic waste.

 Tie recycling in with take-back product

 The Framework should address the issue of E waste imports for reuse and
recycling.

 Attract investment in this sector

 Link up activities of informal sector with formal sector

 Provide for appropriate framework for processes

 Promote adequate ESM technologies for recycling

 Incorporate precautionary principles and polluter pays

 Insist on domestic processing

 Then make sure the company you select has capacity to handle either type of
E-Scrap.

 Promote recycling units to ease process and to encourage generators to have

proper e-waste disposal

 Impart training to generators on e-waste handling

 Awareness program on recycling

 Fix duties and responsibilities to recyclers

 Tax incentives for scrap dealers

 Reward and reprimand schemes for performance and non-compliance of e-

waste management
 75

24

CHAPTER 13- REDUCTION OF WASTE AT SOURCE

With nearly 94 per cent of the materials extracted for manufacturing durable products
becoming waste before the product is manufactured, reducing waste at source can clearly
24
ttp://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/publication_electronic/E-Waste_in_india.pdf retrieved on December
10 2017

Mahesh C. Vats and Santosh K. Singh, Status of E-Waste in India - A Review www.ijirset.com Volume 3,
Issue 10, October 2014 retrieved on December 10, 2017
 76

promote economic and industrial competitiveness. Many other social and economic
benefits of sound waste management include job creation, skills development and
reduced clean-up and public health costs. There is a need for setting out incentives and
tools for minimizing the generation of wastes, treating wastes as nearly as possible in the
place where they were generated, and minimizing international movements of hazardous
wastes. Reducing wastes at source would reduce the financial incentives that drive the
illegal trade that inspired the adoption of the Basel Convention.205 Moreover, even if
there are so-called state-of-the-art hazardous waste recycling facilities in the country,
these make adverse impact on environment and health of workers due to release of toxins
and harmful emissions. It is risky and polluting business even in optimal conditions. The
ultimate answer is to minimize the generation of hazardous waste, not recycle them. In
this regard, the MoEF is promoting the 3 R Concept (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) for
Hazardous Waste Management.

25

CHAPTER 13- RECYCLING E-WASTE

A THRIVING ECONOMY OF THE UNORGANIZED SECTOR 2.1 Global trade in

hazardous waste Among all the international agreements, the Basel Convention on the
Control of the Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal is the

25
Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, 192nd
Report on Functioning of Central Pollution Control Board, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, September, 2008.

Ibid. The other problems and wastes mentioned by the DRPSC were hazardous waste management, industrial
pollution, bio-medical waste, plastic waste, mercury waste, increase in mining activities, solid waste management,
ever growing air pollution, and growing number of vehicles.

Ibid n. 1816
 77

most comprehensive global environmental agreement on hazardous and other wastes. It

was adopted in 1989 and came into force in 1992 for the purpose of protecting human
health and the environment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation,
management, transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous and other wastes.
Originally, it did not mention e-waste, but later it addressed the issues of electronic waste
along with end-of-life ships at the Conference of the Parties of the Basel Agreement in
late 2006. Currently, electronic waste, mobile phones, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
and compounds used in industry as heat exchange fluids, in electric transformers and
capacitors are among the wastes regulated by the Basel Convention. Many of the global
e-waste exports, therefore, are in contrary to the Basel Convention

Rising illegal e-waste exports

In August 2006, when the Abidjan Hazardous Wastes Crisis56 exposed the occurrence
of illegal hazardous waste exports from Europe, the UNEP Executive Director, Achim
Steiner stated: “As global trade flows expand and tough domestic controls raise the
costs of hazardous wastes disposal in developed countries, the opportunities and
incentives for illegal trafficking of wastes will continue to grow.”57 It is an
affirmation of the rising trend in the export of hazardous wastes by fraudulent
means in global trade.

Many studies have confirmed and revealed the danger posed by many wastes, their
toxicity, carcinogenicity and other characteristics harmful to the human health and
environment. This awareness has been the basis of global action leading to the tightening
of laws and regulations. This has, in turn, triggered an increase in the cost of hazardous
waste disposal through safer means compelling many countries to search for more
economically viable ways of disposing waste abroad. As a result, many developed
countries, which are able to circumvent the national legislations, export hazardous wastes
including electronic wastes to the developing countries which are having neither the
 78

knowledge of the hazardous nature or having rudimentary knowledge, nor the capacity to
dispose off the wastes safely. Normally, a computer recycler in the U.S., for instance,
would scan the incoming electronic waste materials for its most valuable components and
probably sell them in a store or to specially brokers. The rest of the material would be
broken down and sorted according to the type of waste (eg. circuit boards, wires and
cables, plastics, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and non-recyclables). These are sold to the
brokers who then ship them mainly to China or the South Asian countries—India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Alternatively, the e-waste materials are sometimes simply sold
off in bulk without any separation whatsoever. E-waste brokering is an aggressive and
competitive business and buyers for all kinds of e-waste for the Asian market are always
available.

Main factors in global waste trade economy

Like most waste trade, e-waste export to the developing countries is governed by brute
global economics in which market forces, if left unregulated, dictates that the toxic waste
will always run “downhill” on an economic path of least resistance.58 Illegal export
becomes possible when the environment and occupational regulations are non-existent,
minimal, lax or not well-enforced, as they are in some developing countries. Low labour
costs in these countries also provide the impetus for the export in wastes. For instance,
labour cost in China is $1.50 per day.

In addition, exporting e-waste is more lucrative for the exporter country than recycling or
disposing it within the country. For instance, waste traders in Europe or USA have to pay
US $20 to recycle a computer safely in their countries while they can sell it at half the
cost to the informal traders in developing countries.60 Again, while it costs Rs. 12,000 to
recycle a tonne of rubbish after segregation in the U.K., shipping the rubbish to India
costs just about Rs. 2,800.
 79

Waste trading as a quintessential part of electronics recycling

Importing waste is no doubt a lucrative economy. The main objective behind the import
of used electronics is the recovery of valuable metals and elements that are contained in
electronic waste, including steel, aluminium, copper, tin, nickel, etc. which are in bulk;
cadmium and mercury which are in smaller amounts; and barium, nickel, gold, titanium,
cobalt, palladium, manganese, silver and platinum, etc. which are in traceable amounts.
These various commodities provide useful raw material feedstock in the manufacture of
new products. The largest market of a non-working equipment or e-waste is for the
circuit boards that are rich in precious metals, i.e. silver, gold, palladium and platinum.
Sound management practices for the recovery of these elements are debatable. However,
export and import trade has become an essential aspect of the electronics recycling.

Import of hazardous e-waste in India

India is one of the largest waste importing countries in the world. All types of wastes are
imported into the country, in the form of cheap raw materials including hazardous and
toxic wastes. Data released by the Customs Department reveal imports of even prohibited
wastes like clinical waste, incineration ash, municipal waste and e-waste, all of which
exceed 50 lakh tonnes annually. In 2009, India generated 5.9 million tonnes of hazardous
waste domestically and imported 6.4 million tonnes.69 It generates about 3,50,000 tonnes
of electronic waste every year and imports another 50,000 tonnes.

so far, India has been the destination of the hazardous and industrial wastes like
mercury, electronic and plastic wastes from the united states; asbestos from
Canada; defective steel and tin plates from the e.u., Australia and the US.; toxic
waste oil from the united Arab emirates, Iran and Kuwait; zinc ash, residues and
skimmings, lead waste and scrap, used batteries and waste and scrap of metals such
as cadmium, chromium, cobalt, antimony, hafnium and thallium from Germany,
Denmark, the Netherlands, the united kingdom, Belgium and norway.70 these
 80

wastes contain toxic components which are damaging to the public health and
environment.

New draft rules on the import and the management of e-waste are currently being
considered. Till the rules are notified, the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and
Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 regulate the export-import trade or
transboundary movements of hazardous wastes including e-waste. According to these
Rules, import of hazardous wastes for disposal is not permitted. However, import of
waste is permitted only for reuse, recycling or reprocessing. Monitoring of units recycling
hazardous wastes is the responsibility of the State Pollution Control Board or the
Pollution Control Committee in a Union Territory. The Rules also require all import
consignments to be accompanied by a movement document and a test report from an
accredited laboratory or a pre-shipment inspection certificate from a recognized agency.

The proposed e-waste rules, 2011 do not address the issue of import/export of e-waste.
The transboundary movement of hazardous waste including e-waste is regulated by the
Hazardous Waste Rules, 2008. Import of e-waste can be considered for actual users only
with the permission of Ministry of Environment and Forests and licence from Directorate
General of Foreign Trade.

26

India’s stand on liberalizing import rules -

26
PP Sangal, ‘The challenge of hazardous waste’, The Economic Times, 19 May 2010.
Asha Krishnakumar, ‘Importing Danger’, Frontline, Vol. 20- Issue 25 Dec. 06- 19, 2003.
‘Trade of Hazardous waste’, Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. 119, dated 02.08.2010.
 81

Global trade in remanufactured products has already crossed $100 billion. Like other
Asian countries, India has also felt the pressure from the developed countries to liberalize
its import rules to allow access to its markets for their re- manufactured goods. It is
argued by the countries like U.S., Switzerland and Japan that promoting trade in re-
manufactured goods helps both the developed and the developing countries by increasing
access to low cost, superior quality products while helping solid waste management and
encouraging transfer of technology and skills. But India is apprehensive that it could lead
to a deluge of import of low-quality cheap goods and actually amount to transfer of waste
from the developed to the developing countries. Thus, it has opposed suggestion by some
developed countries for more liberal trade in remanufactured goods or refurbished old
products apprehending that it could harm the country’s domestic industry and also have
adverse environmental ramifications. Agreeing with the Government’s stand on the issue,
Amit Mitra, Secretary-General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI), has been quoted as saying, “Unrestricted imports of remanufactured
goods would adversely impact our domestic manufacturing sector and also have the risk
of diluting safety standards and dumping of e-waste”.

27

Procedure of importing e-waste

The standard procedure followed for importing a consignment to India involves an

importer, an exporter, an agency registered and notified by the Directorate-General of
27
Comments and Suggestions made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India on the draft
backgrounder titled ‘E-waste in India’ prepared by the Research Unit of Rajya Sabha Secretariat. O.M. No. 23-
4/2011-HSMD, dated 19 April 2011.
 82

Foreign Trade, a bank and the customs department at the port. First, the importer is
required to get a pre-inspection certificate of the import material by a registered agency,
which could be an Indian or a foreign company. After the agency issues the certificate, a
bill detailing the number of containers, excise duty classification and product details is
prepared. Thereafter, the consignment is shipped. When it reaches India, the customs
officials at the port check the certificate, levy a customs duty on the product as specified
in the Central Excise Tariff Act and release the consignment to the importer.

The e-waste trade is a thriving business in India with strategic port cities like Singapore
and Dubai serving as transit centres in the e-waste trade route. E-waste from Australia,
North America, South Korea and Japan is received in Singapore and dispatched again to
the importing Asian countries including India.78 Dubai also serves as a centre where
scrap and wastes of all kinds from U.S.A., Europe and the West Asian countries are
collected and re-exported. India is a major buyer from Dubai. The Dubai based exporters
are well aware of the Indian domestic scrap market such that prices of any scrap are kept
at par with the Indian market price.The transboundary movements of hazardous wastes,
including e-waste are regulated under the Hazardous Wastes Rules, 2008. As per these
Rules, import of e-waste is permitted to actual users in the country with permission of
MoEF and licence issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for recycling
or reprocessing only. Import of e-waste by traders is not permitted.28

Illegal waste imports seized in ports

India annually imports approximately 3.5 million metric tonnes of scrap metal worth Rs.
5,500 crores, entering the country at an average of 500 container loads daily. It is
28
The great e-waste recycling circus’,
Ibid. n.58, p.25.
 83

unloaded at any of the major and minor ports along the coast and transported to the
Inland Container Depots throughout the country from where they enter a flourishing grey
market.81 The Custom officials at regular intervals have intervened successfully and
seized hazardous goods entering the ports. In 2009, nine containers of hazardous waste
imported from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Barcelona by three different companies in
Tamil Nadu were caught at the port of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu.

In early 2010, twenty containers of hazardous waste from Greece and Reunion, a French
colony, imported by a paper factory in Tamil Nadu were sent back from the Tuticorin
Port. As recently as in August, 2010, more than 120 tonnes of ewaste in eight containers
and imported from various countries by different companies were seized in Chennai. Of
the total five consignments, one was from Australia, one from Canada, two from Korea
and one from Brunei. Subsequent examination of the goods revealed that there were very
old, used and unusable computer monitors, CPUs and processors, control panels,

electrical motor parts, printers and keyboards. A large proportion of the computer
monitors were found to be more than ten years old and clearly meant for recycling. These
imports were found to be in direct violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962
read with the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement)
Rules, 2008.

29

E-waste economy in the unorganized sector

India has the label of being the second largest e-waste generator in Asia. According to a
MAIT – GTZ estimate,83 India generated 330,000 lakh tonnes of e-waste in 2007, which
is equivalent of 110 million laptops. More than 90 per cent of the e-waste generated in
29
0 Comments and Suggestions made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India on the
draft backgrounder titled ‘E-waste in India’ prepared by the Research Unit of Rajya Sabha Secretariat. O.M. No. 23-
4/2011-HSMD, dated 19 April, 2011.
Shankar Roy Chowdhury, ‘Terror from Waste’ The Asian Age, 4 May, 2010.
 84

the country ends up in the unorganized market for recycling and disposal. The
unorganized sector mainly consists of the urban slums of the metros and mini-metros,
where recycling operations are carried out by the unskilled employees using the most
rudimentary methods to reduce cost. A study by the Basel Action Network (BAN) in
partnership with the Toxic Link reveals that e-waste is received and processed in India in
similar manner as is done in China, or the condition could be even worse.

The unorganised sector consists of an assortment of small and informal businesses not
governed by any stringent health and environmental regulations. Workers face dangerous
working conditions as they may be without protection like gloves or masks. Released
gases, acid solutions, toxic smoke and contaminated ashes are some of the most
dangerous threats for the workers and for the local environment.

Many workers function from homes to reprocess waste, further exposing themselves,
their families and the environment to dangerous toxins. For instance, to extract metals
from circuit boards, gas torches are used to heat a board just enough to melt the solder,
which separates the metal parts from the boards. Metals are also extracted by soaking the
circuit boards in open acid bath followed by manual scrapping to extract copper and
precious materials next to open drains. In this sector, the dismantlers extract metals on
their own or work with a big trader, earning about Rs. 100/- per day. Two motherboards
usually weighing one kilogram cost Rs. 230. A profit of 10 per cent is made after selling
the metals.

The circuit board recycling process involves either open burning of the circuit boards or
using acid stripping. Both processes first involve removal of the chips, condensers and
capacitors from the board. Very often child labour is employed to separate the parts from
 85

the circuit boards, utilizing wire cutters and pliers. After some pin straightening, some of
the Integrated Circuits (IC) chips and components are sold for reuse. The items that are
not worthy of re-use go directly to the open fires to reduce them to metals. Following the
chip extraction and burning, the boards themselves are burned in an open pit to retrieve
the rest of the metal solder and copper. After burning, the ashes are floated in water to
remove lighter ash. Another process involves utilizing nitric acid on the circuit boards to
remove gold and platinum. Both methods, open burning and acid baths, are fraught with
occupational health risks as well as risks to the people living in the surrounding
community.

30

E-waste projection and recycling in four major cities-

30
Imported e-waste seized by customs officials’, The Times of India, 20 August, 2010.
Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology or MAIT was set up in 1982 for purposes of scientific,
educational and IT industry promotion in India. Deutsche Gesellschaft Fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit or GTZ has
been active in India on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
GTZ cooperates with the Central Government and various State agencies with its priority areas for cooperation
being sustainable economic development, energy, environmental policy and conservation and sustainable use of
natural resources.
 86

The two main hubs where e-waste is re-cycled in the country are Delhi and Mumbai. The
other two major hubs are Hyderabad and Bangaluru which have been the centres of the
electronics and information technology industry. They are among the top ten cities in
India which have been generating e-waste. Their status as primary centres of the e-waste
recycling process - whether it concerns storage, dismantling, recycling, refurbishing, and
distribution-has been a predictable fall-out of the electronic industrial growth and
development in these cities.

1. Delhi- A report by the Toxics Link in 2004 found that 70 per cent of electronic
waste collected at recycling units in New Delhi was actually exported or dumped
by the developed countries. According to the last survey conducted in 2007 on the
quantity of waste being produced in Delhi, it was estimated that about 5,000
metric tonnes (MT) of hazardous waste was produced annually. The amount of e-
waste generated annually is about 12,000 tonnes. Though not the leading
generator, Delhi is the leading processing centre of e-waste in the country.
According to the study conducted by the GTZ in 2007, there were about 25,000
workers refurbishing 10,000-20,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. The work takes
place in small illegal units where neither regulations nor environment or health
safeguards are in place. Due to lack of any facility for proper storage and disposal
of such waste, mishaps like the ones that occurred in Mayapuri, where a worker
got exposed to the radiation and in Mundka, where a plastic fire broke out, are the
kind of risks that the workers face each day. Delhi has the tag of a wholesale scrap
market where not only all kinds of waste are brought in but also stored and pre-
processed before being sent out to other parts of the country. The Government is
in the process of acquiring land in Kanjhawla for the purpose of treating and
disposing waste but till such time, waste would continue to be stored at common
effluent treatment plants and other generation points, posing a huge risk to those
who come in contact with it.
 87

2. Mumbai- Since liberalization began in India, no other industry has performed so

well against global competition than the software industry. The Information
Technology industry in India originated in Mumbai. Among Indian cities, Mumbai
ranks first among top ten cities generating WEEE in India. Mumbai, the financial
nerve centre of India, is also India’s largest port city. The Mumbai-Pune industrial
belt is one of the electronic items manufacturing hubs of the country. As a result,
Mumbai is not only the port of import for new and used electronics; it is also home
to a large user and manufacturer base, both generating large volumes of e-waste.

The e-waste recycling market exists in a major way in Mumbai. The market of e-
waste in Mumbai is not concentrated in a single place, but spread over different
areas, each handling a different aspect of recycling. The city has a large network
of scrap traders, with the main centres in Kurla, Saki Naka, Kamthipura- Grant
Road, Jogeshwari and Malad97. In spite of the absence of proper technology, each
component is disassembled and recycled or reused in Mumbai. The general
practices of recycling of the most complex parts of PCs, for instance, circuit
boards and PVC wires by open roasting and acid bath to recover different metals,
has not been observed in Mumbai. Most of the WEEE generated in the Pune and
Pimpri Chinchwad Region is transported to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region
(MMR) for further treatment and distribution.The items, which require extraction
through wet processes are sold to traders from Delhi. Though it is claimed nothing
is dumped in open fields, the report prepared by the IRG Systems South Asia
under the aegis of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB)
acknowledges that the hazards involved in product recycling can cause

environmental damage.

31

31
Toxics Link, Mumbai: Choking on E-waste- A study on the status of e-waste in Mumbai, 23 February, 2007.
 88

As per country level e-waste assessment study, Mumbai generates maximum wastes
among all the cities in India. Total electrical and electronic waste generation in
Maharashtra is 20270.6 tonnes, out of which Navi Mumbai contributes 646.48 tonnes,
Greater Mumbai 11017.06 tonnes, Pune 2584.21 tonnes and Pimpri-Chinchwad 1032.37
tonnes.

3. Bengaluru- In Bengaluru, the Silicon capital of India, e-waste recycling is a multi-crore

market where e-waste is received in Gowripalya and Nayandahalli. The e-waste scrap
dealers send the segregated and dismantled e-waste parts to Delhi and Mumbai every
alternative day. The e-waste recyclers earn around Rs. 2-3 lakhs a month from selling the
dismantled e-waste to Delhi. There are a few recycling centres in Karnataka like e- Wardd,
e- Parisara, K.G. Nandini Recyclers, Ash Recyclers, New Port Computer Services India
Pvt. Ltd. Recyclers and E-R3 Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in the formal sector. E-Parisara has been
encouraged by the Central and State Pollution Control Board which would like it
replicated in all major cities in the country. The Boards’ initiative attempts to carefully
recycle old computers, their components and other e-waste, generated by both IT
companies and electronic manufacturers. The centre has equipment to recycle up to three
tonnes of waste a day, but is dealing with around one tonne right now. According to the
owner, many corporates such as IBM, Tate Elxsi, ABB and Phillips are among its clients.
But many major IT firms are yet to send their e-waste or stipulate difficult conditions for
not sending their e-waste.

32

32
K. Satyamurty, ‘Managing e-waste without harming environment’, The Hindu, 03 April, 2006.
Jayashree Nandi, ‘Will a Draft Law Reboot e-Mess?’ The Times of India, New Delhi, 21 May, 2010.
 89

Chapter 13 - E-waste Management and Businesses in India: What Lies

Ahead?

Indian e-waste rules are based on the principle of EPR. It is therefore no surprise that the
focus of governments and regulators has largely been on the producers of electronic
goods. A review of published reports, research articles and anecdotal evidence suggests
that the response of producers to the rules is far from satisfactory, and businesses 32 that
include producers and the bulk consumers face primarily the following challenges:

1. Compliance mind-set: Businesses’ response to e-waste management in India has been

almost completely driven by compliance. In the absence of other drivers such as
consumer demand, environmental leadership and resource efficiency, businesses tend to
design their response to keep compliance costs as low as possible. The lack of sufficient
regulatory capacity at central and state levels, in terms of manpower, financial and non-
financial resources, also contribute to businesses’ decisions to bank on the possibility of
escaping with minimal compliance.

2. Lack of awareness: Business response to e-waste regulations has also been impacted
by lack of awareness about negative externalities of environmentally unsafe e-waste
management practices. This lack of awareness is not just restricted to key decision
makers in businesses but also consumers, which in turn impacts consumer behaviour in
dealing with e-waste. There is also lack of awareness about alternative technologies and
processes to manage e-waste in an environmentally safe manner.

3. Challenges in working with the informal sector: Despite implementation of the

Rules seven years ago, the informal sector continues to manage more than 90 per cent of
the e-waste generated in India.33 Businesses, be it producers or bulk consumers, have to
deal directly or indirectly with the informal sector. The absence of an established model
of engagement between large formal players and informal waste management sector, lack
of trust between businesses and informal sector, challenges for businesses in
 90

identification of key actors or players in the informal sector to engage for different steps
of e-waste management (e.g., collection, storage, dismantling, recycling, etc.), difficulties
in scaling up initiatives across cities and states, price related aspects, and issues related to
transparency, corruption and other practices employed by the informal sector are among
the many challenges faced.

4. Insufficient waste management capacity in the formal sector: The waste

management capacity of the formal sector has witnessed impressive growth since 2011,
but is still only about 0.4 million tons.34 This is a fraction of the total annual e-waste
generation that is estimated to be 1.6 million tons. 35 The insufficient waste management
capacity in the formal sector further limits the scope of businesses’ interface with the
formal waste management sector.

5. Other challenges in implementing EPR: EPR originated in the West and has largely
been used for management of different waste streams in developed countries. Due to
several differences in markets and institutions, implementation of EPR in developing
countries like India with its fragmented forward distribution network (from producers to
retailers), large informal waste management sector and different cultural and social norms
for waste will be different and difficult. However, little is known about mechanisms in
which businesses can fulfil their responsibilities in such developing countries. This lack
of established body of knowledge and business models further limit businesses’ response
to regulations on e-waste management.

33

33
Kalyan Bhaskar Article

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0256090919880655
 91

Chapter - SOLUTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS TO E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

India mainly relies on the unorganized sector for e-waste recycling, as there are only a
few organized e-waste recycling facilities. Over 95 percent of e-waste is treated and
processed in the bulk of the country's urban slums, where unskilled employees perform
dangerous procedures without personal protective equipment, putting their health and the
environment at risk. “It is the second-most threatening and toxic waste, behind
radioactive or bio-medical waste," according to the EPA. Recycling and treatment
facilities, especially those with highly complex equipment and processes, demand a
significant initial investment. These laborers are paid barely Rs. 5 or 10 for disassembling
a single computer component.11 Workers' lives are ruined for such a small sum.
Wastewater treatment facilities, exhaust-waste gas treatment, and personal health
protection equipment are not available to such "backyard recyclers." Despite widespread
media coverage and the implementation of some national-level trade restrictions (most
notably in China and India), the problem appears to be deteriorating. As a result, in
developing countries, health risk assessments are also required for the examination of the
repercussions and improper management of end-of-life electronic wastes. As we come to
a halt at a counter with CPUs and monitors neatly stacked on shelves, we learn that there
are between 60 to 100 components in e-waste that are hazardous to consumers and the
environment. 12 These are in excellent functioning order and should easily survive
another three or four years. Prasanth and his crew, the company's founder, are doing
precisely that.13 They extend the life of electronics by reducing, reusing, recycling,
refurbishing, replenishing, and recovering them. They either fix them or salvage their
pieces for use in other goods. He claims that the plastics and steel are recycled. All
obsolete electronic gadgets, whether useable or not, can be restored or disposed of in an
environmentally friendly manner. After Europe, China, and the United States, India is the
fourth-largest source of e-waste." Every year, we produce 2.5 million tones (with a 30
percent increase every year). 14 With a contribution of 13%, or around 3.5 lakh tones,
 92

Tamil Nadu is the second-largest contributor. Delhi and Mumbai’s e-waste hubs are
overburdened. To handle the tones of e-waste, we need stronger infrastructure.
 93

Chapter - CONCLUSION

Governments, particularly in developing countries, face a tremendous environmental

challenge as a result of the expansion of electronic items and the resulting rapid increase
of e-waste over the last decade or so. The minimal impact that India's seven-year-old
legislation have had demonstrates the difficulties that the country faces in terms of e -
waste management. Informal sector e-waste methods, weak regulation design and
enforcement, and low knowledge are some of the issues that India faces, according to this
article. The development of a future e-waste management system should include
meaningful engagement of all stakeholders. E-waste is without a doubt the world's
fastest-growing solid waste source. In the year 2000, laws were enacted concerning the
collection of municipal solid garbage. Solid waste separation cannot be accomplished
solely by employees. Consumers bear an equal share of responsibility because they must
properly dispose of their garbage according to its type. As a result, residential consumers
should be made aware of the importance of proper e-waste disposal. Furthermore, the
number of local e-waste collection sites should be raised and made available at all times
so that consumers can conveniently give over their e-waste. As a result, from the
manufacturing to the end-user, a streamlined procedure should be designed.

After discussing the objectives of e-waste management, it is clear that e-waste

management is a great challenge for governments of many developing countries such as
India. This is becoming a big health issue and is exponentially increasing by the day. In
order to separately collect, efficiently treat, and dispose of e-waste, as well as divert it
from conventional landfills and open burning, it’s vital to integrate the informal sector
with the formal sector. The capable authorities in developing & transition nations need to
set up mechanisms for handling & treating e-waste in a safe & sustainable manner.
 94

E-waste management is a great challenge for governments of many developing countries

such as India. This is becoming a huge public health issue and is exponentially increasing
by the day. In order to separately collect, effectively treat, and dispose of e-waste, as well
as divert it from conventional landfills and open burning, it is essential to integrate the
informal sector with the formal sector. The competent authorities in developing and
transition countries need to establish mechanisms for handling and treatment of e-waste
in a safe and sustainable manner.

Increasing information campaigns, capacity building, and awareness is critical to promote

environment friendly e-waste management programmes. Increasing efforts are urgently
required on improvement of the current practices such as collection schemes and
management practices to reduce the illegal trade of e-waste. Reducing the amount of
hazardous substances in e-products will also have a positive effect in dealing with the
specific e-waste streams since it will support the prevention process.

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is one of the very few companies that seem to have
made serious effort in this direction since 2008. The companies were made responsible
for creating channels for proper collection and disposal of e-waste in accordance with a
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) approved EPR Authorization plan in India.
Recently, the import license of some of the big companies were suspended for violation
of E-waste rules. Such measures have a great impact on effective implementation of e-
waste management in India. Any task undertaken must have its share of incentives which
attract stakeholders. In the field of e-waste management, the government must announce
incentives, which could be in the form of tax concessions or rebates, to ensure
compliance across the electronics industry. Additionally, the e-waste collection targets
need to be regularly reviewed and renewed to ensure compliance across India on
collection of e-waste.
 95

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 M.P. Ram Mohan, Iti Garg and Gayatri Kumar, “Regulating e-waste: a review of the
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 “The draft E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2010” (May 14, 2010)
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of the e-waste trade”, Down to Earth, vol.19, no.1 (May 16- 31, 2010); DSIR Annual
report 2009-2010; “Latest study identifies India‟s e-waste impending”,
Remanufacturing International (Mar. 17, 009).
 P. Srisudha, “Tackling e-waste”, The Hindu (Jun. 28, 2009).
 The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm
Conference was the UN‟s first foremost conference on international ecological issues and
marked a turning point in the development of international environment politics.
 Aditya Ecological Services Pvt. Ltd. (AESPL), Inventory of Perilous Wastes in Maharashtra,
sponsored by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).
 “Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2003”, the Gazette of India
Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3 Sub Section (ii), Published by Authority No. 471, New Delhi,
Ministry of Environment and Forests Notification, New Delhi (May 20, 2003).