MAIT incubates Electronics Recyclers' Association

The Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) has incubated an Electronics Recyclers’ Association (ERA) to organise electronic waste (e-waste) handling in an environment-friendly manner. ERA will initially comprise nine members, of which six are e-waste processors and three executive members.

“Besides the amount that is generated in the country, e-waste is also illegally imported and there are only 10 formal recyclers who are collectors as well as dismantlers of this e-waste,” ERA Secretary-General Lakshmi Raghupathy told Business Standard. India imports almost 50,000 tonnes of e-waste yearly . It generated 330,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2007 and the number is expected to touch 470,000 tonnes by 2011, according to a study on e-waste assessment conducted jointly by MAIT and the German government’s sustainable development body GTZ.

The formation of ERA is significant given that last month the government had prepared the draft rules for managing, dismantling or recycling e-waste and will be called the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2010.

“E-waste is one of the world’s fastest growing waste streams and with increased consumption of information technology and electronics products, India will soon be faced with the challenges of managing the same. Currently, an estimated 380,000 tonnes of e-waste is generated annually in India, of which 19,000 tonnes are recycled,” said MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta.

The rules have made it mandatory for electronic appliance makers to collect, recycle and dispose of the waste generated by them. Moreover, the rules also ask citizens to dispose electronic appliances at designated centres instead of dumping it in a municipal bin.

The rules ask the producer to ensure all electrical and electronic equipment are provided with a unique serial number or individual identification code for tracking their products in the e-waste management system. These rules define e-waste as waste electrical and electronic equipment, scraps or rejects from their manufacturing process, which is intended to be discarded.

Raghupathy said high refurbishing and reuse of electronic products in the country and poor recycling infrastructure are reasons for less amount of recycling. Currently, e-waste recycling, especially processing, remains concentrated in the informal sector, which contributes significantly to pollution and environmental degradation due to poor processing technologies and very small capacities.