Govt rules out separate law on e-waste

The Centre is not keen on framing a separate policy to manage electronic waste (e-waste) generated in the country. It believes the existing legal framework will suffice.

Increasingly challenged by environmentalists and NGOs to come out with a comprehensive e-waste management policy, the government recently issued a set of draft guidelines which could become the guiding principle for the management of electronic wastes in the country.

The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, though, recognises the enormous quantity of e-waste generated in the country and its ill-effects.

The e-waste inventory "" based on the obsolescence rate and installed base in India for 2005 "" was estimated to be around 146,180 tonnes.

This is expected to exceed 800,000 tonnes by 2012. Around 65 cities in India generate over 60 per cent of the e-waste in India, while 10 states account for 70 per cent of the e-waste. The biggest e-waste generating states are Maharashtra, followed by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Among the top 10 cities generating e-waste, Mumbai ranks first followed by Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat and Nagpur.

Barring two e-waste managing facilities in Chennai and Bangalore, there is no large scale dismantling facility in India. The recycling of e-waste is mostly done by the unorganised sector, thereby creating health hazards.

But "the government feels that at this point, there is no need for a separate legislation for electronic waste. Besides, all hazardous substances have been covered by the Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules 2003", according to sources. Parliament recently gave its assent to the changes in the hazardous wastes' rules. The government is planning to incorporate the hazardous rules within the guidelines.

The Centre has also constituted a technical committee, which has been asked to elicit opinions of individuals, organisations and NGOs within 60 days which will be incorporated into the final guidelines.

It recently constituted a technical committee of which the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) is a part. Within 60 days, they are looking at preparing the guidelines.

Meanwhile, MAIT is conducting a nationwide inventory on e-waste. Funded by the European Union, this will be a three-year project, the first part of which is expected to be released in October. MAIT has partnered GTZ, a German technology firm, towards this end.

The second part will focus on encouraging best practices in the unorganised sector to help MAIT in handholding the organised players "so that we can build better linkages between the organised and unorganised players," Vinnie Mehta, executive Director, MAIT.