The Government of India (GoI) introduced the E-Waste Management Rules in 2016. The rules apply to businesses that are generating electronic waste items. The rules specify that businesses should make arrangements for the safe disposal of scrapped electronic items. The rules are administered by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
As the decomposition of electronic items will take a more prolonged and different methodology, the companies are asked to separate the wastes at source. To address the issue, the Government of India has introduced the Extended Producer Responsibility Plan as part of the E-Waste Management Rules. Under the plan, companies should undertake the responsibility to recycle a minimum percentage of the electronic products manufactured.
The E-Waste Management Rules mention the ceiling limit for hazardous chemicals that are used in manufacturing electronic products. The rules also specify the procedure to obtain authorisation from the Pollution Control Board for handling e-waste.
Rules
A business which manufactures electrical and electronic items should follow the rules mentioned below:
- The company should ensure that the concentration of the following chemicals is within limits specified below:
- The chemicals lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers can be added up to 0.1% of the total weight of the product.
- The chemical cadmium can be added up to 0.01% of the total weight of the product.
- The company should make arrangements to collect electrical and electronic items which have reached the end of their useful life. These items should be obtained from the consumers and transported to the warehouse of the dismantler or recycler. The company should ensure that no damage is caused to the environment on account of moving such items.
- A symbol should be affixed to indicate that the product should not be discarded along with the regular waste. The symbol may be prominently placed on the product or in the user manual.
- The Extended Producer Responsibility Plan forms part of the E-Waste Management Rules. Under the plan, companies are recommended to provide for a scheme of deposit. The scheme should specify that an amount is payable as a deposit by the consumer who buys the product. When the product has exhausted its useful life, the consumer can return the product to the company and reclaim the deposit with interest. A separate department should be formed in the company so that customers can make use of the scheme. The department can be known as the E-Waste Collection, Handling and Disposal Department. The functions of this department are:
- To provide a platform for interaction with customers who wish to return old electronic items to the company
- To collect the items and preserve them in a way that does not cause damage to the environment
- To forward the items to the dismantler or recycler
- To ensure that a dedicated address, e-mail address, and the toll-free helpline number is available for customers to contact when they want to return the old electronic items
- To ensure that any deposit made by a customer at the time of purchase is refunded when the product is returned
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