Status of E-Waste Management in India and

impact of impending legislation

Group 2
Nivesh Arora
Nitin Chaswal
Mithun PJ
Avinash Saxena
Ammar Patel
• Recommendations
• Conclusion
• E waste management services of electronics companies
• Processes involved in E-waste recycling
• Existing legislations and laws in India
• Organizations working on E-waste issues and its Impacts
• E-waste recycling in India
• Environmental laws
• Basel Convention
• How hazardous is e-waste?
• Introduction
• What is e-waste?
How we will move on…
 Introduction

• Video
 What is E-Waste???
A term used to describe old, end-of-life electronic appliances such as

 Computers,
 Laptops,
 TVs,
 DVD players,
 Mobile phones,
 MP3 players, etc. Large
Consumer
household
Equipment
appliances
IT and Telecom Equipments
which have been disposed by their original users
 Magnitude of problem
• Total e-waste generation in India is approximately 1,46,000 lakh tonnes to
3.3 lakh tonnes a year and is expected to touch 4.7 lakh tonnes by 2011

• Projected growth for e-waste generation is about 34%

 
• Of the total e-waste generated in the country

 Western India35%
 Southern 30%
 Northern 21%
 Eastern 14%

• The top states in order of highest contribution to waste electrical and

electronic equipment (WEEE) include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat,
What does the Basel Convention say?

• An international treaty that was designed 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 has provided for two lists.

• List A, found in Annexure VII, is presumed to be hazardous and thus covered
by the Basel Convention;

• List B, found in Annexure IX, is presumed to be non-hazardous and thus not

subject to the Basel Convention.

• US refuses to adopt the Basel Convention

 Why E- waste is exported to India ?

• Cheap labour

US - $ 30/ computer
India - $ 2/ computer
Saving - $ 28/ computer

• Weak environmental laws

• Excess dumping of CRT tubes due to the ramp walk of flat screen monitors

• Driven by the potential for corporate profits

 How hazardous is e-waste?
Contains over 1,000 different substances and chemicals. Many of which are toxic and
are likely to create serious problems or the environment and human health

Lead:
Damage to central and peripheral nervous systems and kidneys

Cadmium:
Toxic cadmium compounds accumulate in the human body, especially the kidneys.

Mercury:
Damage to organs including the brain and kidneys, as well as the fetus.
The developing fetus is highly vulnerable to mercury exposure.

Chromium:
Chromium VI can cause damage to DNA and is extremely toxic in the environment.
E-waste recycling in India
 Recycle steps in India

• Manual Dismantling

• Refining and Conditioning

• Final Disposal:
 Existing Legislations &Policy of E-waste

• Draft Hazardous Materials Rules, 2007 is a part of the Environment

Protection Act,1986.

• India is a signatory to the Basal Convention.

• Otherwise there is no policy on e-waste, although some parts of computers

could be considered as hazardous waste.
 Existing Legislation…
• Covered under the “Hazardous Waste Amended Rules, 2003” in List A and B of
Schedule 3.

• Rule is inadequate to handle

 Generation,
 Transportation
 Disposal

of this complex waste

• Regulators unable to monitor and regulate the informal sector

 Need for Legal Framework

• Ban on total imports of E waste.

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

• Need to address safe disposal of domestic waste.

• Tie recycling in with take-back product responsibility.

 Ingredients of legislation
• 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

Organisations working on E-waste issues
Within India

• The E-waste Guide, India (www.ewaste.in).

• National Solid Waste Association of India (NSWAI) (www.nswai.com).

• Toxics Link (www.toxicslink.org).

• Others are
 WEEE Forum,
 Clean India,
 Indian Environmental Society,
 INDIA HABITAT CENTRE
 Microbial Biotechnology Area of Tata Energy Research Institute.
 No take back services in India
• Nine brands have no takeback service in India
• But the same global brands providing a voluntary takeback service in
countries like the US.
 Take back services
• Samsung

 Claims to have a take back service but only one collection point for whole India - at
their production plant.
 Samsung only offers a take back service for its mobile phones, nothing for all their
other products.

• HCL and Wipro

 Best take back service in India.

• Other brands that do relatively well are: Nokia, Acer, Motorola and LG

 Nokia has 354 collection points, takes back for free, but the service is only working in
the big cities.
 Acer only provides on-line registration, but the service is free.
 Motorola has free take back but just 10 collection points in 7 cities.
 LG only provides a take back service for its mobile phones at 9 collection points, not
for the rest of its large product portfolio.
Implementation of clean e-waste channel
State-of-the-art Recycling Technologies

• Detoxication

• Shredding

• Refining
 Hazardous Technologies

• Incineration

• Open Burning
• Landfilling
E-waste related laws of India
• Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Amended Rules, 2003

• DGFT (Exim policy 2002-07)

 Recommendations For Action

• Technical interventions
o Inventory management
o Production process modification
o Volume reduction
o Recovery and reuse
o Use of renewable materials and energy
o Electronic components of biodegradable material
o Green packaging option
o Use of minimal packaging material
• Policy level intervention
o Clear definition of e-waste for regulation
o An integrated IT waste management policy
o Take back policies
 Recommendations For Action

• Implementation and capacity building

o Institutional capacity building
o Formalizing the recycling sector

• Awareness building
o Donating for reuse
o Buy energy efficient , recycled products
o Public awareness campaigns
 CONCLUSION

India is placed in a very interesting position. The need of the hour is

• An urgent approach to the e-waste hazard by technical and policy-

level interventions

• Implementation and capacity building

• Increase in public awareness

So that India is ready to deal with future problems and can set global
credible standards concerning environmental and occupational health.