Lok Sabha Question No. 4151 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-13
Subject: e-Waste
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4151.

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2019

## e-Waste

## 4151. SHRI RITESH PANDEY:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the policy for regulation of e-waste management;
- (b) whether implementation of the said policy has met with challenges owing to the unorganised nature of the recycling industry and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether due to the unorganized nature of the recycling industry in India implementing this policy has met with several challenges;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Ministry runs any awareness programmes to apprise such people working in the recycling industry or recycling clusters about the hazards of improper treatment of e-waste; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a): The Ministry has notified E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 on 23 rd March, 2016 and has  further  made  amendments  in  March,  2018  for  its  effective  implementation.  The provisions of these Rules include the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), setting up of producer  responsibility  organizations  (PROs),  e-waste  exchange,  specific  responsibility  to bulk  consumers  for  safe  disposal  of  e-waste.  The  Rules  provide  for  simplified  permission process for setting up of dismantling and recycling facilities through single authorisation by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The State Governments have been entrusted with the  responsibility  of  earmarking  industrial  spaces  for  e-waste  dismantling  and  recycling facilities,  to  undertake  industrial  skill  development  activities  and  establish  measures  for protection of health and safety of workers engaged in such facilities.
- (b) to (d): TheE-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 are based on the principle of EPR which prescribes targets for e-waste collection and channelization to the authorized dismantlers and recyclers.  The  total  collection  target  assigned  to  producers  of  electrical  and  electronic equipment  for  the  year  2017-18  was  35,422tonnes,  and  for  FY  2018-19  the  target  was 1,54,242 tonnes. There are about 312 authorized e-waste recyclers/ dismantlers in the country having  annual  processing  capacity  of  7,82,080  tonnes.  The  total  collection  targetsare  well within  the  total  processing  capacity  of  existing  dismantlers  and  recyclers.  In  order  to

formalise informal sector and improve their processes, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and  Climate  Change  along  with  the  Ministry  of  Electronic  and  Information  Technology (MeitY)  has  engaged  the  Centre  for  Materials  for  Electronics  Technology(CMET)  andthe Centre  for  Development  of  Advanced  Computing  (CDAC)for  creationof  online  e-waste Material  Balance  System,  check  leakage  of electronic waste  to informal sector  and improvement in themetal extraction processes.

(e)  and  (f):  The  CPCB  in  association  with  local  bodies  and  NPC  conducted  18  training programmes for various stakeholders including industries, SPCBs & local bodies, recyclers etc  in  2017-18.The  CPCB  has  also  conducted  four  training  programmes  for  producers  of electrical  and  electronic  equipment  between  in  2017.  In  addition,  the  MeitY,under  Digital India  initiatives,  has  initiated  a  project  titled  'Awareness  Programme  on  Environmental Hazards  of  Electronic  waste'.  The  programme  aims  to  provide  training  tools,  content materials, videos, printed materials to create awareness in order to reduce the adverse impact on the environment and human health due to the polluting methods, used in the unorganized sector for recycling  e-waste. Under the programme,1923workshops and activities had been organised in various cities, nearly 13.27 lakhs participants from School, colleges, residents' welfare associations, manufacturer, informal operators etc. The mass awareness amongst the youth of the country has been also been created through cinema, wherein nearly 21.7 crore audience has been covered in 2813 cinema halls.

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