Lok Sabha Question No. 2770 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-21
Subject: Recycling of E-waste
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Rajendra Agrawal, Jagdambika Pal, P.P. Chaudhary

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2770 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2022

## Recycling of E-waste

## 2770.  SHRI RAJENDRA AGRAWAL: SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL: SHRI P.P. CHAUDHARY:

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

- (a)   the steps taken/proposed to be taken to tackle the problem of mounting electronic waste as  consumers  discard  their  electronic  gadgets  and  electrical  appliances  once  their lifespan is over and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)   the  details  of  data  depicting  the  estimates  of  electronic  waste  (e-waste)  generated annually in India during the last three years;
- (c)   whether  the  Government  has  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  any  steps  to  use  the  e-waste effectively  to  generate  any  wealth  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  data depicting the estimates of e-waste recycled in India annually; and
- (d)   whether  there  is  any  study  to  estimates  the  amount  of  the  elements  which  could  be extracted from the e-waste generated annually and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) To tackle the problem of mounting electronic waste generated due to discarding of electronic equipment by the consumers, Ministry has notified E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016  which  were  further  amended  in  2018.  The  Rules  are  effective  from  01-10-2016  and have the following specific objectives:
-  Extended Responsibility to producers to manage a system of E-waste collection, storage,  transportation  and  environmentally  sound  dismantling  and  recycling through EPR Authorization (EPRA).
-  To  promote  and  encourage  establishment  of  an  efficient  e-waste  collection mechanism.
-  To promote environmentally safe and sound recycling through authorized dismantlers and recyclers of e-waste.
-  To minimize illegal recycling / recovery operations.
-  Reduce hazardous substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).

The management of e-waste in the Country is regulated under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016. Under the said Rules, the responsibility of disposal of e-waste in a scientific and environmentally  sound  manner  has  been  assigned  to  Producers  of  notified  Electrical  & Electronic Equipment (EEE) as listed in Schedule - I of the said rules under the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Under EPR regime producers of EEE, have given annual e-waste collection and recycling targets based on the generation from the previously sold EEE or based on sales of EEE as the case may be.As on date, 1982 Producers have been granted EPR  Authorization. CPCB  has also registered 74 Producers Responsibility Organizations (PROs) as on date. There are 468 authorised dismantlers and recyclers in the country having annual processing capacity of 13,85,932.22 tonnes.

- (b) The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 are effective from 01.10.2016. Accordingly, Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  has  estimated  the  generation  of  e-waste  at  the national  level  on  the  basis  of  sales  data  of  21  types  of  notified  Electrical  &  Electronic Equipment (EEE) from Financial Year (FY) 2017-2018. The estimated generation of e-waste during FY 2017-2018, FY 2018-2019 & FY 2019-2020 is given below:
- (c) & (d) Under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, provisions have been made for environmentally  sound  management  of  e-waste  which  includes  environmentally  sound recycling. Environmentally sound recycling leads to recovery of precious and semi-precious metals  such  as  silver,  gold,  platinum,  palladium  and  plastics,  iron,  glass,  aluminum,  and copper.  The  total  quantity  of  E-Waste  collected  and  processed  (dismantled  and  recycled) during the last three FY is given below:

| Financial Year   | Estimated Generation in Tonnes   |
|------------------|----------------------------------|
| 2017-18          | 7,08,445.00                      |
| 2018-19          | 7,71,215.00                      |
| 2019-20          | 10,14,961.21                     |

| Financial Year   | Total Quantity of E-WasteCollected, Dismantled & Recycled in Tonnes   |
|------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2017-18          | 69,414.0                                                              |
| 2018-19          | 1,64,663.0                                                            |
| 2019-20          | 2,24,041.0                                                            |

There  is  no  study  till  date  to  estimate  the  amount  of  the  elements  which  could  be extracted from the e-waste generated annually.

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