Lok Sabha Question No. 1870 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-12
Subject: Management of E-waste
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sarmistha Sethi, Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1870 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2021

## Management of E-waste

## 1870.   SHRIMATI SARMISTHA SETHI: SHRI RITESH PANDEY:

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

- (a) the details of countries which are depositing e-waste in India;
- (b) the  quantum  of  electronic  waste  (e-waste)  generated  in  the  country  and  the  rate  of generation of such waste along with the estimated quantity of e-waste recycled/treated in the country at present;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  steps  to  acknowledge  the  role  of  State pollution  control  boards  and  pollution  control  committees  in  mitigating  the  gap between e-waste generation and its recycling and urged them to revise the capacity of e-waste  recycling  units  following  the  Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB) guidelines;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) the details of schemes being implemented for e-waste management and recycling of such waste; and
- (f) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  set  up  operative  infrastructure  which  could redress the of e-waste disposal in the country?

## ANSWER

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

(a) The Import and Export of E-Waste is regulated under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016. The import of e-waste in India is prohibited under Rule 12(6) of the said rules. Therefore, no country can deposit its e-waste in India.

(b) The  estimated  quantity  of  e-waste  generation  during  Financial  Year  (FY)  2019-20  is 10,14,961.213 tonnes. The rate of generation for the FY 2019-20 is 31.6% and the rate of generation  for  the  FY  2018-2019  was  8.86%.  The  quantity  of  e-waste  recycled  during  FY 2019-20  is  2,96,356.8  tonnes  which  is  based  on  annual  reports  received  from  28  State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs).

(c) &(d)  As  per  the  provisions  of  the  E-Waste  (Management)  Rules,  2016,  SPCBs/PCCs have been mandated to grant authorisation to dismantlers and recyclers  of e-waste in their respective  States/  Union  Territories  (UTs)  on  being  satisfied  that  the  said  dismantlers  and recyclers  have  environmentally  sound  technologies  and  facilities  in  compliance  to  the guidelines  specified  by  Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB).  CPCB  during  quarterly review meetings held on 16.06.2020 and 09.10.2020, have advised SPCBs/PCCs for ensuring compliance of CPCB guidelines in general and with respect to capacity of the dismantlers and recyclers  in  particular  as  it  has  been  observed  that  capacity  granted  to  dismantlers  and recyclers are not in line with the criteria given in CPCB's guidelines. As on date there are 407 authorised dismantlers and recyclers in the country having authorised capacity of 1,10,103.22 tonnes.

(e) The management of e-waste is regulated under the frame work of E-Waste (Management)  Rules,  2016  and  amendments  there  off.  The  said  rules  are  effective  from 01.10.2016 and have the following specific objectives:

- (i) Extended Responsibility to producers to manage a system of E-waste collection, storage,  transportation  and  environmentally  sound  dismantling  and  recycling through EPR Authorization (EPRA).
- (ii) To  promote  and  encourage  establishment  of  an  efficient  e-waste  collection mechanism.
- (iii) To  promote  Environmentally  Safe &  Sound  Recycling  through  authorized dismantlers and recyclers of e-waste.
- (iv) To minimize illegal recycling / recovery operations.
- (v) Reduce Hazardous substances in Electrical and Electronic components.

Under  the  Extended  Producer  Responsibility (EPR),  the  producers of Electrical  and Electronic Equipments (EEE) listed in the Schedule-I of rules have been given responsibility of  management  of  their  products  once  they  have  attained  end  of  life.  As  per  the  E-Waste (Management)  Rules,  2016,  CPCB  is  issuing  EPR  authorization  to  the  producers  of  EEE along  with  e-waste  collection  targets  on  annual  basis.  Asper  the  information  provided  by CPCB, a total no of 1678 Producers have been registered for EPR Authorization and also 44 Producers Responsibility Organizations (PROs) have obtained registration.

For enforcement of the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 in the country, an action plan is in  place  and  the  same  is  being  implemented  by  all  SPCBs/PCCs  in  their  respective states/UTs. SPCBs/PCCs are submitting quarterly progress report as envisaged in the Action Plan through a web portal developed for this purpose. The Action Plan is at Annexure - I.

(f) Under  Rule  12(1)  of  the  E-Waste  (Management)  Rules,  2016,  State  government through department of Industry in State or any other government agency authorised in this regard has been given responsibility to ensure earmarking or allocation of industrial space or shed  for  e-waste  dismantling  and  recycling  in  the  existing  and  upcoming  industrial  park, estate and industrial clusters.

*****

Annexure - I Action Plan for Enforcement of E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 in the Country

| S.No.   | Challenges/ Activities                                                                       | Stakeholder responsible for implementation                                                    | Action                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| a.      | Inventorization of e-waste generation                                                        | SPCBs/PCCs                                                                                    | SPCBs /PCCs to complete this activity within one year                                                                                                                                                     |
| b.      | Identification of Producers who have not obtained EPR Authorization                          | CPCB, Custom department, Ministry of commerce and Ministry of electronics & telecommunication | This is a continuous activity for which support of SPCBs/PCCs/ Custom department/ Ministry of commerce, Ministry of electronics and telecommunication is required.                                        |
| c.      | Verification of quantity of e- waste collected by producers                                  | CPCB/SPCBs/PCCs                                                                               | This is a continuousactivity. All the EPR Authorized Producers will be verified per year.                                                                                                                 |
| d.      | Verification of systems provided by producers for collection and channelization of e- waste  | CPCB/SPCBs/PCCs                                                                               | This is a continuousactivity. All the EPR Authorized Producers will be verified per year.                                                                                                                 |
| e.      | Verification of facilities of dismantlers and recyclers for their infrastructure and records | SPCBs/PCCs/CPCB                                                                               | This is a continuous activity. All the dismantlers/recyclers will be verified per year.                                                                                                                   |
| f.      | Checking of informal trading, dismantling, and recycling of waste                            | SPCBs/PCCs/District Administration                                                            | SPCBs/PCCs in coordination with District Administration has to carry out quarterly drive for checking of this activity.                                                                                   |
| g.      | Facilitate collection and disposal of e- waste                                               | SPCBs/PCCs/District Administration/CPCB                                                       | State Government to formulate mechanism for collection and for incentivizing setting up of recycling facilities.                                                                                          |
| h.      | Governance frame work for monitoring compliance                                              | SPCBs/PCCs/DistrictAdministr ation/CPCB                                                       | Monitoring to be ensured at city/district and state levels for which nodal officers (state environmental secretary, district collector, CMD/ Commissioners) to bedesignated. Time Frame - Three(3) months |