On March 23, Indian Minister for Environment, Forest and
Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardnan announced
that the amendments to the E-waste (Management) Rules.
The move aims to facilitate and effectively implement the
environmentally sound management of e-waste in India.
Minister Dr Vardhan highlighted that the amendment in rules serves
the objective of channelising the e-waste generated in the country towards
authorised dismantlers and recyclers in order to formalise the e-waste
recycling sector.
He also pointed out that the revision of collection targets
under the provision of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in the Rules and
targets have been introduced for new producers who have started their sales
operations recently.
Some of updated rules under the E-waste (Management)
Amendment Rules are as follows:
(1) The
e-waste collection targets under EPR have been revised and will be applicable
from 1 October 2017.
The phase-wise collection targets for e-waste
in weight shall be 10% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in the
EPR Plan during 2017-18, with a 10% increase every year until 2023. After 2023
onwards, the target has been made 70% of the quantity of waste generation as
indicated in the EPR Plan.
(2) The
quantity of e-waste collected by producers from the 1 October 2016 to 30
September 2017 shall be accounted for in the revised EPR targets until March
2018.
(3) Separate
e-waste collection targets have been drafted for new producers, i.e. those
producers whose number of years of sales operation is less than the average
lives of their products. The average lives of the products will be as per the
guidelines issued by CPCB from time to time.
(4) Producer
Responsibility Organizations (PROs) shall apply to the Central Pollution
Control board (CPCB) for registration to undertake activities prescribed in the
Rules.
(5) Under
the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) provisions, cost for sampling and
testing shall be borne by the government for conducting the RoHS test. If the
product does not comply with RoHS provisions, then the cost of the test will be
borne by the Producers.
The detailed announcement of the amendment can be found here.
Feature image: Ondřej Martin
Mach / CC BY-SA 3.0
