E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022

E-Waste (Management) Rules 2022

Subject : Environment

Section: Pollution

Context: The Government notified the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022, on November 2, 2022. These rules will replace the E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016, and will be effective from April 1, 2023. These rules will launch a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regime for e-waste recycling.

E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022

• The salient feature of new rules is as under:
  • Applicable to every manufacturer, producer, refurbisher, dismantler, and recycler who must register with CPCB.
  • No entity shall carry out any business without registration and not deal with any unregistered entity.
  • The authorization has now been replaced by registration through an online portal, and only manufacturers, producers, refurbishes and recyclers require registration.
  • It includes the provision of an EPR framework with the mandatory requirement of ‘Registration of Stakeholders’ (manufacturer, producer, refurbisher, and recycler).
  • A ‘digitalized systems approach’ is also proposed in the new rules (2022) which will address the challenges of the weak monitoring systems, lack of transparency, inadequate compliance, and channelizing processing to the informal sector (which is a violation of the law).
  • A common digital portal will also reduce instances of ‘paper trading’ or ‘false trails’. It means the practice of falsely revealing 100% collection on paper while collecting and/or weighing ‘scrap’ to meet targets.
  • It also briefly touches on the two aspects namely ‘component recovery’ and ‘residual disposal’.
  • Component recovery refers to adequate and efficient recoveries of rare earth metals so as to reduce dependence on virgin resources.
  • Residual disposal means the safe disposal of the ‘residual’ material during the e-waste recycling process.

• Schedule I has been expanded, and now 106 Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) have been included under the EPR regime.
• Producers of notified EEE have been given annual E-Waste Recycling targets based on the generation from the previously sold EEE or based on sales of EEE, as the case may be.
• Management of solar PV modules /panels/ cells added in new rules.
• The recycled quantity will be computed based on end-products to avoid false claims.
• Provision for generation and transaction of EPR Certificate has been introduced.
• Provisions for environmental compensation and verification & audit have been introduced.
• Under these rules, a provision for reducing hazardous substances in the manufacturing of EEE has been provided. It mandates that every producer of EEE and their components shall ensure that their products do not contain lead, mercury, and other hazardous substances beyond the maximum prescribed concentration.

E waste:

• The International Telecommunication Union defines e-waste as all items of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and its parts that have been discarded by its owner as waste without the intent of re-use.
• This waste is classified into six categories: Cooling and freezing equipment like refrigerators, freezer other equipment such as televisions, monitors, laptops, notebooks and tablets.
• It also comprises fluorescent lamps and other large and small equipment like washing machines, clothes dryers, dish-washing machines, vacuum cleaners and microwaves.
• The e-waste stream contains diverse materials — most prominently hazardous substances such as lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), mercury, polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and valuable substances such as iron, steel, copper, aluminum and plastics.
• Decomposing e-waste is an expensive process and only a few developed countries can afford to do so.
• Laws to manage e-waste have been in place in India since 2011, mandating that only authorized dismantlers and recyclers collect e-waste. E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 was enacted in 2017.
• India’s first e-waste clinic for segregating, processing and disposal of waste from household and commercial units has been be set-up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

• It  is a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility financial and/or physical for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products.
• Assigning such responsibility could in principle provide incentives to prevent wastes at the source, promote product design for the environment and support the achievement of public recycling and materials management goals.