Govt’s Policy for E-Waste Management is Discussed at Rajya Sabha
Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in Rajya Sabha explained that in the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, twenty-one categories of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been notified for fulfilling EPR obligations.
Under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, twenty-one (21) types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been notified for fulfilling EPR obligations. These notified EEE at the end of their life become E-Waste. The input data for estimation of generation of e-waste is available only from Financial Year (FY) 2017-2018 and only at national level. Information regarding national level e-waste generation for the financial year 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 is given in the table below:
| S. No. | Financial Year | Generation (Tonnes) |
| 1. | 2017-2018 | 7,08,445 |
| 2. | 2018-2019 | 7,71,215 |
| 3. | 2019-2020 | 10,14,961.2 |
The import and export of hazardous and other wastes is regulated under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 notified by the Ministry. Government had banned import of e-waste in the country by listing e-waste in the Schedule VI (Basel No. A1180) of the said rules. The increase in generation of e-waste is due to increase in the sales of EEE in the Country in previous years.
The Government already has a system in place to monitor EPR obligations related to Producers/Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) as per the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016. The existing EPR targets are as follows:
| S.No. | Year | E-Waste collection Target (Weight)
|
| (i) | 2017-2018 | 10% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (ii) | 2018-2019 | 20% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (iii) | 2019-2020 | 30% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (iv) | 2020-2021 | 40% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (v) | 2021-2022 | 50% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (vi) | 2022-2023 | 60% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
| (vii) | 2023 onwards | 70% of the quantity of waste generation as indicated in in Extended Producer Responsibility Plan. |
The rules provide for monitoring of EPR of E-Waste through CPCB, for which online portal has been developed in which target of each producer/PRO is duly assigned based on their production data of items as listed in Schedule-I of the Rules. Under the provisions of existing rules, penalty can be levied on defaulting producers/PROs and the obligation would have to be fulfilled even after the levy of penalty. The EPR targets were revised in financial year 2021-22 from 50% to 40% based on the representations received from the industry and in view of the pandemic.
This information was given by Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in Rajya Sabha.
