Despite a wide range of environmental legislation in India there are no specific laws or
guidelines for electronic waste or computer waste till 2010. As per the Hazardous Waste Rules (1989), e-waste is not treated as hazardous unless proved to have higher concentration of certain substances. The new regulations which talk solely about E-waste are drafted and will be enforced from 2012 onwards. The import of this waste therefore requires specific permission of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
As the collection and re-cycling of electronic wastes is being done by the informal sector in the country at present, the Government has taken the following action/steps to enhance awareness about environmentally sound management of electronic waste.
• Several Workshops on Electronic Waste Management was organized by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in collaboration with Toxics Link, CII etc.
• Action has been initiated by CPCB for rapid assessment of the E-Waste generated in major cities of the country.
• A National Working Group has been constituted for formulating a strategy for E-Waste management.
• A comprehensive technical guide on "Environmental Management for Information Technology Industry in India" has been published and circulated widely by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
• Demonstration projects has also been set up by the DIT at the Indian Telephone Industries for recovery of copper from Printed Circuit Boards.
Although awareness and readiness for implementing improvements is increasing rapidly, the major obstacles to manage the e-waste safely and effectively remain.
These Include:
• Lack of reliable data that poses a challenge to policy makers wishing to design an E-waste management strategy and to an industry wanting to make rational investment decisions.
• Only a fraction of the E- waste (estimated 10%) finds its way to recyclers due to absence of an efficient take back scheme for consumers
• The lack of a safe E- waste recycling infrastructure in the formal sector and thus reliance on the capacities of the informal sector pose severe risks to the environment and human health.
• The existing e waste recycling systems are purely business-driven that have come about without any government intervention. Any development in these E- waste sectors will have to be built on the existing set-up as the waste collection and pre-processing can be handled efficiently by the informal sector, at the same time offer numerous job opportunities.
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