\u2713A proposed framework by Centre for regulating e-waste in India has upset a key link of India\u2019s electronic waste collection system and threatens the livelihood of thousands of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713It introduced a system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compelling makers of electronic goods to ensure a proportion of goods they sold every year was recycled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713They are expected to maintain records annually demonstrating this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Most companies however did not maintain an in-house unit in charge of recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713This gave rise to a network of government-registered companies, called producer responsibility organisations (PRO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713It acted as an intermediary between manufacturers of electronic goods and formal recycling units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713They were technologically equipped to recycle end-of-life electronic goods safely and efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf The associated concern with draft rule:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Recently Ministry issued a draft notification that does away with PROs and dismantlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713It vests all responsibility of recycling with authorised recyclers, only a handful of which exist in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Recyclers will source a quantity of waste, recycle them and generate electronic certificates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Companies can buy these certificates equivalent to their annual committed target and thus do not have to be involved with engaging the PROs and dismantlers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Several PROs have objected agaisnt these rules arguing that dismantling a fledgling system was detrimental to future of e-waste management in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Centre\u2019s stand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Centre has not explained its rationale for dismantling the existing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713The new rules would improve accountability as it would rely on an electronic management system that would track the material that went in for recycling with output claimed by a recycler when they claimed GST (Goods and Services Tax) input credit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713It incentivises to invest in a dependable supply chain that will collect and recycle waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713System managed by PRO isn\u2019t always reliable as there have been several instances of double-counting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Proposed rules shifted responsibility for controlling e-waste away from producers of goods to recyclers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713There were too few recyclers across India and predominant in big cities and in the absence of dismantlers, goods would now have to travel greater distances to be recycled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New e-waste rules threaten jobs, collection network- \u2713A proposed framework by Centre for regulating e-waste in India has upset a key link of India\u2019s electronic waste collection system and threatens the livelihood of thousands of people. \u25cf E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016: \u2713It introduced a system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) compelling makers of electronic goods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":894,"featured_media":116127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1755],"tags":[1797],"class_list":["post-116126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upsc-important-topics","tag-upsc-daily-important-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116128,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116126\/revisions\/116128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}