E-Waste management in India
E-Waste management in India
Under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, twenty-one (21) types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have been notified. These notified EEE at the end of their life becomes E-Waste. The input data for estimation of generation of e-waste is available only from FY 2017 - 18 and for national level generation only. Information on national level e-waste generation is available financial year wise for the financial year 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 and 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 since 04-04-2016 by listing e-wastein 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.
This information was given by Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in Rajya Sabha on 10th February, 2022.
It is very important to ensure that corporates take back their products at the end of their life or when they no longer stop working or discarded else that becomes e-waste and goes to a landfill. e-waste collection points need to be increased so that people can go and drop their old electronic items which can then be reprocessed. We need to give more emphasis on take back/collection and processing of e-waste else India will sink under the massive volumes of e-waste generated.
