Context

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has comprehensively revised the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 and notified the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 in November, 2022 and the same is in force since 1st April, 2023. 
• These new rules intend to manage e-waste in an environmentally sound manner and put in place an improved Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regime for e-waste recycling wherein all the manufacturer, producer, refurbisher and recycler are required to register on a portal developed by CPCB. 

Highlights of the E-waste (Management) Rules, 2022

• The rules define ‘e-waste’ as electrical and electronic equipment, including solar photo-voltaic modules or panels or cells, whole or in part discarded as waste, as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes.
• The new rules are applicable to every manufacturer, producer, refurbisher, dismantler and recycler of e-waste.
• All the manufacturers, producers, refurbishers and recyclers are required to register on a portal developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). 
• No entity shall carry out any business without registration and also not deal with any unregistered entity.
• Every producer of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and their components shall ensure that their products do not contain lead, mercury, and other hazardous substances beyond the maximum prescribed concentration. 
• 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. Target may be made stable for 2 years and starting from 60% for the year 2023-2024 and 2024-25; 70% for the year 2025-26 and 2026-27 and 80% for the year 2027-28 and 2028-29 and onwards.
• The rules provide for imposition and collection of ‘Environmental compensation’ on companies that don’t meet their target.
• The rules also lay out a system of companies securing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates. These certificates certify the quantity of e-waste collected and recycled in a particular year by a company and an organisation may sell surplus quantities to another company to help it meet its obligations. 
• It also provides for recognition and registration, skill development, monitoring, and ensuring the safety and health of workers involved in dismantling and recycling e-waste.
• Provisions for environment compensation and verification & audit have been introduced.

Concerns

• The informal sector, which plays a crucial role in e-waste handling, draws no recognition in the new rules. The informal sector is the ‘face’ of e-waste disposal in India as 95% of e-waste is channelised to the sector. Therefore, they also hold immense potential to improve the state of e-waste management. 
• In the hierarchical process of e-waste collection, segregation and recycling in the informal sector, it is the last stage that poses a major concern where e-waste is handed over to the informal dismantlers/recyclers. 
• The rest of the stages (collection of mixed waste, segregation of e-waste, clustered accumulation of e-waste according to their type) do not involve any hazardous practices and should in fact be strategically utilised for better collection of e-waste. 

Way Forward

• In order to ensure the efficient implementation of the law, stakeholders must have the right information and intent to safely dispose of e-waste. 
• There is a need for simultaneous and consistent efforts towards increasing consumer awareness, building capacity of stakeholders, improving existing infrastructure, and adopting green procurement practices. 
• This should be supplemented by establishing a robust collection and recycling system on the ground, making it responsive to meet legislative requirements.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1986201