India and E-Waste
23 August 2007
With the rapid growth of the electronics and IT sectors in India, the issue of ‘e-waste’ is now becoming a major problem. This is exacerbated by the liberalised import of huge amounts of IT related equipment to cater for the needs of the booming software exports and knowledge processing outsourcing businesses.
According to a recent survey, India now produces approximately 150,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. Toxic Links, a Delhi based NGO estimates this to be worth a staggering $1.5 billion. Another NGO, ‘Saahas’ that just the city of Bangalore generates around 8000 tonnes of e-waste every year with the IT and electronics companies of that now internationally known city being the worst culprits. With the IT sector constantly upgrading their systems, some 30% of computer equipment in Bangalore is rendered obsolete annually.
The e-waste, typically from hardware comprises of aluminium, cadmium, mercury, brominated flame retardants, complex plastic blends and of course copious quantities of LEAD! Many electronics companies are known to burn their e-waste comprising of PCB’s, motherboards, cables, connectors etc., releasing large amounts of mercury and lead into the atmosphere.
It is reported that North India annually accounts for some 20,000 tonnes of e-waste currently with computer related parts, PCB’s, keyboards etc accounting for 30% of this waste. With the massive sale and proliferation of low cost mobile handsets, at the rate of some 7 million per month, it is easy to see that the booming economy is going to lead to some serious problems and unless some urgent steps are taken, this could cascade into a catastrophe.
Unfortunately, in India there are no specific environmental laws or guidelines for e-waste. Further, according to the Indian Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) not a single one of the existing environmental laws have any direct reference to electronic waste or refer to its handling as hazardous in nature.
However, according to CPCB, several provisions of these existing laws may apply to various aspects of electronic wastes. Since WEEE ( Waste from Electronic and Electrical Equipment) / ‘E-Waste’ or its residues fall under the category of ‘hazardous’ and ‘non hazardous’ waste, it is increasingly being seen that they can be covered under the purview of the National ‘Hazardous Waste Management Rules 2003’ and the ‘ Municipal Solid Wastes Management and Handling Rules 2000’.
To tackle this growing problem the government has formed a WEEE task force comprising of CPCB, the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Ministry of IT & Electronics, Industry associations, NGO’s and some independent experts. This task force has been identifying, planning and implementing all issues relating to e-waste
With five thrust areas viz. (a) Policy and Legislation, (b) Baseline studies, (c) Restructuring Recycling, (d) System of Extended Producer Responsibility and (e) Awareness Building.
In addition to the Government’s, possibly long drawn out activities in this regard, many NGO’s, as well as Greenpeace are becoming increasingly active in tackling the e-waste problem. Most interestingly, they have even managed to persuade a few leading IT companies of India to take active steps.
One story doing the rounds is that activists of Greenpeace in Hazmat suits, protective masks, thick gloves etc. dumped a huge amount of e-waste in the premises of WIPRO - one of India’s largest IT companies. This forced the company management to sit up and take note of the problem. It is really satisfying to note that within one year of this incident, WIPRO has become 100% ROHS (Europe) compliant. The company has also initiated a total take-back policy of all its end–of–life products.
With WIPRO setting a good example, it is hoped that other Indian companies will follow suit shortly without waiting for comprehensive governmental regulations. Also, with China now enacting stringent ROHS regulations, it is high time that India established its own ROHS regime and its implementation at the earliest otherwise the rapidly growing EMS sector may see itself stumble despite the self regulation currently in place at the manufacturing operations of most of the multinationals.
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