Govt to study product use pattern for minimum e-waste

New Delhi, June 11, 2012: The government is planning to study the consumption pattern of electronic equipment in the country in order to decide targets for their manufacturers on the minimum volume of e-waste — discarded electronic material — they are supposed to get collected from consumers in a year and then get them recycled, as directed by the new e-waste rules that came into force in May.

According to a set of new guidelines, still being fine-tuned by the Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb), each category of products will have a different target for its manufacturers, based on the study of the consumption-cum-disposal pattern.

The CPCB will set up a committee to study the market and the usage patterns for two years, after which the new targets will be prescribed. The final implementation guidelines will be out soon. There cannot be a single target for all products because of the difference in their life span. For instance, the number of cellphones used and discarded in a year far exceeds the number of, say, washing machines.

While rules say that 100 per cent e-waste is to be collected, officials believe that the industry will eventually get there in a phased manner and the guidelines will help weed out the teething troubles in this nascent e-waste regulation regime.

The producer will also be made to maintain “E-waste call centres” to make sure consumers do not face any difficulties in disposing of their e-waste in an environment-friendly manner.

Traditionally facing competition from the unorganised sector in collecting e-waste, authorised recyclers and producers are gearing up to give incentives, including cash-payments in some cases, for procuring used, discarded electronic equipment from users.

One of the biggest recycling companies, Roorkee-based Attero, has already started paying consumers for procuring mobiles phones. They are now formalising their plans of setting up collection centres in 17 cities, including the four metros.

The collection centres are meant to channel bulk of the e-waste away from the unauthorised sector. All producers are supposed to maintain such collection centres across the country.