The new e-waste rules notified by the government are an important step forward. However, loopholes which allow producers to evade their responsibility and the informal sector to evade environmental and health controls need to be addressed. It is also important to create mass awareness and make it easier for the consumer to dispose e-waste. Policy should encourage cooperation rather than competition between those responsible for disposing e-waste.

June 5, 2012: Delhi-based Toxic Links, a key campaigner for sound management of E-waste said without monitoring and or evaluation mechanisms in place, nothing is going to change in the coming days.

New Delhi, April 25 2012: According to the latest MoEF annual report, by the end of 2012, India would have generated a whopping eight lakh tonnes of e-waste; the dubious distinction has its serious side effects.

Ahmedabad, May 17, 2012: Following repeated violations of pollution norms in chemical hotspots, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has issued the highest number of show-cause and closure notices in recent times to several clusters of industries. Ahmedabad topped the list with most notices, according to the GPCB’s data.

Increasing incidents of malpractice involving electronic dumping in the absence of regulation have triggered the need for e-waste rules, which first saw an initial draft in 2010. After much deliberation and some further amendments, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has come out with some new proposals that will go into effect in May 2012.