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(GIST OF YOJANA) E-waste Management [MAY-2019]

(GIST OF YOJANA) E-waste Management

Due to technological advancement and innovations, the electronics industry is the world's largest and fastest growing manufacturing industry.
Availability of electronics goods in the market has increased temptation of consumers to replace their household electronic items with newer models for various reasons.
The net effect is a higher rate of obsolescence, which is lead in to grow mg piles of e-waste.

Electronic waste (e-waste) comprises waste electronics; electrical goods that are not fit for their originally intended use or have reached their end of life. This may include items such as mobile phones, computers, monitors, calculators, CDs. printers, scanners, copiers, battery' cells. Radio, TVs, medical apparatus and electronic components besides white goods such as refrigerators and air-conditioners.
These gadgets and equipment contain hazardous constituents, although e-waste itself is not harmful. E-waste contains valuable materials such as copper, silver, gold and platinum which could be processed tor their recovery when such wastes are dismantled and processed, since it is only at this stage that they pose a hazard to health and environment.
Electronics and electrical equipment seem efficient and environmentally-friendly, but there are hidden dangers associated with them once these become e-waste. The harmful materials contained in electronic products, and replacing outdated units due to technological updation pose a real danger to human health if electronic products are not properly processed prior to disposal.
Heavy metals such as lead , barium and cadmium contained in some electronic and electrical gadgets can be very harmful to health if they enter the water system. These materials can cause damage to the human nervous and respiratory systems.

India is among the world's largest consumers of mobile phones. With more than 1.5 million tonnes of e-waste generated annually, most consumers are still unaware of how to dispose of their e-waste. Recycling of e-waste is almost entirely left to the informal sector, which does not have adequate means to handle either the increasing quantities or certain processes, leading to intolerable risk for human health and the environment.
The law on e-waste management was first passed in 2011. It was based on Extended Producer Responsibility ( EPR ), which put the onus on the producer for the management of the final stages of the life of its product, in an eco-friendly way, by creating certain norms in tandem with State Pollution Control Boards. It has been made mandatory' for leading multinational companies to set up electronics manufacturing facilities and R and D centres for hardware and software.
E-waste ( Management ) Rules, 2016, enacted since October 1, 2017, had further strengthened the existing rules. The present rule has strengthened the Extended Producer Responsibility ( EPR ), which is the global best practice to ensure the take-back of end-of-life products. A new arrangement entitled, 'Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) has been introduced to strengthen EPR further, PRO, a professional organisation, would be authorised or financed collectively or individually by producers, to share the responsibility for collection and channelisation of e-waste.

Further, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shall conduct random sampling of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market to monitor and verify the compliance of law on Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS ) and the cost for sample and testing shall be borne by the producer.
The random sampling shall be as per the guidelines of CPCB. If the product does not comply with RoHS provisions, the producers shall take corrective measures to bring the product into compliance, and withdraw or recall the product from the market, within a reasonable period as per the guidelines of CPCB.