In last three financial years 458118 tones of e-waste was collected, dismantled and recycled/disposed in the country.
In financial year 2017-18 the quantity of e-waste collected, dismantled & recycled / disposed was 69,414.0 tonnes, in year 2018-19 was 1,64,663.0 tonnes and in year 2019-20 was 2,24,041.0 tonnes in the country.
While the e-waste generated during financial year 2017-18 was 708445.0 tonnes, in 2018-19 was 771215.00 tonnes and in 2019-20 was 1014961.21 tonnes.
This information was given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on April 7.
The e-waste generated was of 21 types of electrical and electronic equipments notified under the E-waste (Management) Rules 2016 in last three years.
Seventeen state pollution control boards/ pollution control committees started the drive against informal recycling as per the aforesaid Action Plan during Financial Year 2020-2021.
The rules were amended in 2018 for management of electronic waste generated due to discarding of electronic equipment by the consumers.
The objectives of the rules to extended responsibility to producers to manage a system of E-waste collection, storage, transportation and environmentally sound dismantling and recycling through EPR Authorization, to promote and encourage establishment of an efficient e-waste collection mechanism, to promote environmentally safe and sound recycling through authorized dismantlers and recyclers of e-waste, to minimize illegal recycling / recovery operations and reduce hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
The action plan for enforcement of E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, was taken across the country since May, 2019.
The action plan is to be implemented by all the states/UTs and State Pollution Control Boards /Pollution Control Committees are required to submit their quarterly progress reports to Central Pollution Control Board to review progress.
In the said action plan, checking informal traders, dismantlers, recyclers of e-waste have been taken-up as one of the action points. Drives for identification of informal activities are to be done by all the SPCBs along with district administration of the State.
An e-waste management review portal has also been developed for uploading status & progress of e-waste action plan.
The actions, such as, constitution of teams for carrying out drives, issuing of notices, closure of operation, seizing the E-Waste against the informal processing are being taken up by the the boards and committees.
