Union Government notified E-Waste Management Rules, 2016

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 23 March 2016 notified the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016.

The new set of rules will supersede the E-Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 and will pave the way for more transparent and environment friendly management of e-waste across the country.

Highlights of the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016

• Manufacturer, dealer, refurbisher and Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) have been introduced as additional stakeholders in the rules.

• The applicability of the rules has been extended to components, consumables, spares and parts of electromechanical.

• Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and other mercury containing lamp were brought under the purview of rules for the first time.

• Collection mechanism based approach has been adopted to include collection centre, collection point, take back system etc for collection of e-waste by Producers under Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

• Option has been given for setting up of PRO, e-waste exchange, e- retailer, Deposit Refund Scheme as additional channel for implementation of EPR by Producers to ensure efficient channelization of e-waste.

• Provision for Pan India EPR Authroization by CPCB has been introduced replacing the State wise EPR authorization.

• Deposit Refund Scheme was introduced as an additional economic instrument wherein the producer charges an additional amount as a deposit at the time of sale of the electrical and electronic equipment.

• The amount will be returned to the consumer along with interest when the end-of life electrical and electronic equipment is returned.

• The e-waste exchange as an option has been provided in the rules as an independent market instrument offering assistance or independent electronic systems offering services for sale and purchase of e-waste.

• The manufacturer is also now responsible to collect e-waste generated during the manufacture of any electrical and electronic equipment and channelise it for recycling or disposal and seek authorization from SPCB.

• For the first time, the roles of the State Government was introduced in the Rules in order to ensure safety, health and skill development of the workers involved in the dismantling and recycling operations.

• State Government will prepare an integrated plan for effective implementation of these provisions and submit annual report to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

• The transportation of e-waste shall be carried out as per the manifest system whereby the transporter shall be required to carry a document (three copies) prepared by the sender, giving the details.

• Liability for damages caused to the environment or third party due to improper management of e-waste including provision for levying financial penalty for violation of provisions of the Rules introduced.

• Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Committee/Council/Corporation) were given the duty to collect and channelized the orphan products to authorized dismantler or recycler.

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