India's e-waste seen rising to 8 lakh tonnes by 2012
04 Feb 2010
The amount of e-waste generated in the country is expected to increase nearly six-fold to 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012, from around 1,46,800 tonnes during 2005.
A survey carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) also found that the top 10 cities generating e-waste are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Surat and Nagpur.
The ministry of environment and forests has notified the Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Trans-boundary Movement) Rules, 2008 for proper management and handling of hazardous wastes, which include e-waste.
As per the rules, all the units handling e-waste have to register with the CPCB and the hazardous wastes generated should be sent or sold to a registered or authorised recycler or re-processor or re-user as per the rule.
The CPCB guidelines for environmentally sound management of e-waste provide the approach and methodology for environmentally sound management of e-waste, which include details such as e-waste composition and recycle potential of items of economic value, identification of possible hazardous contents in e-waste, the recycle, re-use and recovery options, treatment and disposal options and the environmentally sound e-waste treatment technologies. The guidelines emphasise the concept of extended producer responsibility.
