MAIT has urged the Ministry of Environment & Forests to address the hindrances in the successful implementation of e-waste management rules. It had welcomed the announcement of the E-Waste Rules notified in 2011 that came into effect during May, 2012. The notification aims at the safe handling and disposal of the growing volumes of e-Waste in the country.
MAIT has suggested some measures aimed at simplifying procedures and boosting compliance levels. The ministry had accepted MAIT’s suggestions in principle during the consultative meetings, but no action has been taken so far.
Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, President, MAIT, said, “The industry had supported the Government in ensuring the successful implementation of the rules. However, it is unfortunate that the apprehensions voiced by MAIT when the Rules were first notified are coming true and, in the absence of clarity on certain matters, the industry is not sure if the compliance steps adopted by them will serve the intended purpose. The decentralized loose multiple authority interfaces is not the best way to achieve set objectives. The experience of old Inspector Raj is beginning to be felt as our members are approaching individual State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) with diverse compliance requirements.”
The challenge that the industry face are that the Rules mention obtaining an authorization from the concerned SPCB or Pollution Control Committee (PCC). However, producers are now forced to take authorization from multiple states, adding to duplicity in data compilation. For companies and SPCBs, this only adds to the administrative burden without any value addition. Single authorization will improve level of compliance amongst the companies; this information can be shared amongst various SPCBs and PCCs.
The bigger challenge emerges while submitting documents for authorization. Companies are facing difficulties across states as there is no uniformity and every State has set up different parameters for accepting applications resulting in an unnecessary burden—both on Producers and SPCBs/PCCs. To make things worse, some states are demanding fees along with the applications. None of these requirements have been notified by the PCBs nor have any been communicated to companies in writing.
Dr. Bharadwaj added, “The whole focus of the industry and government ought to produce healthy outcomes on e-waste collection, recycle and disposal. The last thing that we should expect is chaos at the stage of documentation.”
Sabyasachi Patra Executive Director, MAIT, said, “MAIT, on behalf of the IT and electronics industry, strongly urges Ministry of Environment & Forests to take immediate steps to mitigate the problems by simplifying procedures to increase the levels of compliance on new e-Waste rules as the industry is ready for an effective e-waste management plan. A speedy resolution to these challenges will allow the industry to focus on other key priorities.”
