E-Waste Management: Challenges and Opportunities in India

Description

This book offers an extensive review of e-waste management in India, the world’s third‑largest producer of waste from electrical and electronic equipment. With a focus on the evolution of legalframeworks in India and the world, it presents impacts and outcomes; challenges and opportunities; and management strategies and practices to deal with e-waste. First of its kind, the book examines relevant concepts and issues from across 15 disciplines and six areas of policy making and will serve as a comprehensive knowledge base on electronic waste in India. It links key themes to the global context of Sustainable Development Goals and explores the convergence with technological, infrastructural, and social initiatives in e-waste management. A range of topics are discussed, such as resource efficiency policies; circular economy; toxicity; technicalities and complexities of e-waste management including role of the informal sector and need for recognising social and human costs in policy making. The book deals with the role of statistics; legal trends and reforms; linkages with green Agenda 2030 and UN initiatives; implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR); environmental factors; business prospects; consequences on human health; Life Cycle Impact Assessment; the ‘six Rs’ (Responsible use, Repair, Refurbish, Recycle, Recover and Reuse); recycling practices and problems, material flow and informal sector in trade value chain; fostering partnership between formal-informal sectors; safe disposal; alternatives to landfilling; role of jurisprudence and regulatory bodies; and education and awareness. It also includes a survey of pan-India initiatives and trajectories of law-driven initiatives for effective e-waste management along with responses from industries and producers. Timely and essential, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of environment studies, digital waste management, waste management, development studies, public policy, political ecology, sustainable development, technology and manufacturing, design and instrumentation, environmental and international law, taxation, commerce, electronic industry, economics, business management, metallurgy, and engineering, labour studies, as well as to policymakers, nongovernmental organisations, and interested general readers. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of illustrations Preface Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Chapter 1: Sustainable development and e-waste management Importance of electrical and electronic equipment in a nation's development, and e-waste as toxic companion of digital era I: Let's understand e-waste E-waste management thinking across the globe Evolution of legal definitions of e-waste II: E-waste statistics: quantities, collection and recycling E-waste categories and harmonising statistics Africa region Americas (north and south) region Asia region Europe region Oceania region E-waste flow and data on transboundary movements Creating and updating statistics, datasets: opportunities and challenges III: An overview on status of e-waste related legislation across the globe Relevance of international legislative frameworks across the globe: trends and challenges WEEE directives RoHS directives REACH (registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals) Link between RoHS, WEEE and REACH The Basel Convention Increasing thrust on circular economy IV: UN initiatives for e-waste management: creating partnerships and achieving Agenda 2030 V: Indian scenario: e-waste generation, collection and recycling Historical, domestic e-waste in India: generation and composition Imported e-waste in India Futuristic projections for e-waste in India Essentials of e-waste cohesive management thinking in India Informal e-waste trade chain in India Opportunities and challenges of e-waste management in India Opportunities Challenges Notes Chapter 2: Extended producer responsibility: A mainstay for e-waste management Evolution of concept of ‘extended producer responsibility’ EPR applied for waste management and extended for e-waste management EPR: goals, implementation, and challenges for e-waste management Goals Policy instruments EPR implemented for e-waste management under the existing regulatory frameworks in different countries Process of implementation European countries Asian countries Role of a PRO prescribed in regulatory framework Considerations for successful implementation of EPR Challenges in implementation of EPR for e-waste management Legal provisions related challenges Governance/enforcement related challenges Collection and recycling related challenges Risks of compliance and adverse consequences Challenges faced by PROs Impact of EPR EPR and e-waste management in India Experiences of EPR and take-back campaign by Nokia in 2009 and 2012 Effectiveness of EPR post-rules, 2011 in India: roles and responsibilities of producers Notes Chapter 3: Toxicity and impacts on environment and human health Toxicity, recycling, and regulations Significance of recycling technique and technology in e-waste management I: Environmental concerns Production process, treatment to e-waste, and its impact on environment Mapping of environmental impacts of a cell phone Mapping of environmental impacts of a computer Mapping of environmental impacts of a CRT monitor Linkages between resource recovery and improvement in environment E-waste recycling chain Recycling and risks II: Human health concerns E-waste, toxicity, and its impact on human health Incineration Open-air burning Landfilling Historical mapping of toxicity, environment, and human health Informal recycling operations, toxicity, and health hazards in India Notes Chapter 4: Treating e-waste, resource efficiency, and circular economy Safe environment, resource use, and circular economy Availability of critical resources, their use and reuse Recovery of resources Circular economy: recycling, resource recovery, and resource efficiency Linear economy model versus circular economy Potentials of urban mining in circular economy Recycling and resource efficiency related challenges to the circular economy Significance of recycling technique and technology in e-waste management Urban mining, recycling, resource use, resource efficiency, and circular economy in India Urban mining and e-waste Resource use in India Recycling facility and resource efficiency related The Strategy paper on resource efficiency, GoI (2019) Notes Chapter 5: E-waste management through legislations in India I: Historical backdrop of regulatory regime for e-waste in India Environmental law and regulations: executive and legislative criss-cross No exclusive e-waste regulation until 2011 Brief introduction of E-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 Limitations of E-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 : in conception and execution II: E-waste (management) Rules, 2016 and E-waste (management) Amendment Rules, 2018 Brief introduction to the Rules, 2016 and Amendments Rules, 2018 Highlights of Rules, 2016 and Amendment Rules, 2018 Salient changes in Rules, 2016 and Amendment Rules, 2018 compared to Rules, 2011 III: Analysing performance of EPR and CPCB as regulatory mechanisms Implementation of EPR As policy instrument Awareness related State's initiatives Recycling related issues Performance of regulatory bodies – CPCB, SPCBs, and MoEFCC IV: Legal cases and judicial directives Evolving jurisprudence of e-waste management Comparison: Indian legislation with international legislature Notes Chapter 6: Strategies and initiatives for dealing with e-waste in India I: Overview of pan-India initiatives for dealing with e-waste during 2000 and 2012 Getting to know ground reality, knowledge base created Domestic generation of e-waste Details about imported e-waste Recycling scenario Trade chain and informal sector EPR and take-back campaign Formal-informal partnerships fostered Policy dialogue and advocacy for legislation on e-waste What was not thought about in the policy dialogue and advocacy before 2010 II: Law-driven e-waste management – initiatives by the government, non-government agencies, and judiciary Initiatives by government agencies and industry actors post-2012 Awareness related efforts, research, and materials created Preparing inventory on e-waste Formal-informal partnership roadmap based on work experience, research Corporate sector's perspective and performance Gap analysis in e-waste management representing multi-stakeholder views IFC's e-waste programme in India: multiple agenda achieved Roadmap India – vision 2030 documents experiences and views of stakeholders Shift in discourse and necessary actions for e-waste management by the GoI Indian e-waste sector is expanding Notes Chapter 7: Moving towards horizons I: Legal and judicial domain Architecture of the regulation, EPR, and outcomes Role and scope of statistics and data driven actions Legal compliance by producer, through PRO Regulatory body – institutional mechanism, capacity, and effectiveness Monitoring import of e-waste – not duly addressed Awareness raising responsibility of different stakeholders and their performance – producers, state governments, regulatory body Coordination among different government agencies and missions Scope for legal review, institutional feedback mechanism, grievance redressal mechanism needs to be built in II: Economic concerns Business opportunities Fostering formal-informal partnerships Employment and skills related concerns III: Environment concerns Adopting green technology Improvement in product design unheeded Standardisation related Recycling and disposal of residues related issues partially addressed IV: Recycling culture/recycling society The dust is yet to settle Continuing enforcement of the Rules and innovative initiatives Notes Bibliography Acts and Rules Legal Cases Websites Index