31.6% rise in e-waste generation last year: Ashwini Choubey to Rajya Sabha

India generated 10,14,961.2 tonnes of e-waste last year, a massive 31.6 per cent increase from the previous year, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday

Choubey was responding to a question placed before the House by MP Neeraj Shekhar, who asked for details on the e-waste generated in the past three years. Shekhar also asked for state-wise data and a report on deaths, if any, that had resulted from e-waste.

The minister informed Parliament that data regarding e-waste is only available in the country from 2017-18 onwards, that too only National data.

The e-Waste (Management) Rules were notified in 2016 which got amended from time to time. So far, the Environment Ministry has notified 21 types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) as e-waste.

In 2017-18, India generated 7,08,445 tonnes of e-waste and 7,71,215 tonnes in 2018-19 – an increase of 8.86 per cent.

Accepting the steady rise in the production of e-waste in the country, Choubey said, “The Government has assessed the increase in e-waste in the country during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The formula for estimation of e-waste generation involves the sale of EEE. Scrutiny of sales data reveals that there have been continuous increases in the sales data since 2007-08 and hence there is an increase in e-waste generation.”

The minister said that no deaths related to e-waste have been reported in the country so far and pointed out the corrective measures taken by the Ministry in terms of e-waste.

The minister further said that the Ministry has been promoting and encouraging the establishment of an efficient e-waste collection mechanism, which is environmentally safe and sound, recycling through authorised dismantlers and recyclers of e-waste, hence minimising the illegal recycling and recovery operations and reduction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic components.

According to the rules, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issues EPR authorisation to the producers of EEE along with e-waste collection targets on annual basis. As per the information provided by CPCB, a total no of 1,766 producers have been registered for EPR Authorisation and also 57 Producers Responsibility Organizations (PROs) have obtained registration, said Choubey.

“Presently, 400 dismantlers/recyclers of e-waste are operating in 20 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. These authorised dismantlers/recyclers have an annual processing capacity of 10,68,542.72 tonnes,” he said.