CPCB was unable to coordinate with State Pollution Control Boards for collection and compilation of data regarding numbers of producers, collection centers, dismantlers and recyclers authorized in each state, the CAG report said.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the country's top pollution watchdog, for ineffective implementation of the e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 even three years after it came into effect.
The e-waste Rules, 2011, was the first regulatory notification brought out to manage and process the burgeoning e-waste generated in the country. One of CAG's chief findings, shockingly, is that since 2005 CPCB has not bothered to assess the quantity of e-waste generated in the country. "There is no assurance that generation and treatment of e-waste in the country has been controlled and environmental risks reduced despite introduction of e-waste Rules, 2011", the report said.
CPCB was unable to coordinate with State Pollution Control Boards for collection and compilation of data regarding numbers of producers, collection centers, dismantlers and recyclers authorized in each state, the CAG report said. As per a United Nations 2014 report, India is currently generating a massive 1.7 million tones or 17 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste.
Electronic waste comprises of old, defunct and rejected electrical appliances such as personal computers, television sets, mobile phones and bulbs. e-waste contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, nickel and lead that can cause cancer, brain tumour, paralysis, infertility, joint pain and nerve disorders and also pollute the environment by way of groundwater contamination.
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, only 1.5 per cent of India's total e-waste is recycle by formal recyclers who are approved by state boards.
Another key aspect of the e-waste Rules, 2011, called the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been largely left ignored by CPCB, CAG observed. Under EPR, producers of electronic goods are mandated to manage the 'end of life' of goods. Thus, even after consumers discard the electronic goods, the producers are responsible to collaborate with the government to collect e-waste and organize systems to process it scientifically.
The CAG report though has noted that CPCB set up a committee to formulate EPR mechanisms only in May 2015, a good three years after E-waste Rules, 2011, came into effect. Thus, even today there is no system in place to get producers to manage e-waste.
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