MAIT Urges Govt To Address E-waste Mgmt Hitches

The Manufacturers’ Association for IT (MAIT), the apex body representing India’s ICTe hardware, training and R&D services sectors has urged the Ministry of Environment & Forests to address the hindrances in the successful implementation of e-waste management rules. MAIT had welcomed the announcement of the e-waste rules notified in 2011 and which came into effect in May, 2012. The notification aims at the safe handling and disposal of the growing volumes of e-waste in the country.

MAIT, in a collaborative approach with the industry, has suggested some measures, which were aimed at simplifying procedures and thereby increasing levels of compliance. The ministry had accepted MAIT’s suggestions in principle during the consultative meetings, but no actions have been taken so far.

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Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, President, MAIT said, “The industry had extended all support to the Government to ensure 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. IT is generally highly globalised and organised industry. The decentralised loose multiple authority interfaces is not the best way to achieve the 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 authorisation from the concerned SPCB or PCC (Pollution Control Committee), however, the producers are now forced to take authorisation from multiple states, thus, adding to duplicity in data compilation. For the companies and SPCBs, this only adds to the administrative burden without adding any value addition. Single authorisation 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 authorisation. Companies are facing difficulties across different states as there is no uniformity and every state has setup different parameters for accepting applications, thus causing unnecessary burden both on Producers and SPCBs/PCCs. To make matters worse, some of the states are demanding fees along with the applications. None of these requirements have been notified by the PCBs nor have been communicated to the companies in writing.

Dr. Bharadwaj further added, “The whole focus of industry and government ought to produce healthy outcomes on e-waste collection, recycle and disposal. Last thing that we should expect is chaos at the stage of mere documentation.”

Sabyasachi Patra Executive Director MAIT said, “MAIT on behalf of the IT and electronics industry strongly urges Ministry of Environment and 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.”