`Green collection centres` mooted for storing e-waste…..Press Trust Of India / New Delhi April 11, 2008
| The next time you plan to throw away used electronic gadgets or old computers, just look around for environment-friendly dustbins, instead of dumping it to the nearest kabariwala. |
| Based on the Swiss model, the new guidelines on e-waste drafted by the Central Pollution Control Board suggested setting up of green collection centres for collection and dumping of e-waste in a more environment-friendly manner. |
| The producers shall take the responsibility of collection of the end-of-use equipment through facilitating the establishment of a common collection point and suitable storage infrastructure, says the guideline. |
| The cost of setting up these centres would be met through the imposition of an appropriate fee on the product at the point of sale, to facilitate the operation of the buy-back-system and enable to provide standardised rates to the customers. The rate list should be made available to the customer while public-private partnership mode may be considered for the same, it adds. |
| In the absence of any regulation and proper disposal, e-waste finds its way to scrap dealers, which are further pushed into dismantlers supply chain. These guidelines shall apply to all those who handle e-waste which includes the generators, collectors, transporters, dismantlers, recyclers and stakeholders of e-wastes, it said. |
| The guidelines also ensure establishment of e-waste recycling and treatment facility in line with the existing requirements for establishing and operating Recycling and Treatment and Disposal Facilities for hazardous wastes. Such facilities shall be set up in the organised sector, a senior government official said. |
| He added the objective of these guidelines is to provide guidance for identification of various sources of waste in electrical and electronic equipment and prescribe procedures for handling e-waste in an environment- friendly manner. |
| According to a study, the e-waste inventory for the year 2005 has been estimated to be 1,46,180 tonnes, which is expected to exceed 8,00,000 tonnes by 2012. However, there is no large scale organised e-waste recycling facility in India, except two small e-waste dismantling facilities in Chennai and Bangalore. |
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E-waste contain over 1,000 different substances, many of which are toxic and potentially hazardous to environment and human health if not handled properly.
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