' The informal recycling sector in India is handling over 90% of the e-waste'

What is the e-waste policy laid by government of India for IT and electronic equipment?

In May 2011, the government of India notified E-Waste (Management &Handling) Rules to channelize the e-waste generated for eco-friendly recycling and disposal. This policy takes into account all equipment that are dependent on electric currents or electro-magnetic fields to be fully functional, and all forms of ‘e-waste' referring to waste electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part or rejects from their manufacturing and repair process, which are intended to be discarded, so it includes all forms of IT and electronic equipment. The rules came into effect in May 2012 so that various stakeholders get adequate time to prepare themselves and also to put in place the required infrastructure.

The primary feature of this rule is "Extended Producer Responsibility" (EPR), which places the prime responsibility of e-waste management on the producers of the electrical and electronic OEMs, including the IT industry. According to EPR the producer of electrical and electronic equipment is given the responsibility of managing such equipment after the end of the product's useful life i.e. once their products have been discarded by the end consumer.

The rules applies to every producer, consumer or bulk consumer, collection centre, dismantler and recycler of e-waste, basically anyone involved in the electronics lifecycle, right from the manufacture, sale, purchase to processing of end of life electrical and electronic equipment or components.

This policy also aims to reduce the usage of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment by specifying threshold for use of such materials including lead, mercury and cadmium.

What is the e-waste management scenario in India today?

According to a recent study by the StEP Initiative, global e-waste volumes are expected to grow 33% by 2017. Another recent market report by Transparency Market research, found that e-waste volumes in India are expected to surpass 2.15 Million Tons by 2018. These figures highlight the urgent need for a proper mechanism of e-waste disposal to be set in place. However, apart from rapidly increasing discard rates of electronic equipments fuelling e-waste generation, along with illegally imported e-waste, India has several other reasons to worry about - these include the unmonitored informal sector, use of crude recycling processes, prevalence of child labor, toxic working conditions and lack of awareness among consumers.

The informal recycling sector in India is responsible for handling over 90% of the e-waste. Typically, these consist of independent players who operate out of open scrap yard setups, where they use primitive and crude techniques like acid leaching and open air burning to process e-waste, which releases toxins into the air, soil and groundwater, resulting in environmental pollution and health hazards. The workforce in the informal sector consists of manual, unskilled labor. Such setups also don't have appropriate facilities to safeguard the health of workers - they dismantle toxic e-waste with bare hands, exposing themselves to hazardous chemicals. The informal sector itself is mobile, which is why regulations might not be as effective as intended.

Child labour is another major concern in the current e-waste scenario. According to a recent study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), over 35,000-45,000 child labourers between the age group of 10-14 years are estimated to be working in collection, segregation, and distribution of e-waste without adequate protection, in Delhi alone.

While the E-waste Rules 2011 and its implementation by the government have been helpful, a lot still remains to be done. Mere enactment of laws is not going to help if the enforcement is weak. Consumer awareness and responsibility of the producers is vital in improving compliance. However, currently the lack of awareness among consumers regarding the hazardous nature of e-waste and the necessity of its proper disposal is proving to be a big challenge.

An end to end solution for electronic waste management and higher levels of consumer awareness regarding the hazards of e-scrap are required. Stricter regulations on employment of child labour in the recycling sector, stricter environmental regulations and effective monitoring of compliance are essential to ensure proper and responsible e-waste disposal.

This is where Attero is helping make a difference - from curbing improper disposal of electronic waste in the informal sector by assimilating them into the organized sector, to raising mass awareness. The company has launched a two pronged approach to address these issues - the first, leveraging technology to develop an eco-friendly recycling process for electronics and the second, raising public awareness about hazards associated with electronic junk and establishing a consumer e-waste take back model by working together with the informal sector under the Clean e-India Initiative.

How are IT organizations currently managing e-waste recycling?

While the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 came into effect in May 2012, many corporate entities including IT organizations still don't have any mechanism for eco-friendly disposal of their e-waste in place. That being said, a number of organizations have tied up with Attero to ensure eco-friendly disposal of their e-waste as it offers complete end and end e-waste recycling.

Attero is currently working with hundreds of corporate organizations and several OEMs for recycling e-waste including Wipro, Samsung and Voltas among others. Apart from eco-friendly recycling of their e-waste, these organizations also benefit from Attero's other services, which include complete data sanitization, asset recovery and refurbishing. Attero is also the only company in India to have established an offline/online collection channel for e-waste from over 500 cities across 25 states. The collected e-waste is then processed at Attero's state-of-the-art recycling plant.

How are carbon credits managed?

Carbon Credit is a generic term that refers to any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of Carbon Dioxide or an equivalent amount of any other Greenhouse Gas (GHG). An organization can manage its Carbon Credits by reducing its overall carbon and GHG emissions into the environment. So if an entity has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1 ton it receives 1 carbon credit. Attero spearheaded the process to get e-waste recycling approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a means of lowering Carbon and GHG emissions and managing Carbon Credits. Attero is now globally, the only company approved by the UNFCCC to collect Carbon Credits and award it to organizations for recycling e-waste and reducing carbon/GHG emissions.

What measures are IT organizations taking today to earn carbon credits through e-waste recycling management?

Recycling e-waste is a suitable option for IT organizations to earn Carbon Credits and lower their Carbon Footprint as they often upgrade to new equipment, which renders old equipment obsolete. These obsolete electronic equipments can be channelled towards recycling to earn Carbon Credits from Attero, as it is the only company worldwide to award Carbon Credits for recycling e-waste.

Recycling e-waste as a viable means of reducing Carbon and GHG emissions works by displacing the production of new materials made from virgin inputs and replacing them with equivalent materials obtained through recycling e-waste. When IT organizations recycle their e-waste with Attero, they help to reduce energy consumption and lower GHG emissions associated with extraction of raw materials and manufacture of virgin materials by directly avoiding these processes. The amount of Carbon and GHG emissions avoided translates into Carbon Credits earned by IT organizations.