Solving India’s E-waste Problem

The challenge is not to push the informal sector aside, but to make it safer, more organised and environmentally responsible.

Continuing from last week’s article, the informal sector cannot simply be viewed as part of the problem. It also plays a major role in collecting and recovering discarded electronics. Repair shops, used-product dealers and vendors operating through e-commerce platforms channel significant amounts of discarded electronics back into the economy. Devices may be repaired and reused, while functioning components can be salvaged and used in other products.

The challenge, therefore, is not to push this existing network aside but to make it safer, more organised and environmentally responsible. Bringing informal workers and businesses into a more structured recycling system could help improve working conditions and environmental practices while preserving the important role they already play in recovering e-waste.

India's e-waste problem cannot be solved merely by collecting discarded electronics and moving them from one place to another. The country needs a system that ensures electronic products are collected, repaired, reused, dismantled and recycled safely, with minimum harm to workers and the environment. This requires better recycling infrastructure, stronger enforcement of existing policies, safer recycling technologies and, importantly, greater awareness among consumers about how and where to dispose of unwanted electronics.

The informal sector, which handles a significant share of India's e-waste, must also be brought into the formal recycling system. This transition should protect the livelihoods of the people who depend on this work while improving their working conditions, safety and environmental practices. Formalising the sector should therefore be about inclusion and better standards, rather than simply replacing existing workers and businesses.

After all, the mobile phone, computer or television that we casually throw away does not simply disappear. Someone, somewhere, has to deal with it. The question is whether we want that process to recover valuable resources safely—or allow it to contaminate our air, water and soil. India's e-waste challenge is therefore not merely a waste-management issue. It is a question of public health, environmental protection, resource recovery and social justice.

Before 2011

Before 2011, e-waste was covered under the Hazardous Waste Management (HWM) Rules, which did not contain specific provisions to deal with the rapidly growing volume of discarded consumer electronics and IT equipment. In January 2011, the government published the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. These rules came into force in May 2012 and, for the first time, introduced the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in India.

2011 Rules

The 2011 rules made manufacturers, importers and brand owners responsible for the end-of-life disposal of their products, including e-waste that had accumulated before the rules came into force. Producers were required to establish collection centres, while dismantlers and recyclers needed authorisation from State Pollution Control Boards. However, enforcement remained largely decentralised and depended heavily on voluntary compliance. This proved inadequate in dealing with India's rapidly expanding and largely informal e-waste recycling economy.

2016 Rules

Implementation gaps under the 2011 framework led the government to replace it with the stricter and more comprehensive E-waste Management Rules, 2016. Published in March 2016 and brought into force in October 2016, the new rules introduced mandatory collection targets, phase-wise targets, deposit-refund systems and the concept of Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs). They sought to regulate the safe handling, collection, storage, transportation, dismantling and recycling of e-waste to protect human health and the environment. The rules applied broadly to entities involved in the manufacture, sale, purchase, collection, storage, transportation, refurbishment, dismantling and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment.

More information about legal provisions in my next article. Till then, my prayers to Shri Ganeshji! Wish you all a very happy, joyful "DJ and Firecracker-Free " Ganesh Utsav!!

(The writer is an environmentalist. Views personal.)