Integrated e-waste management in India-A case of Gujarat

Sumskrutha Talupula1,*, Mona Iyer2

1
M Tech. Infrastructure Planning CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India
2
Associate Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India
* Corresponding author. Tel: +91 9848051639, E-mail: sumskrutha.kutti@gmail.com,shrimon2001@yahoo.com

Abstract

Today developing countries like India are facing huge challenges in managing e-waste which is either
locally generated or imported from developed countries. e-waste is denoted by two main features: it is
hazardous due to its composition of toxic metals and elements, but at the same time it is valuable as it
consists of valuable metals such as gold, silver, etc. India is in early stage of attending this emerging
problem of e-waste and moving forward to achieve a regularized e-waste management system through
“e-waste management and handling rules 2011” which have been implemented on May 1st 2012.
There have been debates and discussions on existing model adopted by India which does not include
the existing informal sector, which is prominent player in terms of e-waste management and
processing. It is important to review the contribution of informal sector and ways to have an integrated
system of e-waste management where informal and formal sectors can play the roles in light of newly
implemented rules. The objective of this article is to form a base for understanding the role and
importance of informal sector in e-waste management system with a case of Gujarat state with main
focus on IT related electronics and explore possibility of incorporating informal sector in regularized
e-waste management system in light of new rules.
Keywords: e-waste, informal sector, extended producer responsibility

1. Introduction

Electronics are very essential in the society today. Electronic gadgets are flooding the market offering
convenience to human’s daily lives with new inventions. But there is another perspective of this which
should be focused on i.e growing piles of discarded electronics which can be termed as e-waste, which
is emerging as a global concern in term of environment and human health. In developing countries like
India, informal recyclers are mushrooming in the peri-urban areas. A study conducted in 2007 on the
assessment of volume e-waste showed that 95% of the actual recycling is done by the informal sector
whereas the formal recyclers handled a minor portion.. Thus, e-waste management by the informal
sector, using highly hazardous and polluting techniques is a reality in Indian cities. ‘e-waste
management and handling rules 2011’ got implemented on May 1, 2012 in India which adopted the
EPR(Extended producers responsibility) model, where there are large expectations from the producers
to manage the e-waste physically and financially. But with the existing established traditional informal
sector in place, it is not clear whether the initiation of formal e-waste management channel can replace
the informal sector and solve the emerging issue. It is expected that the mutual trade between the two
will enhance the social gain & better resource management. Therefore it is needed to analyze the
importance of informal sector and identify the medium of mainstreaming the informal sector as a part
of e-waste (H&M) rules 2011. In this paper we discuss on two major questions regarding the
management of e-waste in India: with a case in Gujarat. The study is limited to IT related discarded
electronics in Gujarat.

1. Can informal sector be integrated with formal proposed system i.e. Extended producers
Responsibility-EPR
2. What are the suitable models of e-waste management which are appropriate in Indian scenario to
integrate formal and informal activities?
The integration of the formal and informal activities would require identifying the strengths and
linkages between the two sectors for its holistic management. The learning from different stake holders
which are spread in different parts of the Gujarat has been linked to have a holistic view. Ahmadabad
city is studied in detail to capture the existing value chain with major concentration on the Informal
sector. This was done by personal interviews, telephonic calls, tracer walks, reconnaissance survey and
attending meetings and workshops during the study period. The existing role of the formal sector
formal sector is captured from Ahmadabad ,Baroda , Surat, Surendra nagar.
1.1 e-waste management in India: regulatory mechanism and current practices
E-waste has been defined in many ways by different organizations and countries. In general e-waste
can be defined as “Any electronic goods or a part of a electronic good which have been used till end of
their life span and have been discarded by their users”.The definitions adopted by different countries
and organizations differ by the type of electronics considered as e-waste which might include
electronic toys, lighting equipment or IT equipment, similarly the type of users are also defined which
include producers, consumers, repair centers etc.
In India e-waste is defined as “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, whole or a part or
rejects from their manufacturing and repair process, which are intended to be discarded” in e-waste
management and handling rules 2011.

e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2010 were published by the GoI in MoEF vide number
S.O.1125(e),dated 14th may 2010 in the Gazette of India and got implemented from 1st May 2012 and
will be known as “e-waste Management and handling rules 2011”.The stake holders identified for e-
waste management as per the rules are producers, collection centers, transporter, dismantler and
recyclers. The rules also have chalked down the actions against stakeholders in the case of failure in
fulfilling any of the rules imposed.

Picture 1:Overview of proposed roles as in e-waste management and handling rules 2011
Electronic waste management in India is done majorly in two different forms i.e. formally and
informally.In India informal sector is self governed & economic/market driven sector. The stake
holders include scrap dealers, recyclers, assemblers, repair shops. The recyclers involved apply crude
methods to segregate substances or material of interest from their original location within the
electrical/electronic equipment. In addition to the hazardous effect the methods adopted are observed
to be inefficient. For instance in extraction of precious metals from printed wiring boards only 20% of
gold can be extracted from leaching process where as if the scientific methods is adopted about 95% of
17 different metals can be extracted as per David Rochat. The other important fact of e-waste is that it
is not hazardous during its collection, storage, transportation and some level of dismantling.
2. Understanding the roles- case of e-waste management in Gujarat

Picture 2:Existing logistic chain of e-waste management – Gujarat

2.1 Informal sector in Gujarat

Picture 3:Scrap dealer at Picture 4:Scrap dealers II at

Gujjari market,Gujarat Kalupur, Ahmadabad Picture 5:Assembler at
Relief road , Ahmadabad
The informal sector is efficient in
four phases of the value chain of e-waste management i.e. collection, storage, transportation and
Dismantling which includes segregation. The Scrap dealers-I act as Door to Door collectors collecting
waste mainly from individual households(Hh). Scrap dealers I are also involved in second hand market
giving an opportunity to apply the principle of Reuse. The IT related discarded electronics collected by
this level of scrap dealers are CPU, Monitor, Laptops, Keyboard, Mouse, Scanner, Fax machine,
webcam, Speakers ,Laptop chargers etc. Similarly scrap dealers – II act as a collection centers and
perform dismantling, segregation and transportation of waste to assemblers, recyclers. The segregation
and dismantling of the electronic waste is done manually using hammers, blades, screwdrivers, power
screw drivers etc without using any safety measures like hand gloves, masks etc. These scrap dealers
are basically from Delhi having their collection center in Ahmadabad. The picture tubes from the
monitors of the computers are transported to assemblers at relief road, where picture tubes are used to
develop new television sets which are sold. The plastic element of e-waste is sold to plastic recyclers,
similarly the Copper wires are sold to copper recyclers. Printed circuit boards which are rich in
valuable metals like silver, gold, platinum is transported to Delhi where they are processed for
extracting valuable metals. The IT related waste found with this level scrap dealers II are Monitors,
CPUs, Hard disks, Key boards, Mother boards, printed circuit boards. Other electronic waste such as
printers, scanners etc are not majorly found, as they are not viable for business. Assemblers and Repair
shops play a major role in reuse of the discarded electronics. At the level of recycling, crude and
unsafe methods like acid baths are used to extract metals. The transportation and storage of e-waste is
mainly taken care by scrap dealers and are transported with required care. Thus, till the phase of
dismantling the informal sector can be encouraged and need not necessarily be transformed to
formalized process. However, the primitive approach adopted by the informal recyclers to extract raw
materials is hazardous to the environment and needs improvement.

Picture 7:Copper extraction Picture 8:e-waste in

Picture 6:Manual
by small scale recycler at Collection center, Baroda
dismantling by scrap dealer
II , Kalupur, Ahmadabad Ahmadabad

2.2 Formal sector in Gujarat

In terms of collection the formal sector is efficient in collection of

e-waste from bulk consumers. Most of the waste found at
distributers is from bulk consumers. The additional role played by
the retailers is encouraging reuse of the discarded electronics. The
collection centers have been recently developed where the first
collection center was set up in Baroda and has spread to different
cities locations like Naroda, Surendra nagar etc. The major
Picture 9: Storage house contribution of collection centers is the historical and orphan waste.
It is observed that about 90% to 95% of waste is collected from
of the Distributers at
bulk consumers. Coming to the formal recyclers, in the present
Ahmadabad scenario the formal recyclers are playing various roles of collection,
segregation, storage, dismantling and metal extraction. In Gujarat four recyclers have been authorized,
the following table shows the type of process proposed to be followed by each of the recycler. Only
ECS Environment ltd. is offering refurbishing and repair services, thus moving forward to reuse
principle.

sr.no Name location capacity process

E-coli Waste Himmat 6012 Collection,Transportation, Dismantling, Primary
1
Management p.ild nagar MTA process
ECS Environment Bodakdev 5000 Collection,Transportation, Dismantling,
2
ltd. Ahmadabad MTA Refurbishing, repairing, shredding and cutting
Pruthvi 1069.2 Collection,Transportation, Dismantling, Primary
3 Rajkot
E-recycle Pvt.LT MTA process
Collection ,degrogstion, Transportation,
4 E - process House VAPI 350 MTA
Dismantling, Primary process
Source: GPCB, 2012 Table 1: showing the details of the formal recyclers in Ahmadabad
To conclude it is observed that informal sector has its own strengths and important role played in
terms of logistics. Coming to Formal sector, the role of the distributors and recyclers has not been
sufficiently recognized in most of the studies and some producers in India have incorporated take back
systems, but implementation of the policy on ground is questionable and should be crosschecked. e-
waste management and handling rules, 2011 suggest to introduce extended producer responsibility
and a new parallel system in India which is expected to manage the e-waste in environmentally sound
manner. Based on the understanding from Gujarat case, in the following sections, approaches for EPR
have been reviewed and potential approach for India has been discussed.

3.0 EPR and potential approach

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental protection strategy, which makes the
manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life cycle of the product which includes take
back system, recycling and final disposal of the product. In order to achieve the objectives of EPR
principle, there are three main instruments used in implementation of EPR model which are economic,
administrative and information instruments. Majority of the countries that possess legislations on e-
waste have EPR as the base for the environmentally sound e-waste management. The approaches
adopted globally for implementation of EPR model are as summarized in following table:

EPR instruments for implementation

Countries
Administrative Economic Information
Europe WEEE Directive -
Finland - discard fee from consumers
Japan - take-back fees from consumers
Switzerland - Upstream combined tax information to
consumers,
Taiwan - Scrap processing fee collection system
recyclers
China WEEE legislation -
Thailand WEEE bill -
India e-waste rules 2011 -
Table 2:Summary -select global experiences of EPR implementation for e-waste

It is observed that in India most of the brands do not have take back services, despite many of the same
global brands provide voluntary take back system in countries like U.K, Canada where the
environmental legislations are very strong as per the study conducted by Green peace, India in 2007.
As per the guide books of Green peace which were published in 2008 and 2010 it was observed that
most of the companies or producers are working towards elimination of hazardous substance in the
products and improving energy efficiency of the product but, there is no improvement found in the
take back system. The table below demonstrates the existing role played by producers in India where
,EPR/IPR is not included in the Indian corporate policy of the producers. Thus, the role of producers
in the current context is limited. In addition to the lack of EPR as a part of the policy the study
conducted by B.M Krishna Manda on the “e-waste management policy in India” in 2008 revealed that
most of the producers felt that the informal sector for collection, transportation and dismantling will
compete with the formal take back system schemes by offering better prices to the consumers, due to
which most of the take back schemes are not working in Indian scenario.
 Global India Information to consumers on
EPR/IPR EPR/IPR Availability of take back discarding of their electronics in
policy policy system India
availability availability on On Easily
global on Indian availabl Partially not
Brand website ground website e available available
Acer Yes Yes √ √ √ √
Dell Yes No √ √
HCL Yes Yes √ √* √ √
HP Yes No √ √
Lenovo No No √
Yes No
*only in
Sony US, Canada √ √
Apple No No √
√ - Available, √* - Available for corporate consumers
Table 3: Tack back system in India

Source: interpreted by Authors from websites of the companies and report on take back systems
in India by Green peace 2007

The other major observation form the study was that if EPR model is made mandatory then genuine
producers would implement EPR whereas the grey market would not. This might increase product
price of the genuine players and the consumers will turn more towards grey market products since the
difference of the price margin will be very high.
In all the
approaches
reviewed, the
producer is made
responsible for
financial and
physical
Picture 10:Flow chart showing the logistic chain developed in China management of e-
waste. But in
China and
Thailand the
approach of
implementing the
model was
different. In China
the existing
Picture 11:Flow chart showing the logistic chain developed in Thailand informal sector is
kept intact and e-waste recycler certification system was also introduced. E-waste collection can be
done by any interested party under the condition that they deliver the collected items to certificated
recyclers. In order to solve these issues of energy efficiency, the Chinese government plans to set up
national standards for secondhand goods and a compulsory disposal cycle. Whereas, Thailand has
incorporated the traditional process of paying back the consumers at collection center which is funded
from “recycling tax” collected from producers, importers. Collection centers will then sell e-waste to
recycling factories or ask them to treat the e-waste. Local governments were made responsible to
certify business entities such as retail and repair shops, recycling companies, community organizations
including waste banks, and hazardous waste treatment companies as collection centers.

Presently in India E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 have overlooked the existing
informal sector which is the foundation of the e-waste management in India. It has also neglected the
lifestyle of Indians who are used to the second hand market which boost the reuse mechanism in the
system, which was considered in China. In this model of EPR adopted, the consumers are expected to
give away the e-waste for free, whereas they are used to traditional practice of sale of e-waste to
second hand market or informal sector, which was used by the Thailand as a part of their key strategy.
Also, It is difficult to place responsibility on all producers or importers, including brand holders of
original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products in India. For instance, if a producer or an importer
goes bankrupt, then there is no entity existing to take the responsibility. On the other hand there are
large number of individual assemblers and repair markets which make major modifications to the
original products due to which the responsibility of the producer might be transfered to assemblers and
repair shops. It is difficult to identify these producers and impose responsibility on them and rules are
not clear on this aspect of refurbished products. Thus, there is a need to rethink on the approach
adopted by India in implementation of EPR model considering the existing situation and reuse
‘culture’.

4Conclusion
The informal sector is the leading sector for e-waste management which is efficient in collection,
storage, transportation, dismantling (segregation of different parts of the electronic).The system has
penetrated in to the city and has an organized process. The other major contribution of informal sector
is, the value of the discarded electronics is enhanced at a higher rate at every stage of the logistic
chain.

Picture 12:Value chain of Monitor in Gujarat where the price has increased to Rs.25000/- to Rs.
3000/-

The informal process is not only source of income, but also the gives a wide range of affordable
options for the lower income groups. It is important to understand that the purchasing power plays a
major role in developing countries like India where there is large gap between the prices of new and
used products. As observed from the monitor example demonstrated above it is understood e-waste is
much more than a waste, it is a product for a one set of business, a valuable product for lower income
groups and above ground mines for some set of people. Thus, there is a need felt in improving the
definition (e-waste rules 2011) which is suitable in India context. The e-waste rules 2011 do not
explicitly mention the role of informally organized process of e-waste management in India. But as per
the case studies there are always ways to incorporate the informal sector as a part of approach to
implementing the model adopted in India which need to be emphasized urgently, as India is in its
initial stage of implementing the rules. In the existing formal sector, mainly the producers who are
expected to play multiple roles i.e. financially and physically. As per the secondary data and literature
review it is observed that the producer is interested in developing his consumer market and would take
financial responsibility of the e-waste which is not a burden when compared to his annual turnover.
And in the existing context also the producers are majorly working towards energy efficient
electronics and reduction in hazardous substances in electronics which has an impact on his consumer
market. Thus there is a need to rethink on the selection of the type of responsibilities available for
producers under EPR models. Other than producers, Distributors and recyclers which are already
acting as collection centers by default should be incorporated in to the system which improves the
efficiency in collection of waste from bulk consumers easily.

To conclude, the existence of the both the sectors are essential for the efficient and environmentally
sound e-waste management. The potential of the each stake holder in the whole value chain is
identified based on their contribution to the whole process of e-waste management in terms of
collection efficiency, value rebound of the discarded electronics, reuse principle and environmentally
sound recycling/processing.

4.1 Possible approach

Picture 13:Identified stake holders for integrated e-waste managing in Gujarat

Here the ‘e-waste’ is considered as the electronic or part of electronic which is useless to scrap dealer
I, Scrap dealer II , assemblers , distributors and retailers. The informal sector is kept intact without
disturbing till its dismantling stage. The informal recyclers are expected to be replaced by the formal
recyclers or should be upgraded with environmentally viable technology. The informal sector which is
kept intact should be made aware about their role and responsibility and should get in to a treaty with
the formal recyclers in terms of dumping the waste. There are two ways identified to tackle with
informal recycling
1. Formalizing the informal recyclers by financially supporting them to upgrade their
technology. (or)
2. Encourage new players coming in to the market of formal recycling by providing
subsidies for few years to cope up with hazards of informal recycling.
The subsidies or the financial support to the recyclers can be covered from the “producer fund”
which all the manufacturers and imports have to pay as per the amount of waste generated by them
respectively. Not only the financial responsibility but also information responsibility should be
given to the producers which include
1. Providing contact details such as address, telephone number/helpline number of
authorized recyclers, distributers who are authorized to collect e-waste to the other stake
holders and consumers or bulk consumers.
 2. Create awareness through publications, advertisements, posters or by any other means of
communication on the hazards of the e-waste, process of e-waste value chain available and
information to prevent e-waste from being dropped in garbage bins.
3. Instructions for handling the equipment and information on hazards of improper handling,
accidental breakage, damage.
4. Instruction on Do’s and Don’ts.
The role of Gujarat State Pollution Control Board, Central pollution control board and Urban
Local Body would be same as per the rules but an additional stake holder i.e. Non-Government
organization should be identified and be made responsible for
 Identifying the informal sector and connect them to the formal process of getting
in to treaty with recyclers
 Identify the interested informal recyclers and help them to get the producer fund
and get connected to the formal process.
 Help the producer in awareness programmes

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