Greenpeace urges govt to adopt draft E-waste rule

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Greenpeace, the global organization that campaigning for the cause of the environment, today called for a swift adoption of the Draft E-Waste (Management & Handling) Rule, 2010 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and said that it was by far the most progressive and fundamentally robust framework created by a range of stakeholders to tackle the menace of e-waste.

“This draft ensures that the vulnerable from unorganized sector are not left in the fringe and offers a clear procedure on regulating import of e-waste for reuse purposes,” said Abhishek Pratap, Greenpeace India Toxics Campaigner. “The rule also takes into account the mainstreaming of the informal sector in the overall electronic waste management system.”

He said it is clear that the informal sector cannot come out of the vicious negative cycle all by itself and has to be supported and educated about the health implications of their work conditions.

Explaining Article 13 (1) of the draft law, Abhishek Pratap said there are no restrictive clauses on the scale of operations of the dismantler and recycler in the rule.

When made into law, this will ensure that “nobody is left out”. It is mischievous to suggest that the rule intends to eliminate the informal sector and favours only large corporate recycling, he added.

Greenpeace said it has been campaigning on the issue of toxics and e-waste for five years now and takes full cognizance of the role of the informal sector as an important value-add in E-Waste recycling and management.

“Our field studies have led us to believe that the health impacts on the workforce from a constant exposure to toxins as a result of rudimentary and polluting recycling practices can only be eliminated through progressive legislation,” the campaigner said.

Greenpeace also said the current provision in Hazardous waste (management, handling and trans-boundary movement) Rule, 2009 remains inadequate to tackle the e-waste imports which come under metal scrap. Greenpeace therefore calls for a complete ban on import and export of all kind of E-Waste, whether as metal scrap or reused equipment for any purpose.

Greenpeace has identified some legal ambiguities in the rule and calls on all progressive stakeholders to join in the consultations to eliminate them. “We will also closely work with MoEF on this issue and make this law a reality” said Divya Raghunandan, Campaign Director, Greenpeace India.