MAIT demands easy e-waste management rules

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Experts from industry voiced their concerns on lack of adequate mechanism for e-waste management in the country and agreed that it was of strategic importance and interest of everyone to have one in place, during the day long CEO/CSO Dialogue on e-waste.

The event was organized by The Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), the apex body actively representing ICT Manufacturing, Training, IT, Design, R&D. Officials from Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Central Pollution Control Board, GIZ and DeitY were also a part of this event to address what government is doing to provide necessary support for managing E-waste in the country.

Highlighting the hurdles in the successful implementation of e-waste management rules, Anwar Shirpurwala, executive director, MAIT, said, "One of the large issue that industry is facing is getting clearance from various state and central agencies and we therefore urge the government to take immediate steps in order to troubleshoot this challenge."

While stressing on the various provisions of e-waste rules, Dr. Dieter Mutz, director, GIZ-IGEP, said, "e-waste is not only an issue of public sector or private sector, but rather an issue which requires larger attention and both these sectors shall have to support each other for the same. We should not look at e-waste from disposal or hygiene point, the concern should rather be on how we as industry can ensure the right resources for product development and be in the business of selling IT products."

MAIT has also successfully launched several programmes on e-waste awareness targeted towards the bulk consumers, informal sector and government institutions.

This dialogue was an important platform for industry as it served as a platform to share and highlight best practices on e-waste managmenet. Senior Management Representatives from companies like Lenovo, Dell, HCL Infosystems, Ericsson, Punjab National Bank, Intel, Yes Bank, Canon, WeP Peripherals, Panasonic and others graced the event and discussed the issues & challenges faced by them in order to implement E-Waste rules.