India is one of the biggest producers of electronic waste in the world.
In 2016, the Centre notified E-waste (Management) Rules and one of its highlights was the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). It means the manufacturers of electric and electronic equipment must facilitate their collection and return it to authorised dismantlers or recyclers.
The E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 introduced the concept of EPR for the first time in India which made all the producers of electronic goods responsible for the waste production management. The amendment to the e-waste policy, with the new E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, set stringent targets for the producers to collect and recycle end-of-life products of their goods.
EPR AND PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITIES
The extended producer responsibility entails three liabilities and the extent of these liabilities is determined by legislation. These three liabilities are described below:
Economic responsibility means that the producer will cover all or part of the expenses, for example, for the collection, recycling or final disposal of products he is manufacturing. These expenses could be paid for directly by producer or by a special fee.
Physical responsibility is used to characterize the systems where the manufacturer is involved in the physical management of the products and/or their effects. The manufacturer may also retain ownership of his product throughout the product’s lifecycle and therefore be responsible for environmental damage caused by it.
Informative responsibility signifies several different possibilities to extend responsibility for the products by requiring the producers to supply information on the environmental properties of the products they are manufacturing.
Extended producer responsibility and Polluters pays principle
EPR is based on the polluter-pays principle (PPP), but emphasises life-cycle impact of the products.
The authorities in the last decade has imposed the burden on the producers of these goods to be responsible for their end of-life management. The producer may also choose to delegate this responsibility to a third party, a so-called producer responsibility organization (‘PRO’), which is paid by the producer for used product management.
PRO is defined as a professional organization authorized or financed collectively or individually by producers, which can take the responsibility for collection and channelization of e-waste generated from the ‘end-of-life’ of their products to ensure environmentally sound management of such e- waste.4 A PRO/Agency is a professional organization that helps Producers/Brand Owners meets their EPR targets through various processing technologies for plastic waste including MLP or its End of Life applications like Waste to Energy, Waste to fuel, Waste to Road and Waste to cement kiln in the country.
In India, the concept of PRO is recognized in two sectors namely, plastic waste management and e- waste management. The E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016, and Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, imposes primary burden on the producer for collection of waste plastic electronic products. They need to establish a system for collecting back the waste generated due to their products.