In today’s fast-paced world, it has become necessary for someone to take accountability for gathering end-of-life items and sorting them before they are treated. In a bid to promote this undertaking, the Government of India (GoI) has decided to come up with a web-based platform that would enable an easy trade of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates. This initiative by the government is intended to help India in managing the rising threat of e-waste such as non-functional smartphones and laptops.
What is Extended Producer Responsibility and why it is so important?
The full form of EPR is Extended Producer Responsibility. It is on extended value to the manufacturers and importers of E-waste and plastic waste across the country. It is usually followed by an environmental and economical method to the recycling and handling of plastic and electronic waste.
The EPR certificate is mandatory for businesses that are involved into the import of e-waste from other nations to India. For such businesses, it is necessary to abide by the appropriate legal procedure for getting Extended Producer Responsibility Authorization. The EPR License process is trembling and, if not managed prudently can be quite time consuming. To make things easy, it is better seek the support of a business registration expert in India.
What does e-waste mean?
E-waste refers to different types of electronic products that are no longer usable, non-functional, discarded, or have met their working life. The right handling of e-waste is important to safeguard our environment. The process of electronic waste management encompasses disposing of electronic waste in a way to avoid causing any negative impact on the environment. The electronic waste or e-waste can include:
- Personal computers
- Laptops
- Battery
- Chargers
- Mini Computers
- Mainframe
- Washing Machine
- Other products that contain electronic circuits
The launch of this digital platform for EPR certificates trading would held the manufacturers responsible for the handling of their products that are no longer usable. This would also compel them to design and develop products that can easily be recycled and disposed of. Overall, this platform would help in ensuring proper and effective handling of e-waste that can otherwise wreak havoc on this planet’s ecosystem.
The CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) is supposed to draft guidelines for the execution of this platform and establish a price band for EPR certificates. The range tends to vary between 30 per cent and 100 per cent of the environmental recompense amount forced for failing to fulfil the EPR requirements. This tends to award flexibility to companies while safeguarding they contribute to the appropriate e-waste handling.
“The CPCB shall fix the highest and lowest price for exchange of extended producer responsibility certificates which shall be equal to one hundred per cent and thirty per cent, respectively, of the environmental compensation for non-fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligation,” the MoEFCC mentioned in a notification dated 8 March.
In a bid to handle the ever-increasing collection of electronic waste produced due to the enabling of a technology-driven population, the government has brought primary commands for EPR within the framework of the E-Waste (Management) Rules of 2022.
Till date, a total of 5,615 applications of EPR have been received by the department in which 4,865 applications were successfully granted registration. Moreover, the Ministry got 285 applications from recyclers, out of which only 196 were provided registration. As per the data released by the MoEFCC, the Centre has attained a recycling target for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) of 1.05 billion metric tonnes so far.
According to an officer of MoEFCC, “The creation of this new platform will significantly increase our recycling targets’ achievement. Moreover, it is also a step towards establishing a robust and accountable system for managing this growing environmental challenge.”
The Conclusion
Considering the increasing threat of ewaste on our environment, the initiative by the government is really commendable. This would bring in more value to ewaste handling from start till end.