The Central Pollution Control Board will this year begin random checks on mobile phones, laptops and other electronic goods to check whether their constituent metals exceed safety norms. Under a directive called Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), officials will buy phones, disassemble them and, through chemical tests, check whether the levels of lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers exceed prescribed norms. The tests will be conducted at the Hyderabad-based Centre for Materials for Electronic Technology.
If a company falls foul of the rules, it will have to withdraw its line of products or pay fines. “We hope to begin with several China-made phones and extend investigations to phones of all ranges,” Vinod Babu, who heads electronics-waste regulation at the CPCB, told The Hindu .
The decision followed key amendments to the Electronic Waste Management Rules (EWR) formalised on Thursday, according to Mr. Babu. While the EWR, first specified in 2016, required companies to ensure that at least 30% of their e-waste was collected by 2017, these targets have now been relaxed. Additionally, manufacturers, who had not been in the business for long, now have less ambitious collection requirements.
Rules for recycling
According to the older rules that became effective from May 2017, electronic goods manufacturers were required to ensure that at least 30% of their phones, fridges, laptops, washing machines sold, and of a certain vintage, had to be recycled through authorised channels. This has now been brought down to 10% and “new” recyclers, meaning those who on an average had been in the business for less than the average life cycle of their products, have to ensure only 5% of their 2017-2018 sales are collected and recycled.
In 2021-2022, this will increase to 10% of sales and bigger and established manufacturers will have to ensure that 40% of their e-waste is brought back. Non-compliance entails fines of up to ₹1 lakh per violation and ₹5,000 per day of non-compliance under the Environment Protection Act, the notification said.
