E waste Guide Line

The term “e-waste” is an abbreviation of “electronic and electrical waste”. A key part of the definition is the word “waste” and what it logically implies – that the item has no further use and is rejected as useless or excess to the owner in its current condition.
As per E-waste Rule 2016, the E waste defined as ‘electrical and electronic equipment, whole or in part discarded as waste by the consumer or bulk consumer as well as rejects from manufacturing, refurbishment and repair processes.
E-waste includes almost any household or business item containing circuitry or electrical components with either power or battery supply.
Although e-waste is a general term, it can be considered to denote items such as TV appliances, computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, white goods – for example, fridges, washing machines, dryers, Air conditioners – home entertainment and stereo systems, toys, toasters, and kettles.

• E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams globally.
• E-waste contains hazardous substances that, if treated inappropriately at end-of-life, can damage human health and the environment.
• E-waste also contains toxic and hazardous materials including mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, chromium, and chemical flame retardants, which have the potential to leach into our soil and water.
• It also contains complex valuable materials, such as precious metals which need to be treated properly to effectively recover them with minimal environmental impact.

Benefit of recycling of E-waste:

• Recycling e-waste enables us to recover various valuable metals and other materials from electronics, saving natural resources (energy), reducing pollution, conserving landfill space on the other end, e-waste recycling helps cut down on production waste.
• Conserves natural resources: Recycling recovers valuable materials from old electronics that can be used to make new products. As a result, we save energy, reduce pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save natural resources by extracting fewer raw materials from the earth.
• Protects Environment: E-waste recycling provides proper handling and management of toxic chemical substances like mercury, lead and cadmium contained in the e-waste stream.
• Creates Jobs: E-waste recycling creates new jobs for professional recyclers and creates a second market for the recycled materials.
• Saves Landfills: E-waste recycling saves unnecessary dumps and landfills.
• Copper: Copper is highly durable, long lasting and can be used in all applications of life. Due to its excellent conductivity property, copper is used extensively in all electronics. Electronic circuit boards contain an average of 20% of copper.

E-waste proper management and proper handling:
According to MoEF, the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have valuable materials and hazardous/toxics substances in their components. The electronic products and electrical equipment after their useful life may not cause any harm if it is stored safely in households/stores. However, if the E-waste is opened-up and attempts are made for the retrieval of useful components or material in an unscientific manner or if the material is disposed of in open, then it may cause health risks and damage to the environment. E-waste can be considered as a resource that contains useful material of economic benefit for recovery of plastics, iron, glass, aluminium, copper, and precious metals such as silver, gold, platinum, and palladium and lead, cadmium, mercury, etc. However, at the same time presence of heavy metals (As, Cd, Hg, Pb, etc.) and other toxic substances such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), etched chemicals, etc. may pose risk to health and environment during handling and recovery operations. E-waste is a problem of increasing proportions especially when crude methods are adopted for the recovery of useful components from E-waste.
Thus, there is a need to encourage the recycling of all useful and valuable material from e-waste so as to conserve the ever-depleting natural resources. The electronic component is increasingly made from recycled materials, for example for making new LCDs, more than 50% of indium is sourced by recycling used LCDs. E-waste thus presents a scenario of urban mining for the recovery of ferrous/non-ferrous/ rare earth metals and precious metals in addition to plastics and glass. However, the presence of hazardous and toxic substances in the components of e-waste necessitates environmentally sound management of e-waste including collection and recycling/treatment in an environmentally sound manner.

Without Proper and safe recycling, most of these toxic components will end up in landfill – poisoning the soil and water.

Electronic waste recycling management right methods:

• Dispose the discarded Electronic Equipment’s only at the authorized collection centres so that the same can be properly recycled.
• Dispose the discarded Electronic Equipment’s only in the bins meant for the Electronic Waste.
• Before Disposing the Electronic Equipment, please Consult the authorized service centre for a service call or End of life Conclusion.
• Please educate your neighbours and other persons about the hazards of improper disposal or handling or improper recycling of the Electronic Waste.
• In case your Electronic Equipment still work or can be repaired then consider donating them.

Electronic waste recycling management wrong methods:

• Do not dispose the discarded Electronic Equipment’s in open area or in any Land Fill Site as the same will result in contaminating the Soil and the groundwater.
• Do not dispose the discarded Electronic Equipment’s at household bins or Municipal Bins.
• Do not sell or give your discarded Electronic Equipment’s to any Trash Dealer or Kabadiwala.
• Recycling Electronic equipment helps to save natural finite resources and also reduces the environmental and health risks associated with improper handling/disposing of the Electronic Waste.
• To minimize impact over Mother earth and to protect the environment for future generations please return your discarded Electronic Equipment’s to a safe recycling station / Centre.

Management and Effect on sustainable future:

Sustainable development as defined by Brundtland Commission is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
The e-waste since a long time had been seen as an easy and cheapest source of metals. However, due to the lack of proper consideration for such a source of metals as well as proper methods of recycling in India, we sent our e-waste to the improper channel and thereby participated in degrading the environment. Moreover, through this improper method of extraction of metals we till date had wasted at least forty percent of the precious metals and simultaneously caused damage to our environment. If we opt the proper way to extract metals through proper channels of recycling, then we can achieve Ninety percent of the extraction rate of our metals as well as a better way to save our environment. However, if today while selling off our material to the improper channel we will not think about our sustainable future then it is for sure that the coming generations will be facing crisis of the metals.

Consumer/end-user responsibility:

1. Consumers shall ensure that their end-of-life product / e-waste is channelized through collection centre or dealer of the authorized producer or dismantler or recycler or through the designated take-back service provider of the producer to authorized dismantler or recycler.
2. Consumers shall ensure that such end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment are not admixed with e-waste containing radioactive material.

Bulk Consumer Responsibility:

1. Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment shall ensure that e-waste generated by them is channelized through collection centre or dealer of authorized producer or dismantler or recycler or through the designated take-back service provider of the producer to authorized dismantler or recycler.
2. Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment shall ensure that such end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment are not mixed with e-waste containing radioactive material as covered under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) and rules made thereunder.
3. Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall maintain records of e-waste generated by them in Form-2 and make such records available for scrutiny by the concerned State Pollution Control Board.
4. Bulk consumers of electrical and electronic equipment listed in Schedule I shall file annual returns in Form-3, to the concerned State Pollution Control Board of following the financial year to which that return relates.
5. In case of the bulk consumer with multiple offices in a State, one annual return combining information from all the offices shall be filed to the concerned State Pollution Control Board on or before the 30th day of following the financial year to which that return relates.

Formenty Responsibility:

Formenty India being a responsible and trustworthy brand is taking all the necessary and expected steps for the betterment of the environment as well as living beings. Formenty joined hands with a number of recyclers to ensure environment-friendly recycling of the electronic items, such as Air Conditioners, Led TV, Refrigerators, washing machines, etc. that are either achieved their end of life or are old / unusable Products.
Apart from above, Formenty had taken necessary steps for proper recycling of e-waste of its clients:

1. Collection and Channelization of e-waste: – Formenty had setup toll free Number where the customers can call and registered their products for recycling. As soon as e-waste pick up is registered by the customer a representative will come to collect the product.
2. Dismantling & Recycling of e-waste: Formenty has appointed a number of recyclers who are the leading name in the recycling industry to responsibly and in an environment-friendly manner recycle the e-waste generated in India.
3. Awareness for e-waste: Formenty is actively sharing Infographics & engagement posts on its social platforms to create more awareness about e-waste and its hazards. In addition, Formenty is also conducting awareness programs in Schools, RWA’s, Office Clusters etc to create awareness.