E-Waste & Indian Policy

1. In my earlier blog posts at here,here & here ,issues of e-waste and its repurcussions were mentioned.....now seems like Indian govt has attempted to wake herself up and find a solution.In a recent development,Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized some containers in Chennai containing large quantity of such waste. The imports were made despite a prohibitory order in this regard. The containers were full of outdated computers and electrical waste. On further investigation, it was found that containers carried hundreds of tonnes of e-waste sourced from Australia, Canada, Korea and Brunei in violation of norms.

2. E-waste is being dumped in the country by developing nations using loopholes in domestic rules which allow NGOs and educational institutions to import such gadgets freely on the pretext of donations. onscious of the fact that huge shipments of e-waste generated in developing countries are finding convenient burial ground in India, the government had through a public notice on May 13, 2010 prohibited educational and other institutions from importing second hand computers, laptops and computer peripherals, including printers, plotters, scanners, monitors, keyboards and storage units. The step was short of a complete ban on such imports.

3. The government is now looking at banning the import of used computers and other electronic waste - coming primarily from developed nations such as US, Australia, Canada and parts of Europe - after several cases of e-waste smuggling came to light recently. A decision is likely to be taken at the Economic Intelligence Council meeting scheduled for this month to be chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

4. Thanks http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

E WASTE

1.         I earlier attempted to discuss on this subject when I wrote on Guiyu few weeks back.But I had not written anything on what India has been doing on the subject matter except for some one liner remark at the end.But that was because I did not find anything of weight anywhere. Recently I found some useful content at http://india.ewasteguide.info/. 

2.         This site mentions about  K.G.NANDINI ENTERPRISES (KGN) based in Bangalore which is India's first full integrated electronic waste recycling plant. The Plant is located in Bidadi, next to Wonderla and has a capacity of 1.0 ton per hour. KGN has taken the license (CFE & CFO) from KSPCB for a capacity of 7200 MT/annum and does accept all kind of ewaste (printed circuit boards, computers, electrical cables, electrical transformers, small house hold appliances etc.).

 

3.         In a first step hazardous wastes or elements are removed manually. Loading point of the plant is the shredder. The reduced material is then passing a magnet, FE parts are removed. Afterwards the material enters the delamination mill, the heart of the process. Very high forces affect the composite materials and are thereby reduced and delaminated. The material is pneumatically transported from the mill to a cyclone, is discharged and conveyed to a screening machine. The classified material is transferred to a battery of separators; non ferrous metals are separated from plastics. All process steps are connected by conveyors, are automated and controlled by visualization. A central filter system, which is equipped with explosion and fire safety measures, de-dust the entire process. The equipment reflects the state-of-the-art technology had has been developed and provided by swissRTec AG from Switzerland.

4.         This is one acchi baat I thought is good to share!!!!