Economic incentives must for e-waste collectors

From arsenic and lead to mercury and cadmium, discarded electronic gadgets generate hazardous waste that can be fatal. To tackle the health and environment threats these pose, many countries have put laws into place. Singapore and the Scandinavian countries are showing the way. India is the newest member to join the ‘Safe E-Waste Disposal’ club. It has proposed rules that aim to prevent toxic chemicals seeping into the soil and entering the food chain through waterbodies. The plan seeks to collect e-waste and recycle it wherever possible. Sounds so good but it is not an easy job considering the mobile boom sweeping that country.
The recycling sector is still mostly unorganized in India. The challenge would be to make it organized by giving it a legality ring. For this, a comprehensive e-waste recycling scheme is required, wherein the collectors are given economic incentives. It is important that not only the profitable materials like gold, copper and tin are extracted from the products, but there is a proper method to take care of the pollutants too. Currently, defunct laptops, mobile phones and fluorescent lamps are broken manually for valuable metals and the rest is either dumped or left to burn. This finds its way into rivers and lakes. Imagine where the 1.7 million tonnes of e-waste that India produced in 2014 went! Obviously, from landfills into groundwater and then into the rivers.
A plan which puts onus on the producers to collect the e-waste and direct it to authorized recycling units is one way to handle the problem. However, to ensure that this plan works effectively, it is imperative that there is a strong cell that monitors the entire procedure: from manufacturing of the product to its safe and legal recycling. This cell will have to keep tabs on the entire process and implement a strict regulation. Besides, the key to success of this exercise would be monetary inducements for those who collect the stuff.
While making manufactures responsible for e-waste, a recycling fee on consumers should also be levied. This can be charged when the consumers buy the product. The buyer has to be made aware of the perils of discarded electronic goods, while sensitizing him/her that dumping it recklessly is like spreading cancer. For this, the manufactures may tie up with NGOs and social bodies not just to raise the awareness, but also to start a campaign to help consumers dispose of their used electronic gadgets in designated boxes (perhaps in malls or shopping complexes) from where they can be picked up and sent to the recycling units.
A foolproof licensing system for recycling facilities can only ensure that these don’t function randomly. The units must have the necessary technical knowhow – which must be pollution-free — to recycle e-waste and only when they meet the stipulated standards, should they be given the licence. When a unit gets recycling fee from the department concerned, the cell which monitors it has to make sure that it is in line with the rules. This recycling fee has to be far higher than what the unit pays in delivering the recycled product.
Manufactures or recyclers who don’t comply with the mandatory guidelines should face hefty penalty. Rampant violations must entail imprisonment too. Environmental governance should be the key component of all policies. At the same time, consumers must realize their responsibility and act like informed citizens of the world. Because they will be the first to be blamed by their
children for the toxic legacy that they might leave behind!