Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution.

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.

E-Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2011 were notified in 2011 and had come into effect since 1st May, 2012. Shree Samiri Technologies who has effectively implemented E-Waste Rules and very responsibly managed all aspects as per the set rules. We also kept on making regular upgrades to comply all perspective of environmental conservation for handling and management of electronic and electrical waste, in no ways ending at landfill.

The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is primarily responsible for regulations regarding electronic waste. Additionally, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) produce implementation procedures to ensure proper management of rules set forth by the MoEFCC.

Now, as per the new guidelines, MoEFCC, Government of India in supersession of E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 has notified the E-Waste(Management) Rules, 2016 vide G.S.R. 338(E) dated 23.03.2016 This set of rules clarifies duties of responsible parties, enacts more stringent regulations on e-waste production, as well as clarifies the general definition of e-waste. In these rules, e-waste is 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. ‘Electrical and electronic equipment’ in turn has been defined to mean equipment which are dependent on electric current or electro-magnetic field in order to become functional.”

Two categories of electrical and electronic equipments are :

1. IT and Telecommunication Equipment
2. Consumer Electricals and Electronics

The main feature, of these rules, is the idea of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Producers of electronic products must implement EPR in order to ensure that their electronic waste is delivered to authorized recyclers or dismantlers. These rules establish and place specific responsibilities for each party involved in the production, disposal, and management of electronic waste. Target based approach for implementation of EPR has been adopted in the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2017,this amendment focusses on the e-waste collection targets by 10% during 2017–2018, 20% during 2018–2019, 30% during 2019–2020. This amendment also gives the Central Pollution Control Board power to randomly select electronic equipment on the market to test for compliance of rules.

We at Shree Samiri Technologies have updated our systems and processes as per the mandate of E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2017 and its amendments, which includes specific guidelines for extended producer responsibility, collection centres, channelization, transportation, storage, environmentally sound dismantling and refurbishment, recycling and random sampling of EEE for testing of RoHS parameters.