{"id":55652,"date":"2025-09-30T21:00:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=55652"},"modified":"2025-10-01T12:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T07:04:40","slug":"e-waste-recycling-precious-metals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-09-2025\/e-waste-recycling-precious-metals","title":{"rendered":"E-Waste Collection Faces Gaps as Government Sets Sights on Recycling for Precious Metals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong><strong>GS3\/ Economy; Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As India pushes itself forward for local electronics manufacturing, from semiconductor fabs to the <strong>Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), <\/strong>e-waste recycling threatens to undercut the progress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About e-Waste in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>E-waste \u2014 discarded electronic and electrical equipment \u2014 contains valuable materials such as copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, lithium, gold, and rare earth elements (REEs).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India generated an estimated <strong>4.17 million metric tonnes of e-waste in 2022<\/strong>, but only about <strong>one-third<\/strong> of this was processed through formal channels.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is driven by increased use of electronics, rapid obsolescence, and consumer upgrades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d1c9c8\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"397\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/About-e-Waste-in-India-1024x397.webp\" alt=\"e-Waste in India\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-55654\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d1c9c8; width:588px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/About-e-Waste-in-India-1024x397.webp 1024w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/About-e-Waste-in-India-300x116.webp 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/About-e-Waste-in-India-768x298.webp 768w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/About-e-Waste-in-India.webp 1138w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to TRAI, India has over <strong>93.9 crore mobile broadband connections, but <\/strong>accounts for only about <strong>4% of global electronics consumption.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Gaps in Collection and Recycling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A 2023 report by the <strong>Indian Cellular and Electronics Association<\/strong> highlights that e-waste recycling is<strong> largely dominated by the informal sector<\/strong>, which <strong>handles up to 90\u201395% of e-waste<\/strong> using unsafe methods such as open burning and acid leaching.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Challenges:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Low formal collection (less than 10%) and recycling rates;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Health hazards for informal workers exposed to toxic substances;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Traceability issues in recovered materials, leading to leakage back into informal streams;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fake reporting and malpractices<\/strong> in the EPR system \u2014 such as <strong>\u2018paper trading\u2019<\/strong> of recycling credits \u2014 have raised concerns over credibility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lack of standardized inventory systems and third-party audits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Policy and Industry Response<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/11-11-2022\/e-waste-management-rules-2022\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/11-11-2022\/e-waste-management-rules-2022\">E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022<\/a>:<\/strong> These rules aim to ensure environmentally sound management of e-waste, and strengthen the <strong>Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regime<\/strong>, requiring manufacturers, producers, refurbishers, and recyclers to register on the <strong>CPCB portal.<\/strong> Key provisions include:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Environmental compensation for violations;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Verification and audit mechanisms;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circular economy promotion through scientific recycling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Formal Recycling Infrastructure (February 2025):<\/strong> India has 322 registered recyclers with a processing capacity of over 22 lakh metric tonnes per year.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>72 registered refurbishers with a capacity of 92,000 metric tonnes per year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Public Awareness and Education:<\/strong> MeitY, in collaboration with industry bodies like <strong>MAIT and NASSCOM<\/strong>, has launched awareness campaigns across 31 states\/UTs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Innovative models like <strong>\u2018mandi-style\u2019 aggregation systems<\/strong> are being piloted to link informal collectors with formal recyclers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Road Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scaling up formal operations;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Curbing malpractices in the EPR system;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enhancing product life cycles through repair;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creating robust inventory systems;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/incoming\/e-waste-collection-faces-gaps-as-government-sets-sights-on-recycling-for-precious-metals\/article70108477.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">As India pushes itself forward for local electronics manufacturing, from semiconductor fabs to the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), e-waste recycling threatens to undercut the progress.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>About e-Waste in India<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">E-waste \u2014 discarded electronic and electrical equipment \u2014 contains valuable materials such as copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, lithium, gold, and rare earth elements (REEs).<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India generated an estimated 4.17 million metric tonnes of e-waste in 2022, but only about one-third of this was processed through formal channels.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-09-2025\/e-waste-recycling-precious-metals\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":55687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/09\/e-waste-recycling-precious-metals.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55652"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55679,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55652\/revisions\/55679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}