The Central Pollution Control Board (‘CPCB’) has issued guidelines to be adopted by Producer Responsibility Organizations (‘PROs’) under the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 (‘E-Waste Rules’).
Under the E-Waste Rules, a PRO is defined as a professional organisation authorized or financed collectively or individually by Producers, which can take the responsibility for collecting and channelizing e-waste generated from the ‘end-of-life’ of their products to ensure environmentally sound management of such e-waste.
Background:
The E-Waste Rules, 2016 have empowered Producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment to manage their extended producer responsibility either by themselves or collectively through a PRO registered with the Central Pollution Control Board.
Key Highlights of the activities of a PRO include:
- Collection and Channelization of e-waste on behalf of authorised producers.
- Establishment of collection mechanism.
- Implementation of buy back/take back/DRS/e-waste exchange.
- Logistics arrangement.
- Helping producers in filing of quarterly/annual returns as per the rules etc.
- Conducting awareness programme among consumer’s/bulk consumers/producers for collection and channelization of e-waste
PROs will be required to obtain registration from the Central Pollution Control Board. Each registration will be valid for a period of 5 years and must be renewed prior to 60 days from date of expiry of the registration.
Source: Central Pollution Control Board
