E-waste collection channels in India – opportunities and constraints

Abstract

India is at the fountain head of world’s growth economies. Fueling this remarkable growth has been India’s IT industry. With its burgeoning middle class, India has become a consuming society. The result has been the alarming increase in the quantity of e-waste generated. The U.N report says that within a decade, India’s e-waste alone will grow by 500 percent. But nearly 95% of the e-waste from corporate consumers and especially households is entering a city specific informal e-waste recycling system. Guided by these concerns, the main objectives of the current study were to: a) Improve the collection of e-waste by formal sector from Individuals, Households & SMEs (C2B) b) Explore possible partnership models to promote environmentally sound management of e-waste The project was exploratory in nature and we got started by referring the past studies and reports undertaken in the field e-waste management. It also involved understanding of current and proposed regulations in e- waste management and exploring current practices in e-waste collection followed in India and abroad. The primary research involved surveying formal and informal e-waste collectors & recyclers in Bengaluru. The key findings from our study are there is lack of policy and rules for e-waste management leading to B2B sources of e-waste opting to go to backyard recyclers who offer better price for e-waste. Both Indian recyclers, formal or informal, achieve similar recovery rates between 8 – 18 % of the gold contained in the initial material while internationally it is more than 95% of the gold. Currently there is no incentive/compulsion on the part of Individuals and households to recycle the e-waste through formal channel. This problem gets aggravated by the fact that well networked backyard recyclers offer better prices per kg of e-waste compared to formal channels. Even if regulations come into picture, the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are of major concern as they do not take rules and legislation seriously. This fact is also confirmed by KSPCB although they have not yet looked at ways to address the problem. The majority of these problems are going to be addressed once the E-waste Management and handling rules, 2010 comes into force. The other implications of new rules are that there is a possibility of having nationwide network for e-waste collection centres which can get contracts from OEM’s and these networks can source e-waste from local dealers. A new market for e-waste disposal technology will open up as only licensed scrap dealers in the industry will be authorized to handle ewaste. In this study we have come up with a business idea targeted at C2B channel that aims at solving the majority of the concerns presented above. It provides third party logistic service by collecting the end-of-life product from the end user and delivers it to the informal recycler. It also provides an incentive to the end user to participate by paying him an amount which is greater than that provided by the informal recycler. The OEM’s fund the operations partly by giving a deposit which will be refunded at the end-of-life of the product. The idea uses scale efficiencies and scientific processes to improve the compliance levels of the electronic goods producers. The model adds value to all stakeholders. The OEM’s benefit from higher compliance and lower operational costs and the customers gain an incentive to give their end-of-life products for scientific disposal. Overall, the model aims to increase quantity of e-waste recycled and also reduce the carbon footprint of the entire collection and recycling procedure.