E-Waste law sets standards for protecting human health and the natural environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal, one of the goals of the law is to ensure the management of waste in an environment-friendly manner.
E-waste is any electrical or electronic product that has been disposed of. E-waste is electronic items that are unwanted, not working, and approaching or toward the end of their valuable life. Computers, TVs, VCRs, sound systems, copiers, and fax machines are everyday electronic items.
E-waste is especially hazardous because of poisonous synthetic compounds that normally drain from the metals inside when buried. While over the ground, modern day electronics are safe to utilize and be near. Most electronics contain some type of toxic materials, including beryllium, cadmium, mercury, and lead, which present serious environmental dangers to our soil water, air, and wildlife.
Pakistan and E-Waste
Pakistan is among 15 nations where electronic e-waste dismantling and recycling is viewed as a significant risk. Unorganized handling of e-waste especially in under developing countries can influence human health, wildlife and furthermore cause environmental pollution. One of the three significant South Asian countries India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are among the countries which are impacted by the e-waste.
E-Waste Legislation in Pakistan
As Pakistan is a developing country and the lawmakers are working effortlessly to legislate new laws. Following are the laws which can be used while dealing with the e-waste as they have hazardous effects and can cause environmental issues. These Acts can help to control the collection, recycling and import of e-waste products.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997
The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 gives the government the fundamental legal tool it needs to make environmental protection policies. This law relates to the treatment of hazardous wastes and is applicable to many different environmental issues.
The Sec. 13 addresses the ban on the importation of hazardous waste. Whereas the Sec. 14 discusses how to handle hazardous materials. Waste cannot be generated, gathered, or transported by anyone. Those who possess a license issued by the Federal or Provincial government are given the exception.
National Environmental Policy, 2005
The National Environment Policy of 2005 offers a framework for resolving Pakistan's environmental problems, particularly the ineffective waste management that can have a negative impact on the environment. It suggests using legislative initiatives to assure the limiting, recycling, and control of harmful emissions. It promotes the establishment of a licensing system for businesses involved in trash management.
Hazardous Substance Rules, 2003
Hazardous material imports and transportation from a federal or provincial agency will require a license under the Hazardous Substance Rules, 2003, created under PEPA 1997. A safety plan and an EIA report will also be submitted with the license application for each industrial operation that generates, collects, consigns, transports, treats, disposes of, stores, handles, or imports hazardous materials. Validity of license is 3 years.
Punjab Environmental Protection Act, 2012
This act covers the collection, production, consignment, management, transportation, and disposal of waste that may lead to pollution. The topics covered by Sec. 13 and 14 are these. When a provincial agency is convinced that the release or emission of any effluent, waste, air pollutant, or noise, or the disposal of waste, or the handling of hazardous substances, will affect the environment, the agency may issue an environmental protection order under Sec. 16.
Punjab Hazardous Substances Rules, 2018
According to these rules, the hazardous substances in the province of Punjab for their collection, generation, handling, consignment, transport, treatment, disposal, production, and storage, the Schedules 1, 2, 3, and 4 contain a list of the substances and the threshold amounts that fall under these regulations. The concerned authorities are required to inspect the subject industrial activity once a year and submit an annual report to the Environmental Protection Agency on the occupiers' compliance with the rules.
International Conventions
Pakistan is signatory to the following international conventions which are related with the management of the hazardous waste. Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-Border Movement of Hazardous Waste and its Disposal.
Basel Convention
An international agreement named the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Transportation of Hazardous Wastes was created to limit the movement of hazardous waste between countries, and in particular to prohibit the transfer of hazardous waste from industrialized to less developed nations (LDCs). The Convention also aims to reduce the quantity and toxicity of wastes produced, to ensure their environmentally sound management as close as practicable to the point of generation, and to help LDCs manage the hazardous and other wastes they produce in an environmentally sound manner.
For the time being until new e-waste legislation is adopted, Pakistan may also apply the regulations that are currently in effect in the USA, European Union, and other nations.
United States of America (USA)
In 2003, California became the first state to enact e-recycling legislation. Since then, the District of Columbia and 27 additional states have adopted the same policy. The first large city to institute its own e-waste collection program and restrict the disposal of electronics in trash cans was New York. Through legislation and efficient management systems, the various US states have started to address their respective e-waste. Almost 23 states have implemented laws limiting where certain kinds of e-waste can be disposed of.
European Union (EU)
The EU Trash Framework Directive is a body of law that applies to all of Europe and governs how commercial waste is handled. This covers the requirements to minimize, reuse, and recover as much waste as feasible. It also covers the recovery, disposal, and transport of all sorts of garbage, including e-waste.
The first e-waste-specific rule was the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR), which was adopted in 1993 and revised in 2007. It highlights that no EU member state is permitted to export e-waste that has been designated as hazardous to nations outside of the OECD. The Environment Act, the Waste Regulations (2011), and the Controlled Waste Regulations (2012). But the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directives have to be considered the most innovative and specific pieces of legislation to enter into force in the UK recently.
The WEEE directive was enacted into law in Europe in 2003, and changes were proposed in 2008 and put into effect in 2014. Together, these two laws—the RoHS, which went into effect in January 2013—serve to cut waste, promote recycling, and ensure that all enterprises and consumers in the UK use more efficient environmental tactics.
India
Since 2011, India already has laws to manage e-waste, which make it necessary for only approved dismantlers and recyclers to pick up e-waste. On October 1, 2016, the E-waste (Management) Rules 2016 came into effect. The rule's inclusion clause covered over 21 products.
Sri Lanka
E-Waste Management in Sri Lanka, the National Environmental Act's Hazardous Waste (Scheduled Waste) Management guidelines were first published in 2008 under Gazette Extraordinary 1534/18. E-waste has been classified as a scheduled waste under this law, and each and every generator, collector, storer, transporter, recover, recycler, and disposer needs to have a license from the CEA. Every citizen needs to be aware that e-waste is dangerous and that it is their duty to manage it in an environmentally responsible way. The CEA has stipulated that only approved collectors may receive E-Waste.
People's Republic of China
Over the past ten years, the Chinese government has released a number of environmental laws, rules, standards, technical guidelines, and norms linked to the management of e-waste.
These are the following five of them:
In the waste import management catalogue, e-waste import is prohibited as of February 2000.
Technical Policy for WEEE Pollution Control and Prevention, April 2006.
March 2007 Ordinance on the administration of electronic and information product pollution prevention and control.
Administrative procedures for preventing WEEE emissions, February 2008.
Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling and disposal.
Japan
In 1998, Japan passed the Specified Home Appliance Recycling Law as part of its effort to manage e-waste (SHARL). Reusing and recycling the product and its parts could meet the legal requirement for recycling rates of between 50 and 60 percent by weight. The 2001 amendments to the Home Appliance Recycling Law have made sure that used appliances are handled properly. The Waste Treatment Law was passed to handle the handling of e-waste, particularly EEE containing hazardous materials. Consumers may be charged by manufacturers for e-waste handling expenses.
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