Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR): Authorization and Awareness
The E-waste management and handling Rules, 2011, focus strongly on extended producer responsibility (EPR). These rules give manufacturers(producers) of electrical and electronic equipment with responsibility of managing their products after they’ve reached their ‘end of life’.
This means that the producer is responsible for properly discarding their items once they have reached their expiration date. To avoid harming the environment, manufacturers are more likely to collect products after they have expired and put them through a conventional recycling process.
Since the impressive expansion of technology and its adaptation in India over the last ten years, E-waste poses a major threat to our environment now more than ever. In the last few years, the amount of electronic garbage has increased at an unprecedented rate. So, we need to proper handle it.
In the Case Of Plastic Waste Management, Who Needs An EPR?
Every producer, brand owner, recycler, and manufacturer of plastic must register with the State Pollution Control Board or the Union Territory’s Pollution Control Committee.
Every trash generator, local body, Gram Panchayat, manufacturer, importer, and producer of plastic materials connected with the Plastic Waste Management rules. Rules apply to all and are necessary to follow.
Documents required for the management of plastic waste
EPR Authorization Documents Regarding Proprietary Concerns
- Adhaar Card of Proprietor
- PAN Card of Proprietor
- Certificate of GST
- Proof of site ownership/rent/lease/
- Trade License/Factory License
- The Cost of Electricity
- Naksha/Layout Plan
For a Private Limited Company (Pvt.) or a Public Limited Company (Ltd.
- All of the following
- Certificate of Incorporation (CIN)
- MOA is a term that refers to
- PAN Card of Company
- Authorized Signatory Board Declaration
Challenge, Awareness and Compliance
It is important to raise awareness in order to get the ball rolling, but there are significant challenges that both producers and bulk consumers confront that prevent aggressive engagement. Large-scale producers do not want to be the first to transform their business, especially when corruption and wrongdoing are common. On the other hand, medium- and small-scale producers see waste as a checkbox in the event of production and do not seek to engage in the process fully or make an effort to raise awareness.
Despite the motivation of informal waste pickers, aggregators, and dismantlers to join the official sector, the formal industry faces a number of problems. These issues range from a shortage of handling capacity to unauthorized facilities such as multiple trash accounting, selling to aggregators, and leakages. There is enough evidence supporting a rising business opportunity, presenting an unexplored chance for entrepreneurs to come up with novel business solutions to address this threat.
To ensure that the waste disposal process is as streamlined as possible, India needs to build tracking tools and give oversight of waste compliance. While strict enforcement is important, it is equally necessary to developing an incentive system around it to encourage greater producer cooperation. This is an area where governments can help and take step and highlight the opportunities.
An effective EPR policy should emphasize methods to reduce plastic waste through packaging design changes and the promotion of alternative packaging materials. “Refuse > Reduce > Reuse > Recycle > Recover > Dispose” should be the mantra.
The Benefits
Producers may be incentivized to develop more sustainable, less toxic, and easily recyclable electronics if they suffer either a financial or physical barrier of recycling their electronics after use. Reduced end-of-life expenses can be achieved by using less materials and engineering goods to last longer. As a result, extended producer responsibility is frequently highlighted as one method of combating planned obsolescence, as it financially encourages producers to design for recycling and make items last longer. In addition to combating planned obsolescence, the pressures placed on governments may be addressed by shifting a portion of the financial burden for paying and managing waste to the producer. Many governments are currently responsible for waste disposal and spend millions of dollars collecting and eliminating rubbish. However, these programs frequently fail because governments lack the financial resources to properly develop and implement them. Placing responsibility for product disposal on manufacturers might allow governments more flexibility in crafting laws that promotes sustainability at a low cost to both sides, while also raising awareness of the issues EPR attempts to address.
One of the benefits of EPR is that when the policy puts pressure on countries that export E-waste, it becomes more and more effective. The regulation of this E-waste pushes infrastructure to either deal with the garbage or implement new ways for producers to create items.
