Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR in India has been gaining traction because of all the right reasons. The main driving factor behind this movement is to address the rising issue of electronic waste across the nation and the world. EPR is a part of circular economy model where the responsibility for handling electronic waste has been transferred from municipal authorities to the producers of the waste materials, backed by recyclers and retailers. But, in this complete scenario, the waste pickers are not offered enough mention despite their collecting and filtrating the waste. This blog will delve deeper into the roles of waste pickers concerning EPR in India.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), explains the informal sector in waste management as ‘individuals or small and micro-enterprises that intervene in waste management without being registered and without being formally charged with providing waste management services.’ These waste pickers are the major accumulators of recyclable waste, thereby playing a crucial role in e-waste recycling in India. They function by gathering, filtrating, trading, and occasionally even reinserting discarded waste back into the economy.
The Unacknowledged Heroes of EPR in India
The waste pickers are extremely important in the whole mechanism of EPR e-waste. In fact, informal waste pickers have been stated to collect a huge amount of waste that was destined for recycling. Notably, waste pickers possess traditional knowledge in waste handling and that can directly reinforce the effectiveness of EPR particularly at the fundamental level. Unfortunately, the EPR guidelines in India don’t only exclude waste pickers but also disregard their probable contributions to waste management. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’2016 Solid Waste Management Rules particularly stated the integration of waste pickers, informal waste workers, and waste dealers into solid waste management, the inclusivity of private contractors threatens waste pickers’ autonomy in waste management.
Over the years, electronic waste as well as plastic waste has soared immensely, and this has led to climate change, directly hitting the loss of biodiversity. There are numerous harmful effects of these waste — starting from air pollution to water pollution. While marine animals are often found consuming plastics, the destruction of electronic waste leads to jeopardizing emissions into the atmosphere. In circular economy, materials are reused or recycled, shifting from a linear production model to circular one. Development of a sustainable economy, although, demands the creation of proper green jobs backing nearly millions of workers in the waste sector.
Local bodies have found it challenging to address the issue of electronic waste and other types but the waste pickers have played a major role in waste management. Although EPR consulting holds producers accountable for the proper recycling of waste but only involves huge recycling units, bypassing a complete workforce responsible for the alteration of waste to recyclable material.
EPR in India, Circular Economy, and Waste Pickers
A long-awaiting need of organizations, member-based organizations, and unions working within the waste and recycling sector is to blend waste pickers into EPR in India. But the beginning should be done by identifying waste pickers in law and policy as legitimate workers in the waste sector. Although recognition is a prime aspect that the guidelines must acknowledge, two additional ways to rethink the waste pickers’ association with the EPR regime are -
i) to reconsider the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) mechanism to include waste-pickers and additional workers in the informal waste recycling sector as social and solidarity economy collectives.
ii) to nurture and engage with the producers to incentivize waste pickers and other informal waste collectors in their efforts to handle the waste stream.
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