EPR in Hazardous Waste and Complete Process to Recycle It

by Khushi Tayal Digital Marketer

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) plans to ensure that producers are responsible for the gathering, recycling, and disposal of their products when they reach the end of their use. This changes the expenses associated with end-of-life product control from taxpayers to the producers and customers of products. EPR in hazardous waste programs also gives an incentive to producers to incorporate environmental concerns in the design of their products.

The Indian Council of Ministers of the Environment and its member jurisdictions are dedicated to developing and performing EPR programs through an India-wide Action Plan for EPR.

Corpseed works with Environment, Climate Change, and Municipalities to investigate and develop EPR regulations.

Under the EPR program, it is the producers, importers, and distributors who are responsible for EPR for plastic waste program development, implementation, and ongoing management. Currently, the paint and electronics industries operate EPR programs in Newfoundland and Labrador following the province’s E-waste Management Regulations.

EPR extends the traditional environmental responsibilities that producers and publishers have earlier been assigned (i.e. worker safety, prevention, and method of environmental releases from production, the financial and legal liability for the sound management of production wastes) to involve management at the post-consumer stage. The firms, which produce, import, and/or sell products and packaging, are expected to be financially or physically responsible for such products after their valuable life. They must both take back used products and manage them by reuse, recycling, or in energy production, or assign this responsibility to a third party, a so-called Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), which is given by the producer for spent-product management. In this way, EPR moves responsibility for waste from government to private industry, presenting it mandatory for producers, importers, and/or sellers to internalize waste management costs in their product costs.

These some items do not belong in our landfills

Electronic waste
Oil and glycol
Beverage containers
Tires
Paint
Batteries
Household hazardous waste

What happens to these products?

E-waste: E-waste is filed and sent to an Electronic Products Recycling Association EPRA-approved recycling facility. Hazardous materials will be properly disposed of and extra materials such as metals, plastics, and glass will re-enter the production stream.

Tires: Used tires are gathered at over 800 local tire outlets and sent to Tire Recycling Market in India. At this recycling facility, the rubber from the tires is re-manufactured into various products such as safe-play playground surfaces, anti-fatigue matting, livestock matting, and roof shingles.

Oil and Glycol: Proper disposal of these products stops disease of water, soils and reduces waste going to the landfills extending their lifespan. When recycled, these products may be utilized frequently.

Paint: The paint recycling program in India on average recycles 240,000 liters of paint and 77 tonnes of plastic and metal vessels yearly. Almost 70% of the paint collected is recycled into new paint products. A small percentage was reused by paint exchange and 9% went to energy healing.

Batteries: Received items are then sent to recycle industries responsible for recycling partners. The gathered elements are sorted into battery types and their makeup. Useful materials such as metals are extracted and recycled into new materials and waste products are carefully and properly disposed of.

Household Hazardous Waste:

Many products we use are deemed hazardous waste because they contain corrosive, flammable ingredients, toxic, or materials that behave in harmful ways when mixed with other materials. Those products need special care when being disposed of. Once a year the Regional Service Commission holds a Household Hazardous Waste day wherever residents can securely and responsibly place of these items.

If a stock label symbolizes that it is toxic, corrosive, flammable, indicates caution or warning messages then the products should be treated with care when in use and at the time of disposal.

Some list of Household Hazardous Waste

Paint thinners
Stains and Varnishes
Wood preservatives
Pesticides and herbicides
Fertilizers
Cleaning products
Fluorescent light bulbs
Propane tanks and cylinders
Mercury thermometers
Aerosols
Pool Chemicals
Drain and oven cleaner
Glues and adhesives
Solvents
Gas

These items should never be dumped with your regular garbage, bury, burn or keep them

EPR in India

Though EPR has been utilized widely in different countries, especially in European countries, in India we are yet to investigate its full potential. The just environmental legislation, which has a part of EPR, is the Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001.

The rule assigns the responsibility of warranting that the used batteries are received back, to the company (includes manufacturer, importer, assembler, and re-conditioner). The rule also performs it compulsory for the entrepreneurs to set up collection centres for the collection of used batteries from customers or dealers. They are also responsible for guaranteeing safe transportation, generating public awareness, and assuring that the used batteries are sent to the registered recyclers.

Till recent times, in India milk and soft drinks (though soft drinks are still sold in glass bottles also, the plastic boxes are fast displacing them on the shelf) were sold in returnable, refillable containers where generators took after the empty containers. This is a part of producer responsibility extending behind the sale point.

There is a different situation of EPR proposed in the Indian legislation. The report presented by the Committee on ‘Plastic Waste Disposal’ developed under the leadership of Shri Ranganath Misra included elements of EPR. The Committee, established by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2001, recommended a buy-back policy in The Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Regulation Rules, 1999. Under this, the plastic business was to be performed responsibly for recovering empty packaging material and have a proper disposal system. The committee also recommended the establishment of collection centres with 90 percent recycling points for Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. The credentials are yet to be fulfilled.