Smart City Mission: An Opportunity for Inclusive E-waste Management

This article examines the opportunity that the Smart City Mission (SCM) provides for the e-waste recycling sector in India. The SCM is aimed at improving the quality of life in 100 cities across the country, but is it in line with responsible consumption and production? A larger reliance on technology and rudimentary methods of e-waste recycling would give rise to more toxins polluting land, water and air. We posit that the SCM provides some leeway to formalise the informal sector, where most of India’s e-waste recycling takes place. The E-Waste Management Rules of 2016 mandate all recycling units to register with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Formal recycling capacity is lagging behind the domestic generation of e-waste, let alone dealing with imports. An augmentation of recycling capacity is required. Based on interviews with informal and formal e-waste recyclers, we set forth the e-waste recycling of both and suggest alternatives to the malpractices in the informal sector recycling to make it sustainable and safe. We propose a segmented flow of bulk and retail consumer e-waste into large-scale and small-scale e-waste enterprises, respectively. Measures to trace the e-waste flow properly are recommended, and Producer Responsibility Organisations are identified as key facilitators and capacity builders to spearhead the process. The increase in volume of e-waste flow due to SCM will reduce the competitive antagonism between the formal and informal sectors over e-waste flow, making it an opportune moment to strike a separate flow between the formal and formalised small-scale units.