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NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): Less than 5% of India's total electronic waste gets recycled due to absence of proper infrastructure, legislation and framework for disposing off electronic gadgets and products that have reached the dead-end, apex industry body ASSOCHAM observed in an analysis on the eve of World Environment Day.

According to ASSOCHAM, India generates over 4.4 lakh tonnes of e-waste annually and almost half of all the unused and end-of-life electronic products lie ideally in landfills, junkyards and warehouses.

Computer equipment accounts for almost 68% of e-waste material followed by telecommunication equipment (12%), electrical equipment (8%), medical equipment (7%) and other equipments including the household e-crap account for the remaining five per cent, highlights the ASSOCHAM analysis.

Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general of ASSOCHAM said, "Over 90% of the e-waste generated in India is managed by unorganized sector and the scrap dealers in this market dismantle the disposed off products instead of recycling the same,"

"However, most of the discarded products can be recycled, refurbished and redeployed going down the value chain and can be reused by a bit of reconstruction process thereby reducing the overall impact on the environment," said Mr Rawat.

Interestingly, though the organized sector accounts for less than 10% of the recycling business, there is a huge scope for growth opportunities as the recyclers and suppliers are engaging with IT giants and other enterprises to dispose of e-devices efficiently.

While submitting its views on Implementation of E-waste Rules 2011 - Guidelines to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) chairperson, Ms Mira Mehrishi, ASSOCHAM on behalf of the industry requested the government to allow the electronic goods' producers with a collection centre facility to take Single Authorization for EPR and for Collection centre under the same application.

Highlighting the consumers' responsibility towards e-products disposed off by them, ASSOCHAM said that concerned authorities must understand that discarding a product does not imply 'end-of-life' as there is a thriving secondary market and products' manufacturers have no control over the same, thus producers are not the only ones responsible for their products once the consumer discards them.

ASSOCHAM has further requested the government to collaborate with the industry through the chambers for creating social consciousness amid consumers to take care of the environment thereby ensuring safe management of e-waste.

ASSOCHAM has also suggested the government to define products manufactured three years prior to May 1, 2012 as the 'historical waste'.

Releasing its green-initiatives advisory ASSOCHAM appealed to the industry leaders to improve environmental sustainability by extracting full functional value from their e-assets by getting them recycled instead of discarding the same well ahead of their useful life in favour of more sophisticated electronic devices.