Rules confined to paper as no takers for e-waste management

Rules confined to paper as no takers for e-waste management

It’s more than a month that the E-waste Management and Handling Rules, 2012 - notified by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Central Pollution Control (CPCB), Govt of India, has come into force, but till date barely 1% of e-waste manufacturers and users have woken up to the reality of the new regulations. The e-waste handling rules, which came into effect from May 1, 2012, through a gazette notification on May 12, 2011 - has come fixing the responsibility on all stakeholders including mainly manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

http://oheraldo.in/News/Local%20News/Rules-confined-to-paper-as-no-takers-for-e-waste-management/60744.html

Bhopal airport unfit to handle Carbide waste?

German company GIZ, which has offered to airlift the highly-dangerous toxic waste from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant for disposal in Germany, has raised “doubts” about the logistic support facilities at Bhopal airport for handling of such sophisticated cargo to avoid any environment problem.

The Centre, which though had decided to engage GIZ for disposing the 350 tonnes of highly-dangerous toxic waste of methyl isocyanate left in the UCIL plant after the 1984 gas leak disaster, has left it to the company to make independent assessment of the airport facilities.

http://www.asianage.com/india/bhopal-airport-unfit-handle-carbide-waste-944

Fly ash turns farm fields barren in Sambalpur
Large tracts of agricultural fields in Mohammadpur under Gadmunda gram panchayat have turned barren with frequent transportation of fly ash on the road stretch that passes through these fields.Hindalco Industries Limited (HIL) trucks carry the fly ash to the dumping yard at Budhakanta-Larbhanga under the same panchayat on this road.Dilip Pandey (36), a farmer of Mohammadpur who owns 1.76 acres of land, said repeated plying of fly ash-laden trucks gradually covered his land with fly ash. He was one of the beneficiaries in the village who was being supported to adopt Systematic Rice Intensification (SRI) method for paddy cultivation.

http://newindianexpress.com/states/orissa/article543842.ece

Seeking an answer to Chennai's mounting e-waste problem

Pollution Control Board steps up drive on e-waste
The next time you go to buy a laptop or a hard disk at one of those swanky showrooms, chances are that the salesperson would, besides telling you the features of the device, also give you detailed instructions on how to discard the equipment and the contact details of their collection centres. If she does not do so, you might have to ask for them, because according to the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, the consumer must see to it that any device he buys is either picked up by the producer or sent to an authorised recycler for disposal.In order to ensure the implementation of the new e-waste rule that calls for the extended responsibility of the producer, the State Pollution Control Board has authorised 18 e-waste recyclers in the city to ensure computers, laptops, mobile phones, T.V's, microwaves, C.D.'s, DVD's, iPods, , remote controls and wires are recycled with utmost caution.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3530364.ece

‘High pesticide levels in groundwater’The groundwater that most of Delhi relies on when water shortage leaves taps dry is probably far more contaminated than we can imagine. A recent study by a team from the civil engineering department of IIT-Delhi on the groundwater quality in the Palla-Burari region has made some alarming revelations. The water samples tested from this area contain moderately high levels of pesticides; some of them residues of long-banned pesticides, such as DDT. This region has close to 80 borewells and five Ranney wells that meet about 15% of Delhi's water needs.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-18/delhi/32298068_1_pesticides-water-samples-residues