India is close to finalizing the worlds strictest set of rules on disposing of electronic waste (e-waste). The rules, framed by electronics equipment manufacturers with the help of NGOs, are now being given the final touch by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF). Under the new E-waste (Management & Handling) Rules, each manufacturer of any electronic gadgets such as computers, music systems or cell phones will be personally responsible for the final safe disposal of the product when it becomes e-waste, said Mr. Guruswamy Ananthapadmanabhan, Programme Director, Greenpeace International. This personal responsibility makes it the worlds most stringent set of rules for e-waste disposal. The proposed rules will provide enabling policies and legally binding procedures on all associated with e-waste: producers, collection agencies, dismantlers, recyclers and transporters.

Greenpeace, the civil society group Toxics Link and Germanys external aid agency GTZ have worked with Indias Manufacturers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) to prepare the rules. Eighteen electronic brands (including Nokia, Wipro, HCL, Acer and Sony Ericsson) have already begun implementing plans on toxic chemical phase-out and take back of end-of-life products. The new set of rules aims to:

Address the specific requirements of e-waste management;

Put in place an effective mechanism to regulate the generation, collection, storage, transportation, import and export of e-waste; and

Ensuring environmentally sound recycling of e-waste.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide up to US$200 million in loans to help establish waste-to-energy plants in Chinas middle and small cities to clean up urban garbage. The loans will be provided to the Hong Kong-listed private firm China Everbright International Limited for developing and investing in plants using an advanced clean technology that does not use coal supplements, unlike most other waste-to-energy technologies. This is ADBs first private sector municipal solid waste management (MSW) project.

According to ADB, effective MSW disposal is a serious environmental challenge in China where around 148 million tonnes is generated every year and growing at around 10 per cent annually. Waste-to-energy processing with clean technology is the most effective method of treating MSW because it reduces waste by 90 per cent in volume and eliminates methane gas emissions from waste treatment process, said Mr. Hisaka Kimura, ADB Investment Specialist. Furthermore, waste-to-energy technologies substitute for fossil fuels by generating electricity and heat in the incineration process. China has set a long-term target to raise the amount of MSW that is used in waste-to-energy generation from 1 per cent in 2002 to 30 per cent by 2030.
Source: news.xinhuanet.com

In Bangladesh, two central effluent treatment plants (ETPs) are expected to start operation to better manage toxic wastewater at the export processing zones (EPZs) in Dhaka and Chittagong. Factories in the EPZs will get the facilities to share the ETPs for treating wastewater before discharge. The projects will be implemented under a private-public partnership. D-Water CETP Eco System BD Ltd., Singapore, won the contract for constructing the unique plant at Dhaka EPZ while Chittagong Wastewater Treatment Plants Ltd. will install another in the Chittagong EPZ. The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, in partnership with the Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF), initiated the schemes. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Banks lending agency, manages BICF with contributions from the Department for International Development (DFID), the aid agency of the United Kingdom, and the European Commission. The ETP at Dhaka EPZ will employ Electro Contaminant Removal machinery, a state-of-art technology in treating wastewater, while the plant at Chittagong EPZ is based on traditional bio-physical and chemical technology equipment.
Source: bdnews24.com

In the Philippines, after a series of seminars intended for hospitals on the implementation of health care waste management, the Region 7 Office of the Department of Health (DoH7) is putting that into practice. According to the Environment Programme Coordinator, Ms. Evangeline Canoneo, only 10 per cent of the hospitals in Central Visayas are properly enforcing the mandate for health care waste management; a majority of them do not have an idea about its implementation while the others do not have the resources to acquire the equipment for proper waste treatment. Central Visayas region has registered 108 hospitals, of which 6 are under DoH7, 55 are run by Local Government Units and 47 are privately owned.

The seminars discussed five modules that include dealing with health care waste and its impact, solid waste management in health care facilities, wastewater management, health and safety, and administrative aspects of health care waste management programme, and more hospitals are expected to comply with the order, Ms. Canoneo said. Mr. Vivencio Ediza Jr., the Sanitary Engineer of DoH7, disclosed that in Central Visayas only level three and four hospitals have been compliant with the health care waste management policies, as most of the hospitals lack the resources and facilities for proper waste treatment.
Source: www.cebuonlinenews.com

Sri Lankas Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is taking the support of the private sector for e-waste management, as e-waste might become a serious problem in the near future. The Ministry is developing a policy to reduce the generation of e-waste and prevent toxic components from getting into municipal garbage. We published the policy in newspapers for public comments and we have received them. So we are now at the stage of finalizing the policy, said Additional Secretary to the Ministry Ms. Padmini Batuwitage. The Ministry hopes to reduce the creation of e-waste by imposing restrictions on the import of used electronic items.

The Ministry has enumerated nine electronic items that could create problems in the future. According to a Central Environmental Authority (CEA) report released in 2008, about 40-50 million washing machines are sold each year in Sri Lanka based on 2006 data. The market size of refrigerators in the island was estimated at around 250,000-275,000 units a year. Mobile phones topped the list. The size of the mobile phone market was about 1.0-1.2 million units in 2006 when there were 5.4 million subscribers. The subscriber base is now over 12 million. There is already a programme to ensure that mobile phone wastes are not dumped into municipal trash.
Source: www.lankabusinessonline.com

Public awareness on recycling in Malaysia is still low compared with other countries, including Singapore. According to the Housing and Local Government Minister Mr. Seri Kong Cho Ha, Singapore was ahead in recycling at 40 per cent compared with Malaysia, which is targeting 22 per cent by 2020. When recycling is practised everyday, the life span of solid waste disposal sites would be longer, Mr. Cho Ha stated at a news conference after launching a pilot project on the separation of solid waste. The project, implemented by Alam Flora Sdn. Bhd. and Schaefer, is capable of reducing 40 per cent of wastes at garbage disposal sites.
Source: www.bernama.com

France will help Viet Nam to address the problem of land contaminated by dioxins after the American War. According to Mr. Christian Jacob, Chairman of the French Parliamentary Commission on Sustainable Development & Territorial Planning, French agencies will work with Viet Nam to treat dioxin-contaminated land and make it cultivable again. Mr. Jacob also noted that more international support is needed to help Viet Nam deal with problems arising from climate change, the consequences of which have already been felt by the country.

Viet Nams Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Hoang Trung Hai stated that the country is targeting energy conservation and a diversification of energy sources, especially renewable ones. Viet Nam has conducted pilot programmes to develop solar power and energy from wind and biomass sources. Furthermore, the domestic transportation sector has gradually improved and narrowed down the gap between current standards of environmental protection and energy efficiency of vehicles and the international standards. The economic and financial forum between Viet Nam and France this year will focus on energy, reduction of greenhouse gases, efficient and sustainable use of energy sources, and will also initiate joint efforts to deal with climate change.
Source: english.vovnews.vn

In India, the leading cement manufacturer ACC Ltd. and the car maker Ford India are in talks to ensure that 100 per cent of the hazardous waste generated by the manufacturing process is co-processed. At a workshop on co-processing of hazardous waste in cement kilns, Ford India Vice-President of Manufacturing Mr. Tom S. Chackalackal stated that both companies worked together for the past two years to identify and develop alternate fuel and raw material opportunities for food waste. The co-processing trial burn results concluded that the waste material could be safely co-processed in cement kilns without any adverse impact on the process, product quality and emissions. The co-processing technology could provide a better, economically and ecologically more sustainable solution to the problem of industrial waste management.
Source: www.business-standard.com

China is ahead of the world in the recycling of important non-ferrous metals. At a recent international forum concluded in Chinas Jiangxi province, participants stated that there has been rapid development in this area as part of Chinas efforts to maintain sustainable economic growth, improve the efficient use of resources and lessen environmental pollution. In 2008, China was ranked first in the world in regard to consumption of recycled copper, using approximately 2 million tonnes or 30 per cent of its annual copper consumption. China also used 3 million tonnes of recycled aluminium or 20 per cent of its annual consumption, and nearly 1 million tonnes of recycled lead or 25 per cent of its consumption in 2008. The figures place China second in the world in terms of annual consumption of recycled aluminium and lead.
Source: news.xinhuanet.com

Worldwide intelligence operation Interpol has launched a global initiative to tackle the unacceptable dumping of e-waste on developing nations, with the United Kingdoms Environment Agency (EA) at the helm. The global crime group aims to better organize information exchanges between the environment agencies worldwide to help crack down on criminal organizations that purchase and export e-waste for disposal. The initiative involves EA working alongside environmental crime investigation units in North America and Europe, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Dutch Environment Agency VROM.

Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of EA, decalared that the groups aim is to tackle an international problem with an international response. He added: Investigations have found that each year thousands of tonnes of waste electrical equipment are shipped from Europe and America to developing countries to be stripped down often by children under appalling conditions to extract valuable metals such as gold, copper and aluminium. EA is conducting at present eight separate investigations through its National Environment Crime Team into the export of e-waste and has made 12 arrests to date.

One of the key elements of the new global initiative is the targeting of the so-called waste tourists, who enter the United Kingdom as tourists with the intention of coordinating the purchase and export of containers full of waste. In addition, the Interpol group will also conduct enquiries via an international task force to help ensure that countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and those in the Far East are not turned into dumping grounds for e-waste.
Source: www.letsrecycle.com

In India, the state of Tamil Nadus first incinerator for handling hazardous industrial waste will become functional at Gummidipoondi, about 50 km from Chennai. According to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) Chairman Mr. R. Balakrishnan, the plant is being built at a cost of US$2.17 million on a 20 acre secured landfill site inaugurated last year. The state-of-the-art facility will be handling a wide variety of hazardous waste material such as tar, tyre, oil and paint sludge, at the rate of 1 tonne/hour. The hazardous waste will be transported by Raamkey, the facilitator in charge of safe transport. Industries have to store the hazardous waste in dedicated containers and after securing the necessary clearance from TNPCB, the material has to be reached at the facilitators collection point, stated Mr. R. Kumar, Environmental Engineer. More such incinerators are being planned for three other locations, and the process of identifying secured landfill site is under way.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com