Government today informed that one lakh 47 thousand Metric Tons of e-waste was generated in the country in the year 2005 which is expected to increase to about eight lakh metric tons by the end of this year. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan said that under the existing Rules, import of e-waste for dumping is not permitted in the country. She said that import is permitted only for reuse or recycling or reprocessing with the permission of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Minister informed that during the last two years, no permission for import of e-waste has been given by the Ministry for recycling or re-processing. Mrs. Natarajan informed that for the effective handling of management of e-waste, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has also notified separate e-waste rules, 2011. These rules will come into effect from 1st May of this year.