Waste management laws govern the transport,

treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste,

including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear
waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally
designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of
waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause
ecological or biological harm, and include laws designed to reduce
the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling.
Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste
types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal
practices.

International law is the set of rules generally regarded

and accepted as binding in relations between states and
between nations. It serves as a framework for the practice of
stable and organized international relations. International law
differs from state-based legal systems in that it is primarily
applicable to countries rather than to private citizens. National
law may become international law when treaties delegate
national jurisdiction to supranational tribunals such as
the European Court of Human Rights or the International
Criminal Court. Treaties such as the Geneva Conventions may
require national law to conform to respective parts.

Laws of waste management in india

With the increasing industrial growth and development, one of
the consequences we often seem to ignore is the generation of
waste. If the disposal of such wastes is not regulated and managed
properly, it can lead to serious environmental issues. Also,
keeping in line with the principle that development and
sustainability should go hand-in-hand, it is necessary that a
robust system of waste management is set up. In our country,
waste management is governed by Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) who work together with State
Pollution Control Board set up in various States. Certain laws are
also present in the legal setup which helps in regulation of waste
in India. The National Environment Policy, 2006 laid emphasis
not only on disposal of waste but also recycling and treating
waste.Let us now look at some of the laws, which are there for the
purpose of waste regulation.

ASSOCHAM Report
According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(ASSOCHAM) predictions, "India will generate
130 million tonnes of e-waste by 2018 from the current 93.5
million tonnes in 2016. And by 2020, India is expected to generate
260 million tonnes of e-waste".

Laws
As per Rule 4 of the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and
Handling) Rules, 2000"every municipal authority is responsible
for infrastructure for segregation and processing of municipal
solid waste (MSW), commonly known as garbage".

 The Environmental Protection Act

This Act was enacted in 1986, and it aims to establish a sufficient
protection system. This Act confers powers to the Central
Government to regulate all forms of waste. It is one of the primary
legislatures to protect the environment and regulation of waste.
Some of the important provisions of this Act is given as under-
 1. Section 7 of this Act places a principal prohibition on
harming the environment by stating that no person
carrying any activity should emit or discharge
environmental pollutants in excess of the prescribed
standards.
2. Section 9 of the Act states that if any event takes place
which harms the environment through any foreseen or
unforeseen event, the person responsible for the harm is
duty bound to prevent or alleviate the pollutant,
discharged as a result of such event. The person is also
obliged to inform the proper authorities about the event
which may harm the environment.

3.The Hazardous Wastes (Management,

Handling and Transboundary
Movement) Rules, 2008
Management of hazardous waste is a very complex issue. Certain
rules and regulations are required, which together form the legal
regime. The Rules places an obligation on the occupier of
hazardous to safe and sound handling of environmental waste.
The occupier is that person under whose charge there is a plant
or unit or factory which produces hazardous waste as a result of
their operation. The occupier must sell or send the hazardous
waste to a re-processor or recycler, who is authorized by the
government to dispose of the waste in a safe manner. Any person
who is engaged in storage, package, collection, destruction,
conversion, processing, etc., also has to take authorization for the
State Pollution Board.

 The Plastic Waste (Management and

Handling) Rules, 2011
The PWM Rules are set of regulatory framework set up to control
the use, manufacture, and recycling of plastic waste. Plastic waste
includes any plastic product which has been discarded after it use
of end of the products life.The Rule has uniform applicability
towards all distributors, users, retailers and manufacturers of
plastic products. Rule 9 makes it compulsory for every
manufacturer of plastic products and recycler to obtain
registration from State Pollution Control Board. This registration
has to be renewed every three years. Rule 10 states that no
retailer can provide plastic bags free of cost. This is done to
ensure that people use plastic bags judicially. The PWM rules also
specify details of plastic products such as the classification of the
types of plastic like compostable, recyclable or virgin plastic,
thickness, and color.

Recycling of plastic products is to be done in a fixed procedure

laid down by Bureau of Indian Standard Specification.

 Bio-Medical Waste (Management and

Handling) Rules, 1998
The aim of these Rules is to ensure that bio-medical wastes are
safely disposed of. Bio-medical waste can be defined as any waste
or byproduct generated during treatment, immunization and
treatment of human beings or animals or in research
activities.Schedule I of the Rules, differentiates biological wastes
into different categories like microbiological and biotechnological,
human anatomical, animal anatomical, discarded medicines,
chemical related waste, etc.

The BMW Rules apply to various institutions like nursing homes,

animal houses, veterinary homes, blood banks, dispensaries,
pathological laboratories, etc.the BMW Rules prohibit mixing of
biological wastes with any other type of wastes. The general rule
provided is that bio-medical wastes can’t be kept stored beyond
the period of 48 hours without being treated. Rule 8 requires
every occupier or any institution which is dealing with biological
waste to take an authorization form the State Pollution Control
Board. Further, according to Rule 5 , all institutions covered under
the rules are to mandatorily set up treatment facilities like
microwave system, autoclave, etc.

 The E- Waste (Management and

Handling) Rules, 2011
The prime aim of the EWM is to put in place a system which
manages e-waste in an environment-friendly way by regulating
the issue of recycling and disposal of e-waste.E-waste
management is a problematic issue in India. With the growing
economy and the technological advancement, India is becoming a
hub for the IT Sector. This creates a lot of e-waste, disposal of
which is necessary. A lot of e-waste also gets illegally imported
into India, which worsens the problem. The E-waste Rules apply
manufacturer and consumer. It is important to note that there are
bulk consumers of electronic products also. There are many big
corporate houses, who have fully automated their system and use
a lot of electronic devices to meet their purposes. Factories are
also considered as bulk customers.

IT initiatives
The Government of India launched a web application in 2016 to
track the status of various kinds of wastes generated in India.
Concluding Remarks
With the increasing industrial activities, the need for maintaining
a balance between economic growth and environment protection
grows. There is an increased focus towards the concept of
sustainable development, wherein, both the objectives can be
fulfilled simultaneously without hampering the other. Compliance
with environmental norms also builds a better brand image of the
organization. Apart from that, the rules and laws regarding the
management of waste and protection of the environment have
become more stringent. No laxity is accepted in the obligation of
functioning in an environment-friendly manner. If organizations
do not follow the provided norms, their right to carry out
business operations can also be revoked by the State. To avoid
such sanctions, it is important that organizations approach the
issue of environment protection and waste management in an
efficient way, and help the society as a whole to develop in a
manner, which is sustainable in the longer run.

IT initiatives
The Government of India launched a web application in 2016 to
track the status of various kinds of wastes generated in India.

References.

Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_management_laws in_India

ipleaders.in- https://blog.ipleaders.in/waste-management-laws-india