Construction Waste: Enforcement, Appeal, and Mumbai

In one line

Who runs the system, what a defaulter pays, a second appeal that costs twenty per cent, and the waste stream a Mumbai student can see from a window.

In exam wording: rule 14 of the Environment (Construction and Demolition) Waste Management Rules 2025 sets out the responsibilities of the Central Pollution Control Board including the portal; rule 15 those of the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Indian Roads Congress; rule 16 those of the State Government, the local or development authority and the State Board; rule 17 the procedure for storage; rule 18 environmental compensation; rule 19 reporting; rule 20 accident reporting within twenty-four hours; rule 21 verification and audit; rule 22 the Steering and Monitoring Committees; rule 23 the appeal and the second appeal on a twenty per cent deposit; rule 24 action under section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act; and rule 25 the power to remove difficulties.

Rule 14: the Central Board

Fourteen heads, of which five matter.

The portal. Setting up, operating and maintaining it, and ensuring it is functional within six months of notification.

The certificates. Issuing extended producer responsibility certificates.

The guidelines. Framing and implementing standard operating procedures on three subjects: the extended producer responsibility framework, covering registration, approval of the waste management plan, certificate generation, transfer and exchange, fulfilment and returns; the waste utilisation framework, covering registration of projects, approval of the utilisation plan, exemption from utilisation, fulfilment and returns; and environmentally sound management of the waste.

Monitoring road construction, on national highways and roads under the Central Government.

Enforcement and random checks to assess compliance, for which the Board may take the help of the State Government or any other agency; training for State Board and urban local body officials; awareness; and an annual report to the Central Government.

Rules 15 and 16: standards and the State

Rule 15. The Bureau of Indian Standards and the Indian Roads Congress prepare codes of practice and standards for the use of recycled materials and products, the Congress's role being specific to road construction.

Without a standard there is no market. A structural engineer cannot specify recycled aggregate for a load-bearing element unless a standard tells them what it may be used for and at what proportion, and a highway engineer cannot use it unless the Indian Roads Congress says so. Rule 15 and rule 13(2)'s schedule of rates are the two halves of making the recycled product usable in practice.

Rule 16. The Urban Development and Municipal Administration Department of the State formulates and implements the waste management policy and issues directives; and it must support local authorities in identifying and setting up intermediate waste storage facilities and processing sites, on a local, regional or cluster basis, within a year of notification, and monitor implementation.