Scrap of Non-Ferrous Metals: Chapter VIII

In one line

The newest waste regime in India makes the producer of anything made of aluminium, copper or zinc answerable for recycling a rising share of it, measured against what he sold a product-lifetime ago.

In the wording a student can write in an examination: Chapter VIII of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules 2016, rules 44 to 64, headed Extended Producer Responsibility for Scrap of Non-Ferrous Metals, was inserted by the (Amendment) Rules 2025, G.S.R. 438(E); rule 44 defines the terms, rule 45 requires registration, rule 46 imposes the producer's recycling responsibility with the targets in Schedule XI, rule 47 provides for the generation of extended producer responsibility certificates, rule 48 for refurbishing, rule 49 for the transaction of certificates, rule 50 for the online portal, rules 52 to 57 the responsibilities of producers, collection agents, refurbishers, recyclers, bulk consumers and the Central Pollution Control Board, rule 59 the responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian Standards, rule 60 environmental compensation, rule 61 action for contravention, rule 62 verification and audit, rule 63 a Steering Committee, and rule 64 the application of the other provisions of the Rules.

Why non-ferrous metal, and why now

Because the metal is worth more than the product. Aluminium, copper and zinc do not degrade in recycling, and recycled aluminium takes a small fraction of the energy of primary production. A tonne of scrap is genuinely a tonne of metal.

Because India imports the metal and exports the scrap. A regime that keeps the scrap in the country and routes it through registered recyclers is an industrial policy as much as an environmental one.

And because the informal sector already does it, badly. Non-ferrous scrap is collected and melted in small units without emission control, and the Chapter's object is to route the same material through a registered recycler with a standard.

The four schedules the Chapter runs on

The Chapter is unusual in that almost every operative rule points to a Schedule.

• Schedule X, the products made of non-ferrous metals to which the Chapter applies. The Schedule runs through eighteen entries and its tail shows how wide it is: sanitary ware and fittings, electrical fittings other than automobile grade, aluminium alloy bicycles, transformers other than automobile grade, electric generator sets, centralised air conditioning plants, apparel products such as belt buckles, zips and shoes, and toys.
• Schedule XI, the extended producer responsibility obligation of the producer, that is the targets.
• Schedule XII, the products allowed for refurbishing.
• Schedule XIII, referred to in the later rules.

Read the Schedule X tail once and the scope becomes clear. A belt buckle and a child's toy are within a hazardous waste rule, because the metal in them is worth recovering and because a producer who sells them is the only person who can be made to account for them.