The first national seminar on hazardous materials management was held at the Bangalore Institute of Technology on February 4th and 5th.
The seminar was organised by the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers (ACHMM) – India Chapter and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
The ACHMM is a professional organisation of hazardous material managers in the US, and the ACHMM-India Chapter was initiated in 2006.
The objective of ACHMM is to bring together the regulatory agencies, academia and industry to discuss problems related to hazardous materials management, foster fellowship, offer networking opportunities as well as training and educational programmes.
The seminar, attended by around 70 delegates, was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Planning, M.V. Rajashekaren.
Over two days a US team of around a dozen invited guests, and myself representing the UK, presented several papers covering, in particular, waste management.
India has a huge e-waste problem with, for example, 2 million old PC’s ready for disposal and 30,000 computers becoming obsolete every year from the IT industry in Bangalore alone. E-waste accounts for 40% of lead and 75% of heavy metals found in landfill.
Draft proposals from the Ministry of Environment and Forests will hold Producers accountable for safe disposal of e-waste, but much still needs to be done.
I presented a paper called “Europe driving design for the environmental revolution”.
Clearly there is no shortage of talented design engineers in India and many of the audience in Bangalore were chemists who had a particular interest in the hazardous substances that are within the scope of RoHS and REACH legislation.
Many of the questions received were well thought out and our presentations were very well received.
Whilst early days, RoHS compliant PC’s are now manufactured in India as well as a range of basic components that have been available for some considerable time.
New test houses are also now in place to test for RoHS compliance. “India RoHS” legislation is on the radar but it is difficult to estimate how long this will take.
The people of Bangalore were probably the most gracious I have ever met and clearly there is a huge desire from the government to remove toxic substances and to tackle the major waste problem.
The US / UK delegation set out to share our experience to the people of Bangalore and raise awareness.
There was media coverage of the event.
Only time will tell if it is a lost cause, or if we were witnessing the start of the Indian people (and government) facing up to the present day challenges of the global environment.
Directive Decoder
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