CAG estimates about 35,000 tonnes of e-waste lost to shadow scrap dealers

Panaji: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) unmasked a “grave risk” to Goa’s public health and environment, revealing that state failed to track or safely treat over 35,000 tonnes of electronic waste.

The audit found that between 2019 and 2023, 98% of Goa’s e-waste bypassed formal collection centres, ending up in the hands of unauthorised scrap dealers or dumped in landfills.

The CAG report, tabled in the assembly, also flagged the nine-year delay in finalising a statewide management plan despite the e-waste management rules being enacted in 2016. Although a consultant submitted a draft e-waste management plan in July 2020, govt kept the project in limbo for four years.

As of May 2024, the Goa Waste Management Corporation claimed the plan was still “under preparation”, a delay the audit suggested crippled the state’s regulatory oversight.Despite the hazardous nature of components like lead and mercury in e-waste, formal collectors managed to recover only 2% of the total estimated e-waste generated between 2019 and 2023, the CAG report said.The CAG blamed the prolonged policy vacuum for leaving the state without a clear roadmap for handling the fastest-growing waste stream in the region.

Infrastructure development fared no better, with the state’s flagship e-waste treatment facility in Pissurlem facing repeated setbacks. Originally awarded in April 2021, the project was hampered by a 1-year delay in land handover. While the plant was expected to be operational by mid-2023, the contractor sought an extension until May 2025. This delay forced the state to rely on a non-existent formal network, effectively surrendering the processing of hazardous materials to an unmonitored informal sector, the CAG report said.The audit found that while there are over 700 scrap dealers operating across Goa, none of the registered dealers are authorised to handle electronic waste. The board’s claim of conducting inspections was dismissed by the CAG as “not tenable”, noting a complete lack of random inspections and the absence of a comprehensive inventory to track waste flow from manufacturers to recyclers.The CAG recommended that the Goa Waste Management Corporation immediately expedite the Pissurlem facility and finalise the long-overdue management plan. Furthermore, the pollution control board was directed to identify and register all scrap dealers to ensure that e-waste is handled through scientific disposal methods rather than clandestine, hazardous practices that threaten the state’s ecosystem.