The e-waste rules 2016 specify that firms collect 30% of the e-waste generated by them in the first two years of implementation of rules. But industry bodies such as Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT), Indian Cellular Association (ICA) and others recently met the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) to demand a relaxation in these targets and ask for a few more changes in the enforcement of these rules.

"The targets are a subject of discussion with the government. They are arbitrary and not in consultation with the industry. It will be impossible for the industry to meet with these targets. There focus of the enforcement and compliance will be on legitimate manufacturers while so many illegal operators will not be affected," said Anwar Shirpurwala, ex ecutive director, MAIT.

Senior Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials confirmed that manufacturers have raised several concerns with targets recently.

Civil society organisations however said industry was only delaying the implementation -"It appears to be only a way of delaying implementation of the e-waste rules. The concern should have been raised earlier when the rules and the targets were notified in March last year. Why is the industry raising this concern at the last moment when implementation is about to begin? If there is a delay, e-waste will continue to flow to informal sector where it will not be recycled safely. We expected the industry to be stronger and support these rules," said Priti Mahesh, chief programme coordinator at Toxics Link.

So what do these targets mean? The guidelines on implementation of e-waste rules 2016 released in October specify the average age of various electronic equipment.

For example, for smart phones its 5 years, for printers and cartridges its 10 years, for refrigerators 10 years, and so on for others. So all the smart phones which were sold in 2012, technically become e-waste in 2017 and the companies are mandated to collected 30% of that.

The equipment will reach end of life this year and can be collected and recycled through a formal authorised recycler by the manufacturers according to the rules. Industry bodies have however also said that this is "retrospective" and hence difficult to implement.Experts however said it can't be retrospective because the waste is being generated now.

Also, only 150 to 200 odd companies out of thousands have applied for authorisation from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for "extended producer responsibility" (EPR) to collect and get e-waste recycled. Some experts have also raised certain concerns with the guidelines for implementation.

"There is no one-one correlation between guidelines and rules. So it does not facilitate the user for compliance," said Lakshmi Rahupathy, former director, MoEF.

The rules say that companies are responsible for ensuring no damage is caused to the environment during storage , transportation and recycling of e-waste.