Hazardous Waste Management Rules, India; Policy changes required for Discarded Vehicle Management

India is one among the fast developing countries in the World. Karnataka state in India is witnessing the substantial growth in major sectors like; education, medicine, tourism, infrastructure development, medical facilities, urbanization etc., Bangalore is one city which has more than 7 million vehicles registered in the city and playing on the road. These vehicles would have an average life span of 20 years or less. The Government of India is planning to mandate the retirement of vehicles older than 15 years.  . This  policy could result in at least 1/2 million vehicles disposed as scrap each year.  With  an average vehicle weight ing of one tonne, potentially ½ million tonnes of vehicle wastes could be generated each year.  Vehicles contain hazardous materials like: lead acid batteries, used oil, electronic waste, tyres, discarded druid, mercury switches, electric bulbs, plastics, and both ferrous and non-ferrous metals.   The Hazardous Waste Management Handling Rules 1998, the national policy for management, handling and disposal of hazardous waste carries 36 categories of hazardous wastes. These rules do not carry “discarded vehicle” as one of the categories of hazardous waste, nor have the guidelines for its scientific handling and disposal options been given to the generators.

In this article the author has made an attempt to record the pollution potential of discarded vehicles and basic policy changes required for Management, Handling and scientific disposal of the discarded vehicles, to safeguard the human race from possible health problems and the environment as a whole.