Hazardous Wastes

There are several legislations that directly or indirectly deal with hazardous waste. The relevant legislations are the Factories Act, 1948, the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, the National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995, and some notifications under the Environmental Protection Act of 1986. A brief description of each of these is given in the following.

Under the USEPA 1986, the MOEF has issued several notifications to tackle the problem of hazardous waste management. These include the following:

• Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989, which brought out a guide for manufacture, storage, and import of hazardous chemicals and for management of hazardous wastes.
• Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, were formulated along parallel lines, for proper disposal, segregation, transport, etc. of infectious wastes.
• Municipal Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, whose aim was to enable municipalities to dispose municipal solid waste in a scientific manner.
• Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Amendment Rules, 2000, a recent notification issued with the view to providing guidelines for the import and export of hazardous waste in the country.

Factories Act, 1948 and Its Amendment in 1987

The Factories Act, 1948 was a postindependence statute that explicitly showed concern for the environment. The primary aim of the 1948 Act has been to ensure the welfare of workers not only in their working conditions in the factories but also their employment benefits. While ensuring the safety and health of the workers, the Act contributes to environmental protection. The Act contains a comprehensive list of 29 categories of industries involving hazardous processes, which are defined as a process or activity where unless special care is taken, raw materials used therein or the intermediate or the finished products, by‐products, wastes, or effluents would

• cause material impairment to health of the persons engaged
• result in the pollution of the general environment

Public Liability Insurance Act (PLIA), 1991

The Act covers accidents involving hazardous substances and insurance coverage for these. Where death or injury results from an accident, this Act makes the owner liable to provide relief as is specified in the Schedule of the Act. The PLIA was amended in 1992, and the Central Government was authorized to establish the Environmental Relief Fund, for making relief payments.

National Environment Tribunal Act, 1995

The Act provided strict liability for damages arising out of any accident occurring while handling any hazardous substance and for the establishment of a National Environment Tribunal for effective and expeditious disposal of cases arising from such accident, with a view to give relief and compensation for damages to persons, property, and the environment and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.