New Delhi, April 16: E-waste is likely to increase to eight lakh tonnes by 2012, up from 1.5 lakh tonnes in 2005, mainly due to high economic growth and increased use of electronic appliances in the country.

The government has put in place guidelines to handle the e-waste so that it has no adverse impact on either health or environment, Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, said in the Lok Sabha.

"As growth increases use of electronic goods also goes up resulting in higher e-waste. We are aware of the impact of this and are encouraging recycle and reuse to maximum so that waste is minimum," the minister said.

He also sought public participation in the process so that e-waste was handled properly.

On concerns that foreign companies were dumping the e-waste in India causing a major environmental threat, Meena said that import of hazadous materials like copper was allowed only for the recycling and direct use and not for dumping.

The government has been monitoring the imports and would like to ensure the House that it did not pose any environment threat to the nation, he said.

"No hazardous waste is allowed to be imported into the country for dumping and disposal and the import/export of hazardous waste is allowed only for reuse/recycling in an environmentally sound manner," he said.

Further, all the recyclers/refiners of non-ferrous metal wastes or used oil/waste oil are required to register themselves with the Central Pollution Control Board except those having units with captive recycling facilities, he said.