Form 5 download is used to apply for authorisation for the import or export of hazardous and other waste for reuse, recycling, recovery, co-processing or utilisation. It is one of twelve hazardous waste forms that are used by importers, exporters, transporters and recyclers to comply with India’s Hazardous Waste Management Rules (HWMR) 2016.
Information on importer or exporter
The form requires information on the importer or exporter, what waste they intend to import or export, and in the case of schedule III, part A, HWMR, whether prior informed consent has been obtained. Details of processes and environmental safeguard measures need to be attached on a separate sheet, along with an attached copy of each valid authorisation and consent to operate from State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).
The form also requires information on the capacity of recycling, co-processing, recovery or utilisation; details of imports over the previous 3 years in relation to permissions obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and the port of entry.
Declaration
Form 5 requires a signed declaration that a legally enforceable, written contractual obligation has been entered into, and that the transboundary movement of the permitted waste is – or will be – covered by insurance or some other financial guarantee when it is moved. Insurance also needs to cover transit and any accidental occurrence, along with the associated clean-up operation.
Imported waste
The form declares that the ‘record of consumption and fate of imported waste’, will be recorded, with a report sent to the SPCB every quarter. It adds that the hazardous or other waste which gets generated on the premises of the applicant, ‘by the use of imported hazardous or other wastes in the form of raw material, shall be treated and disposed of as per conditions of authorisation.’
Obligation to pay costs
The applicant agrees to bear the cost of export and mitigation of damages, if any, and by signing the declaration acknowledges that there are significant penalties for submitting a false certificate, or disobeying rules and lawful orders, including fines and imprisonment. The applicant also agrees that exported wastes shall be taken back, if they are not acceptable to the importer.
Definitions of hazardous waste
Classifications of hazardous waste differ between India and its trade partners. Waste paper, such as OCC, is categorised as hazardous in India, putting this relatively low-risk secondary raw material in the same grouping as whole end-of-life tyres (ELTs), which have attracted controversy due to the proliferation of unregistered and highly polluting scrap tyre batch pyrolysis plants. Imported shipments of ELTs are currently spared much of the paperwork that is required for importing waste paper, such as the completion of a pre-shipment inspection certificate (PSIC).
