Greenpeace activists knocked on the door of the Ministry of Information Technology, presenting it with a giant art installation of the globe in the clutches of hazardous e-waste a reminder of the enormity of the e-waste challenge. With a solution-oriented approach, Greenpeace presented the Ministry a report titled Extended Producer Responsibility in a non-OECD context (1). New regulatory legislation that is based on EPR will nip the growing e-waste crisis in the bud. EPR (2) is a principle that makes brand owners responsible for the entire life cycle of their products, while fostering the ability of Indian IT industries to compete globally.
An Electronic Association of India projection says that the amount of e-waste generated in India would increase 11 fold from the current 1,46,000 tons per annum to 16,00,000 tons per annum by 2012. Due to the presence of harmful chemicals in computers and electronic products, this growth is confronting India with an environmental and public health nightmare. Greenpeace has discovered scientific evidence of widespread worker and community exposure to toxic chemicals from e-waste (3).
This is not just an issue of environmental protection. If the Ministry of IT truly wants the Indian industry to be globally competitive, they must phase out the use of hazardous substances through RoHS-like rules (4) and take the lead in pushing for contemporary legislation based on the principle of EPR. If not, the Indian IT industry will lag far behind the rest of the world and countries like China will continue to outperform us, said G. Ananthapadmanabhan, Greenpeace India Executive Director.
A national EPR programme will make producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their product, and will help transform the hazardous, life threatening informal recycling sector into one that is as profitable but less hazardous to human health and the environment. EPR or brand responsibility will motivate manufacturers to address the toxic problem at the products design stage itself (which is when most environmental impacts are predetermined), rather than at the end of its life.
Our in-depth study shows that there are no insurmountable obstacles to the implementation of EPR legislation in India, said Dr. Thomas Lindhqvist, co-author of the study (5). Legislation based on the principle of EPR can avert the growing e-waste crisis that is the result of a lack of brand responsibility in the electronics industry.
Greenpeace believes that the very absence, thus far, of e-waste legislation, puts India in a unique position to draft a state-of-the-art legal framework based on the EPR principle. Even China is ahead of India as it has been consistently updating its regulatory mechanisms in keeping with modern developments. Leading international electronic brands (such as Dell and Lenovo) are already taking steps in accordance with the EPR principle. At a time when the Indian IT industry is moving forward in search of global recognition, its aspirations would be best served if the government implements the EPR principle.
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