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The Take Back Sevice

Even as India heads for a looming E-waste crisis, most of the global electronic brands have no functioning E-waste take-back
services in India. Greenpeace examined the policy-and-practice on E-waste take-back offered by 20 E-brands in India, and found that only one global brand (Acer) and two India brands (HCL and Wipro) have take-back services in India. HCL and WIPRO are ahead of most of their counterparts in implementing their take-back service on the ground, even in the absence of legislation.

According to Greenpeace, big brands like Nokia, LG Electronics and Motorola are still not able to make their take back service in India fully operational. Many of these brands are providing a voluntary take-back service in other countries. HP, along with Dell and Lenovo, is involved in green-wash, as their take-back service is completely non-existent on ground. With the exception of two brands (Acer and HCL), no other brand has come out with a publicly on the issue of supporting E-waste legislation in India.

The findings of Greenpeace study are absolutely shocking. It seems that E-waste take-back in India is in no way a priority for global brands; otherwise, how can one explain the irresponsible conduct of brands like Sony, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Samsung and Philips, which have no take-back service in India whatsoever? Legislation embracing Producer Responsibility for E-waste is already in force in the EU, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and some US states. Responsible companies are expected to treat all their customers globally in the same way and offer take-back and recycling services wherever their products are sold - not just in countries where this is a legal requirement. Those brands, which have no policy for take-back in India, must immediately announce such service without any lapse. And those brands whose take-back service is not working on the ground need to tighten the noose. These measures need to be backed by policy based on IPR (Individual Producer Responsibility) that provides for the entire life cycles of a product.

To get around this problem, collection targets are needed. WEEE Directive sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods and makes manufacturers responsible for disposal. The collection rate are of around 60 per cent for small appliances like MP3 players and hair-dryers, as well as for medium-sized audio equipment, microwaves and televisions, and 75 per cent for large appliances like refrigerators and washing machines.

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Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth started his career as Lecturer at Post Graduate Dept. of Economics, Government College, Gurdaspur, and later at Khalsa College; Amritsar, specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics. Has the distinction of serving Punjab Agricultural Univ, Ludhiana, for more than 2 decades and remained Director-Principal of Saint Soldier Management & Technical Institute, Jalandhar. Currently, heading GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Article posted on February 22, 2009.