Double Standards

Many
consumers who are sensitive about the environment today have no
options but to keep
piling up their electronic products at home. Many of the tech
vendors, who have clearly articulated policies in Individual Producer
Responsibility (IPR) and were practicing that earnestly in developed
markets, are not even doing a fraction of that in the Indian market.
Also, many India-headquartered companies were better in this respect
than their non-Indian counterparts. Of course, there are exceptions
among both.

THE
STATED
POSITIONING

A quick look
at the websites of the major tech vendors is a good way to assess the
seriousness
of a company's IPR thrust, though a vendor may have a good policy on
paper but
is not practicing it on the ground.

Nevertheless,
it
is a good starting point. A run-through through the websites of
major tech vendors reveals that most of the global MNCs have only the
global takeback policies mentioned in their Indian websites. It is
hard to seek information about their IPR policies and takeback
programs in India. Moreover, the information is not sufficient. If
consumers want to seek information, they need to indulge into serious
browsing exercise.

There are
exceptions, though Websites of Nokia, Acer, and HCL give clear
information about their recycling policies. Nokia India's website
clearly tells how a customer can recycle its obsolete product. Acer's
India website, on the other hand, is very India centric. HCL's
website has a detailed report on the amount of e-waste generated and
recycled in India.

Apple's
India website declares that their entire product line-Mac, iPod,
iPhone, iPad and accessories-are free from toxic materials like
BFRs and PVCs. But its India website has no information about its IPR
and takeback policies. Similarly, HP's site mentions information
only about laser printers. There is little mention of any takeback
policies by Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Sharp. On the contrary, HCL,
Wipro, and Zenith clearly mention information about IPR.

MISSING:
ACTION ON THE GROUND

Despite all
big claims, the implementation of IPR policies by major tech vendors
does not seem to be happening. There is no separate IPR policies in
India. And there is need for it because here consumer awareness is
the biggest challenge. This is what most tech vendors are saying.
Though tech vendors like Dell, HP, Nokia, HCL, Wipro are trying to
bring in some level of awareness among the masses, trying to reach
maximum number of B2B and B2C customers. Dell has launched a free
laptop battery recycling program in India for consumers.

“We
recognize the challenges around what is primarily an unorganized
sector, and that creating a level playing field for all the
manufacturers may require a certain level of legislation or
regulation,” says Mahesh Bhalla, general manager, consumer and SMB,
Dell India. Dell has designed the free laptop battery recycling
program to encourage consumers to responsibly dispose their
non-working laptop batteries, thereby preventing e-waste from
entering landfills.

Nokia, which
is proactive in taking back all kinds of phones and mobile related
accessories by any manufacturer, has initiated the recycling bins
placed at Nokia Care Centers and priority dealers. “In addition to
the recycling bins placed at Nokia care centers and priority dealers,
we have also initiated an ongoing take back and recycling program in
offices of various partnering corporations across India. This
initiative aims at creating awareness on recycling and encouraging
employees of partnering corporations to recycle their old handsets
and accessories, regardless of the brand. Till date, Nokia has
covered around 300 offices across India of several partner
corporations ranging across various sectors,” says Poonam Kaul,
director, corporate communications, Nokia India.

Nokia is a
clear example of multinational tech vendor who is a leader and even a
trendsetter. Similarly, HCL Infosystems has also formula ted the HCL
Green Bag Campaign for the recovery and recycling of e-waste.

“HCL, Wipro
and Nokia have the best practices in recycling e-waste,” says
Abhishek Pratap, senior campaigner, climate & energy at
Greenpeace. “Wipro recycles about 30 tonnes of e-wastes every
month, which is quite good. HCL is also serious about its recycling
programs and Nokia works with registered e-waste recyclers, and
their collection and processing procedures follow good standards,”
he substantiates.

Due to the
absence of strict policies on e-waste recycling in India, global MNCs
are not taking
the implementation seriously. In contrast, they are very particular
about their IPR policies in developed countries. The governments in
developed countries have issued clear guidelines to corporates and
common citizens to follow their national regulations and organized
management schemes for WEEE.

It seems
that
in India responsible e-waste management is left to the will of the
tech vendors, MNCs
and tech consumers. India is seeing huge growth in the usage of
technology, yet there are no existing environmental laws that have a
direct reference to electronic waste. Legislation for producer
responsibility on e-waste has already been enforced in the EU, Japan,
Korea, Taiwan and some US states. But until the government gets
strict with tech vendors and mandates them to exercise clear IPR
policies, tech vendors operating in India have to take this
initiative.

Though with
increase in consumer awareness, it is improving. “Things have
changed from what it used to be few years back but it has not changed
the way it should have. Indian companies understand this problem
better because they understand the Indian scenario better than global
MNCs. Dell and HP have not done enough in this aspect. Dell claims
that it began its recycling services in India in 2006 but had
formally launched the recycling service in 2010,” says Pratap of
Greenpeace.

HP limits
its
recycling programs to only the major cities in India. They recycle or
take back all HP products for their B2B and B2C customers in all
major cities across India. But their IPR policies are not so specific
to India. “We support the principle of IPR across all regions that
we operate in, including India. We are actively involved with
industry bodies and core working groups on e-waste recycling in
India,” says Annukka Dickens, Environmental Manager-HP Asia-Pacific
and Japan (APJ).

CAN TECH
VENDORS BRING ABOUT CHANGE?

In the
absence of strict rules and policies on e-waste recycling in India,
tech vendors are not forced to adopt e-waste policies which they
adopt in developed markets. Tech vendors are adopting this as a CSR
measure. Many vendors are also trying to create an awareness among
the masses. “Due to our sustained efforts towards awareness and
education, we are seeing more progressive minded organizations taking
steps to address issues of e-waste. All the collection centers of
Wipro have seen increase of e-waste collections. We execute special
programs for our corporate customers to involve them in responsible
e-waste management,” says Ashok Tripathy, general manager and
business head, Wipro Systems and Technologies.

Companies
are
trying to generate a lot of awareness among the masses but the
strategies should be implemented in a way that would lure the tech
consumers and pester them to recycle their obsolete tech products.
The staffs of the collection points and the service centers should be
aware about the take back services, so they can convince their
consumers to recycle old tech products. Kaul says, “Nokia
continually undertakes briefings and training of its store employees,
which also emphasizes and focuses on the Nokia takeback initiatives.”

NEED FOR
LEGISLATION

If MNCs can
embrace IPR policies in developed countries but not in India, this
just shows that tech vendors are refraining from their responsiblity
in the absence of any kind of
legislation. There is need for the government to act immediately on
clear environmental laws. But the vendors can not be blamed alone for
not taking up the initiative. Once the government intervenes things
are expected to change. “The customer mindset is not the only
challenge, as this still remains an unorganized sector. The entire
e-waste collection and recycling also is a big hurdle in the path of
e-waste management. Another major factor is the absence of e-waste
handling regulations in India. There is a strong need for the
government to have a concrete policy in place to tackle the present
e-waste problems,” says Bhattacharyya of HCL Infosystems.

Both the
tech
vendors and authorized e-waste recyclers are looking forward to some
action from the government's end. There are not many authorized
e-waste recyclers in India and the few having the right kind of
technology in place are not accessible by the B2B and B2C customers.
Ever since the state pollution control board has been granted
authority to issue licences to e-waste recyclers, it has become
easier to get a licence. But all those who have got licences do not
have the right kind of technology in place.

In a way,
even the tech vendors are not able to work with many e-waste
recyclers, who are mostly spread across major cities only. Things do
not seem to fall in line till the government takes any action and
enforces clear IPR and take back policies. Seeing the current
scenario, we can only expect the tech consumers and vendors to be
responsible. Seeing some of the initiatives taken by tech vendors
gives us hope that in future e-waste recycling would be taken
seriously by tech vendors and a huge volume of e-waste would be
generated in the formal sector. But it's still too early to say
things will change soon.