There is a growing mountain of electronics waste in India that the government is trying to tackle with a recycling law that aims to force high-tech manufacturers to clean up the toxic rubbish their customers discard.
But the manufacturers do not want to carry the can alone.
India’s ministry of environment and forests’ new e-waste legislation, which will be effective from May, lays out procedures for manufacturers, waste collectors and consumers.
But computer hardware manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard say that it is not just the responsibility of companies but that everyone should share the burden of managing electronic waste.
“It is the responsibility of consumers to discard their electronic waste appropriately, the responsibility of government to provide adequate collection and drop-off facilities for end-of-life products and the responsibility of manufacturers to manage the treatment and recycling of their products,” said Upasana Choudhry, an environmental manager at HP India. “Within this model of shared responsibility, manufacturers must provide for the recycling of their products, and have an option to do this collectively or individually.”
Source: The National
By Pia Heikkila