The white paper was Authored by consulting firm APCO Worldwide, in consultation with Industry, environment management experts and inputs from international best practices, the paper gives a flavour of current E-waste management scenario in India and advocates the need to treat white goods (e.g. washing machines, air conditioners, refrigerators) differently from other electronic products (e.g. mobiles, laptops). As white goods have longer lifespan, multiple uses, large size and weight which makes them incomparable with smaller electronic products.

As part of this whitepaper APCO Worldwide reached out to a variety of stakeholders who are part of the ecosystem like Individual consumers across Tier 1/2 cities and towns in India across all four regions cutting across all strata of society, Bulk institutional consumers, Producers, manufacturers and importers of EEE, Dismantlers, Recyclers, Scrap dealers from the informal sector, NGOs, bilateral entities and consulting organizations working in this area etc. A vast majority of the respondents were completely unaware of the existence of E-waste regulations or licensed recyclers. The survey also noted that a majority of the household respondents expected a decent residual value for their used household appliances and preferred to wait for someone to buy these goods. It is also interesting to note that not many bulk consumers were disposing their E-waste through formal channels.

Mr. Manish Sharma, President, CEAMA and Managing Director, Panasonic India and South Asiasaid, “With the current trend of increasing demands for electronics by the middle-class consumers in China and India, it is estimated that by 2017, the annual amount of E-waste generated would be 65m tonnes. The National Capital Region (NCR) of India generates over 11,000 tonnes of E-waste annually, where only 10% is recycled. We realize that it is a growing problem. We want to work towards creating an ecosystem of Recyclers, Producers, Collection Centres, Consumers and the Government. With the focus on the Make in India campaign, we look forward to an era of creating newer technologies in the Recycling Industry which will open collaboration with various International Partners for the same.”

He further added, “Considering the existing E-waste management ecosystem in India, the paper provides both short and long term recommendations to the government along with a road map and detailed explanations of various suggestions. This paper is an attempt to bridge the gap between the Government’s intent and industry’s commitment to reach a practical solution required to make India environmentally safe and free from the potential risks of E-waste, helping us contribute in a big way to the ‘Swachch Bharat’ campaign.”

Anirudh Dhoot, Immediate Past President, CEAMA & Director, Videocon Industries said, “I am confident that this research paper will serve its purpose of highlighting various issues and providing suitable recommendations to the government, specifically from the standpoint of treatment of white goods. This is one step for the Government & Industry to partner together in building awareness in consumers and be a part of Swachch Bharat vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji”

The white paper suggests short and long term recommendations which have been created after studying the ground realities and are backed by an India specific survey.

The short term recommendations suggested are:

• Building consumer awareness and defining their roles and responsibilities around E-waste disposal through a regulatory framework
• Fixing the accountability of bulk consumers by bringing them under the legal framework, through filing of records for E-waste
• Recognising an End-of-Life (EOL) for all Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) (after due industry consultation) as white goods have a longer end-of-life than IT and telecom products.
• Treating home appliances/white goods differently from information technology and telecommunication equipment.
• Adopting an 'Informal Sector Franchisee Model' to shift the unorganised sector to an organised one

The long term recommendations suggested are:

• Providing an option for companies to alternatively form a consortium to manage E-waste collectively, instead of managing it individually (Option to shift from ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ to ‘Producer Responsibility Organisation’)
• Introduction of Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF), to help build a sound E-waste management infrastructure.

These models will require Government’s support and collaboration by the industry, formal and informal recycling sectors, consumers and all the other stakeholders to jointly work towards achieving efficient management of E-waste in India.