According to one Bangalore retailer Mohit Hegde of Creative Infotech,
“Vendors are trying to educate partners about RoHS. In fact some corporate
customers are aware of such products and sometimes ask for them as well. But
customer awareness still has a long way to go, and there is no major demand from
end-users for these products.”
In cases where partners have been briefed about RoHS compliance, especially
those working with the likes of Wipro and D-Link, partners have passed on the
information to their customers, especially the home and SOHO users. This means
that in the future, partners could be more involved in active discussions on the
issue and hopefully would get involved at the policy making level as well. Right
now, most system integrators do not have much say. They usually use products
that the vendor sends them, and if they are RoHS compliant, it is a value-add
that they give their customers.
As it stands, functionally there appears to be no difference between a RoHS
compliant product and one that does not comply with RoHS. The vendor seems to
incur a cost as far as compliance is concerned. However, given the lack of
awareness of the need for RoHS compliance the customer is not yet ready to pay
more for an RoHS compliant product.
Greenpeace's take
Statistics reveal that India has produced about 1,50,000 tonnes of e-waste
till date, which is annually growing at 300 percent and is likely to reach nine
million tonnes by 2012, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
A CPCB report claims that India's production of
high-tech waste is far higher than anticipated earlier and has generated around
1,46,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) till 2006,
including computers, TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines.
In order to check this rapidly growing menace, Greenpeace is sensitizing
computer manufacturers and the government, to prevent a likely environmental
and health emergency.
It appears that the worst culprit in India is Mumbai, although much of its
WEEE is shipped to Delhi, which has become India's main recycling base. A Toxic
Link's research showed Mumbai was discarding much more electronic waste than had
been estimated.
Commenting on the scenario, Rampathi Kumar, Team Leader, Toxics from
Greenpeace said, “India is a dumping ground for e-waste. Despite being an
alarming issue, no legislation or regulation exists in India so far to check
this. Except for a few who have shifted to manufacturing green computers, all
the others are from the gray markets of China and Taiwan. Manufacturers need to
take the responsibility and the initiative to provide environment friendly
products. They should also take-back products, which have come to the end of
their lifecycle and ensure proper recycling of the same. Most vendors comply
with RoHS regulations today as they believe that it is the first step to 'going
green.'
Rather than wait for a regulatory policy to be in place, manufacturers must
themselves take the responsibility of providing safe products for use said Kumar
who felt that the only way to deal with the growing problem of e-waste is for
companies to design clean electronics with longer life spans, that are safe and
easy to recycle and will not expose workers and the environment to hazardous
chemicals.
“Yes, we would call upon the government also to issue a legislation,” he
added. It is not that these companies alone can get the Indian government to
affect an environmental compliance policy. Organizations like The Telecom
Equipments Manufacturers Association (TEMA) of India have announced a voluntary
RoHS labeling and compliance plan way back in December 2004. The Material
Testing Laboratory at TCR Engineering Services in India, now offers
manufacturers wishing to comply with the new RoHS directive a useful resource in
the form of testing services.
Initiatives by such groups are also expected to take the attention of the
Indian government to adopt regulations on handling e-waste which are notoriously
lax and do not measure up to the RoHS directive.
| "I might use a mother-board that is
RoHS compliant, but some other components may not be compliant. Even if all
the components of a PC that I assemble are RoHS compliant, there is no law
that says my products need to comply" |
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Chetan Shah
Xpress Computers, Mumbai |
Challenges and road ahead
While the initiative to get environmental friendly is a welcome one,
manufacturers have their fair share of challenges while getting into compliance.
Identifying alternative materials in place of PVC from all products is an issue
of concern because acceptable alternatives are not yet available.
Driving materials substitution throughout the supply chain is also difficult
and vendors need to communicate that need to their suppliers. A lack of
awareness of the hazardous nature of certain materials used in electronic
assemblies; marginal higher cost which could increase if the total manufacturing
set-up is to be revamped or replaced and a lack of clear guidelines/directive
from policymakers are some stumbling blocks that come in the way of going green
for most vendors.
On its part, the government must devise a waste disposal policy for India
besides supporting the components industry to go green, indicated most vendors.
Offer of low-cost test and development facilities at government labs is a good
alternative they feel.
Lowering product weight and size would decrease resource use and thus reduce
environmental impacts throughout the product life cycle, while using innovative
and recycled materials would be a big plus. Also the pollution norms need to be
changed (with minimum pollutants) so that environment pollution can be
significantly reduced.
Given that the environmental sensitivity of businesses and consumers is
increasing, channel partners can benefit by promoting the environmental
attributes of the products they sell. What this means is that RoHS compliance
could in the long run become one such regulation that will reverse the trend of
enforcement.
Normally, governments enforce a regulation, but as far as the environment
goes, the regulating agencies will have to learn from the corporate and define a
framework of compliance.
Subbalakshmi BM
subbalakshmibm@cybermedia.co.in
(With inputs from Amrita Tejasvi in Delhi and Piyali Guha in Kolkata) Page(s) 1 2 3
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