BANGALORE, INDIA: The pile has rotten! This time around it is not the single apple that has caused it to rot! Matter of fact, every minuscule bit of this pile is a scrap, a poisonous scrap, which has been swiped into the Indian soils across its borders for over two decade now.

Having generated around 4,56,000 tonnes in 2008 (as per MAIT-GTZ E-Waste Survey 2007), India today has become an abode for this mounting scrap of waste, called e-waste. It is high time to dig deep into this disorder and try to clean the dirt!

“It is a fact that India needs a more organised recycling capacity in different regions of the country, so that E-waste generated in the region/location can be recycled with minimal logistics costs and closer to the points of generation."

"Environmental impacts can occur at every stage of the product lifecycle. Therefore, e-waste policies should be developed so that they incent manufacturers to minimise the environmental impact of the product from the start, i.e at the design stage,” opines P Ravindranath, director, Strategic Development/Government & Public Affairs, Hewlett Packard India Sales Pvt Ltd, in an interaction with CIOL. He also explains how HP is lending a helping hand in India's effort to fight against this issue.

Excerpts:
CIOL: How are the obsolete products collected at HP being recycled? How much e-waste is recycled at HP and what happens to the rest?
P Ravindranath: Hundred percent of the e-waste generated by HP in India across facilities, offices and factories is recycled. In the last two years, HP has recycled over 209 metric tonnes of e-waste through Government of India authorized and HP approved recyclers in India, such as E-parisaraa in Bangalore, Tes-Amm in Chennai and TIC Group in Noida.

However, HP does not have an e-waste recycling unit in India as of now. HP has a structured internal program, known as 'Planet Partners Recycling Program', to recycle its own personal productivity equipment.

The recycling program operates globally in over 40 countries, regions and territories. It seeks to reduce the environmental impact of IT products, minimise waste going to landfills and help customers conveniently dispose products in an environmental friendly manner.

Plastics and metals recovered from products recycled by HP have been used in new HP products, as well as a range of other uses, including auto body parts, cloth hangers, plastic toys, fence posts, serving trays and roof tiles. 

However, HP does not have a control on the percentage of the end of life products returned by HP customers. While we at HP have the internal program for return of end-of-life products for enterprise customers, the returns are limited!