From Daikin to Samsung, companies fight Modi over e-waste policy

‘REASONABLE’ INTERVENTION

For years, India has resisted foreign companies’ demands to revoke protectionist policies. Lobbying by Walmart and Amazon, for example, failed to ease regulations that protect small retailers.

On e-waste, too, Modi’s administration is digging in.

In a Mar 18 submission, the Environment Ministry urged the judges to dismiss the lawsuits, saying it was “reasonable” and within its powers to fix prices.

The alternative of letting companies and recyclers determine prices may not account for all costs of environmentally sound waste management, the ministry said, adding that it wanted to prevent a “race to the bottom” in pricing.

India’s government says there are 322 authorised recyclers in the country.

But informal waste handlers flourish nationwide, using methods such as open burning and acid leaching to extract metals and components, which can release hazardous materials.

In western Gujarat state, 60-year-old scrap dealer Mustakeem Malik uses a hammer to dismantle televisions, air conditioners and routers.

Inside his tin-roofed shed where electronic equipment was stacked in haphazard piles, Malik told Reuters he earns 50,000 rupees, or about US$580, a month by selling the plastic, circuit boards and copper he extracts from the devices. He doesn’t want to work in the formal e-waste sector.

That business has a lot of expenses. It’s for the big guys,” he said.