In India, e-waste is primarily managed by the informal sector and there is high dependency on this sector to manage IT/electronics products at end of life. One possible path to capacity building of informal sector is using the power of purchasers and engaging them in the creation of end-of-life requirements, or criteria, in an India IT Product Sustainability Standard that would leverage the resources of IT manufacturers and would also link to SDGs.
Accordingly, CRB and Green Electronics Council (GEC) formed an institutional partnership with the aim of bridging the gap between the state of policy and current end of life practices by exploring capacity building opportunities for end-of-life management of IT/electronics equipment. As a means to develop the voluntary consensus standard, a White Paper on “End-of-Life Capacity Building Criteria for IT Products in India” was developed based on interactions and inputs received from key multiple stakeholders including government representatives, industry association representatives, businesses (IT and electronics producers), recyclers including agencies, sector experts, and NGOs working on the issue. The research has also explored ways to promote workable solutions (good practices) for producers/industry actors so that such ‘knowledge’ is available for other industry actors to emulate.