Introduction
Nokia is a leading smartphone company in India that has an e-waste management policy. It implemented its e-waste management policy in 2009, at a time when most of its competitors had no approach to mitigating waste management issues. Nokia introduced drop boxes as a collection center for used phones and mobile phone accessories in its first phase. The significance of the e-waste policy was collecting brands irrespective of their manufacturer (Parameswari et al., 2015). The second phase in implementing the policy was done in 2009 an incorporated the general public living in four major cities in India. They adopted a campaign approach that involved advertising their e-waste policy in newspapers to create awareness.
Nokia India’s E-Waste Management Policy
Prior to 2009, Nokia had not implemented an e-waste policy, and it was not making any effort to minimize waste disposal. In 2007, after Google initiated its Android operating system, it became clear that the smartphones had been rendered a simple “window to the cloud” (Ramachandra et al., 2018). As such, the Symbian software developed by Nokia would not achieve the desired competitive advantage that was earlier intended and called for urgent action (Thi et al., 2015). Consequently, Nokia worked faster throughout its departments leading to an unsuitable emotional business environment. In particular, the managers started optimistic reporting that resulted in increase for demand and sale of Nokia’s smartphones, which increased poor waste disposal across its markets.
Conclusion
In conclusion, India has implemented e-waste recycling and disposal policies well. Its strategy targeted domestic e-waste as an ideal approach to addressing the problem of waste management. The legislation in India is focused on proper and safe handling of waste disposal, and it requires all electronics manufacturers to be held accountable for their products’ impact. This policy, commonly referred to as EPR, has been strictly observed by Nokia. The main challenge to the successful implementation of EPR law was limited capacity and clear guidance on its implementation. As such, the law has lacked accountability, and manufacturers have failed to implement its provision to the latter.
References
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Ramachandra T., Bharath H., Kulkarni G. & Han S. (2018). Municipal solid waste: Generation, composition and GHG emissions in Bangalore, India. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., 82(1):1122–1136.
Thi N., Kumar G. & Lin C. (2015). An overview of food waste management in developing countries: Current status and future perspective. J. Environ. Manag. 157(1):220–229.