BANGALORE, INDIA - The Guide to Greener Electronics ranks major Indian and global manufacturers of mobile phones, game consoles, TVs and PCs on their green performance.

The guide, issued by Greenpeace India, rates companies on their policies and practices used in eliminating harmful chemicals, and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers.

The report states that Indian companies lag far behind their international counterparts in the management of toxics substances, and it calls upon the Indian electronics industry to adopt a "producer responsibility" approach to deal with the growing problem of e-waste. This 'producer responsibility' approach would motivate manufacturer to address the problem at the product design stage, rather than at the end of its service life.

"Any measure short of individual producer responsibility would be a half-hearted approach towards mitigating the growing e-waste crisis in India. Each producer needs to track down its own products for safe recycling, as at present, only 10% of the products return to authorized recycling yards," said Ramapati Kumar of Greenpeace.

According to the Greenpeace, the report clearly reflects an industry reluctance to offer environmentally responsible products in tune with global trends, and the ranking guide is a challenge to Indian industry to commit to environmentally sound business practices.

The organization states that it "strongly believes that the only way to tackle this crisis is for manufacturers to design clean products, free from chemicals, with longer life spans, that are safe and easy to recycle and will not expose workers and the environment to hazardous chemicals. Companies must take responsibility for the products they manufacture, from production to the end of their lives, including safe recycling or disposal. There is no long-term alternative if Indian electronics companies are to be globally competitive."