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Extended Producer Responsibility in Mitigating E-waste: A Study of Mobile Phone Users in India

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Abstract

The paper explores the issue of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as a means of addressing electronic waste (e-waste) caused by the use of mobile phones in India. As an evolving policy tool, EPR shifts the responsibility of recycling and end-of-life product management back to the manufacturers, which in turn promotes environmentally friendly design, the use of fewer materials, and products that last longer. These actions do not only reduce environmental impact but also help to reduce the costs of e-waste disposal that usually was paid by the taxpayers. Although the application of EPR in India is accompanied by regulatory and logistical issues, the recent policy frameworks proposed by the Central Pollution Control Board, which is modeled after the Japanese and the European Union experience, indicates the rising trend of sustainable e-waste management. Large smartphone producers such as Apple, Google, Huawei, Motorola, OnePlus, Samsung, and Xiaomi have started to recognize and respond to their obligations under EPR requirements. This paper also examines the role of corporate marketing and consumer behaviour in the replacement of devices and e-waste build-up. It ends with specific policy suggestions and implementation plans to integrate EPR in the mobile device industry of India. The paper also examines the role of corporate marketing strategy and consumer behaviour in the device replacement cycle and e-waste accumulation. It ends up with suggesting specific policy recommendations and implementation plans to achieve successful integration of EPR in the mobile device industry in India.

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Data Availability

Data used in this manuscript is provided as supplementary information files.

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Funding

The authors received no external funding for this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environment, NICMAR University, Pune, India

    Abhijat Abhyankar, J. S. Sudarsan & Vishal Bhalla

  2. School of Project Management, NICMAR University, Pune, India

    Anand Prakash

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Aditya University, Surampalem, 533437, Andhra Pradesh, India

    Anandha Kumar Subramani

  4. Centre for Promotion of Research, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Clement Town, Dehradun, India

    Murali G

  5. Department of Civil Engineering, Graphic Era (Deemed to be University), Clement Town, Dehradun, India

    Keerat Kumar Gupta

Authors
  1. Abhijat Abhyankar
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  2. J. S. Sudarsan
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  4. Anandha Kumar Subramani
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  5. Murali G
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  6. Vishal Bhalla
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  7. Keerat Kumar Gupta
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Contributions

Abhijat Abhyankar: Conceptualization, Literature Review, Data Collection, Writing – Original Draft; J. S. Sudarsan: Methodology, Data Collection, Writing – Review & Editing; Anand Prakash: Literature Review, Manuscript Editing, Reference Management; Anandha Kumar Subramani: Literature Review, Writing – Review & Editing, Formatting; Murali G: Data Interpretation, Literature Review, Writing – Review & Editing; Vishal Bhalla: Policy Analysis, Literature Review, Writing – Review & Editing; Keerat Kumar Gupta: Literature Compilation, Writing – Review & Editing, Technical Editing. After the manuscript was prepared, all authors read and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Anandha Kumar Subramani.

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Abhyankar, A., Sudarsan, J.S., Prakash, A. et al. Extended Producer Responsibility in Mitigating E-waste: A Study of Mobile Phone Users in India. Circ.Econ.Sust. 6, 260 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-026-00982-4

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