Water, waste and extended producer responsibility

Water and waste are less discussed than carbon, but for some sectors they are just as material. A beverage plant, a textile dyeing unit, a thermal power station or a semiconductor fab cannot run without large volumes of water. In much of India, water is scarce, seasonal and contested, and shortages have forced plants to cut or stop production.

Waste has become a cost and a compliance issue through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Under EPR, the company that puts a product or its packaging on the market is responsible for collecting and recycling it at the end of its life. India now has EPR rules for plastic packaging, electronics, batteries, tyres, used oil and vehicles.

For analysts, the key questions are: where does the company get its water, how stressed are those areas, and what does EPR cost it?

Water metrics

• Withdrawal: water taken in, by source (surface water, groundwater, third-party supply, seawater or desalinated water, and other)
• Consumption: water used and not returned, roughly withdrawal minus discharge
• Discharge: water released, by destination and by level of treatment
• Water intensity: consumption per rupee of turnover or per unit of output (a BRSR Core indicator)
• Water-stressed areas: the BRSR's leadership indicators ask for withdrawal, consumption and discharge in areas of water stress
• Zero liquid discharge (ZLD): a plant recycles all its wastewater and discharges none, a requirement for some industries in some states

Waste metrics

The BRSR asks for waste generated by type: plastic, e-waste, bio-medical, construction and demolition, battery, radioactive, other hazardous and other non-hazardous. It then asks how much was recovered (recycled, reused or other recovery) and how much was disposed of (incineration, landfill or other).

India's EPR regimes

EPR certificates

Under most regimes, registered recyclers or processors generate EPR certificates for the material they handle. Producers buy these certificates to meet their targets, through portals run by the Central Pollution Control Board. Producers that fall short face environmental compensation.