There has been much talk on sensitisation of industries towards environmental issues. However, the Indian Ecomark scheme, implemented by the government in 1991, has not yet attracted the attention of industry and also failed to generate consumer interest in Ecomark, says Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) study. | |
| A group of working management programme (WMP) students of IIM-L have conducted a survey, as part of their course on corporate environmental management, which brought to light the present day status of ecomark in the country. |
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| According to the study, since the inception of the scheme in our country, very few companies have been granted the label and of these the companies that have been using the label actively on their product is even less. |
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| Ecomark is a market based voluntary instrument to reduce environmental damage. The scheme was launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forests with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for labelling of environment-friendly products. The ecomark symbol in India is 'Matka' or the earthen pot. |
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| For the records, Ecomark introduced in 1991, identifies 16 categories of consumer products for the purpose of development of eco-criteria and labelling. So far the government has notified the criteria for 14 categories of products. |
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| The manufacturers of these categories of products can apply to the BIS, if their products are meeting the relevant standards notified, for the award of eco-logo. |
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| The first Ecomark was given to Tide Water Detergent Company for its 'Ezee' detergent in 1994. However, the company was taken over by another company which decided to discontinue the label usage considering it to be against their corporate philosophy. |
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| Later on some of the paper mills were awarded the Eco labels but none of them displayed it on their product, which suggests that the companies did not see a potential in the market for the environment-friendly concept. |
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| "General awareness amongst the consumers and the industry about the Ecomark is very minimal. The government lacks schemes to make consumers and industry understand the importance of this scheme," said Sushil Kumar, professor, IIM-L. A coherent strategy for the promotion of the scheme in India does not seem to be visible at present. |
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| Among many reasons that account for its failure on the industry front, most prominent is the industry belief that the use of ecomark will not provide it with any competitive advantage in the market. |
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| Besides, the companies feel that the cost and complicated procedure of taking Ecomark are not justified by potential advantages in terms of increased profitability and market share. |
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| Manufactures are required to pay for the application, testing, licensing fee and renewal costs involved in the certification. Some estimates, the study states, indicate that these costs can amount to a 10 per cent increase in production costs. |
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| Also, there is a feeling that the linking of ecomark with BIS's quality standards has significantly added to the cost and complexity of obtaining ecomark. |
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| The study also has various recommendations for the government, the agencies responsible for the implementation of Ecomark scheme and even the industry. |
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| The major recommendations include creating a market for products with Ecomark by the use of the government's procurement policies giving preference to products with Ecomark, increase the involvement of non-government organisations (NGOs) and consumer groups in generation of consumer awareness; to provide financial and technical support to industry to adopt environment-friendly technologies. |
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| "This is especially important to the leather sector, as a large number of firms are small," the report suggests. |
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| It needs to be seen now how the government takes these recommendations and how these eco-friendly labels fare in the future. |
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