Wipro goes green with eco–friendly computers

Wipro Infotech, the IT business unit of India's Wipro Ltd. has rolled out an eco–friendly range of desktops and laptops that aim at reducing the e–waste in the environment.

The new range of products, christened Wipro GreenWare, is compliant with norms for restriction of hazardous substances.

The $3 billion IT bellwether has set up an e–waste management process – Wipro Green Computing – in its product lifecycle spanning designing, manufacturing and up to the final disposal of the product.

"As a global IT firm with social and corporate responsibilities, we have been at the forefront of addressing the e–waste issue in the environment. GreenWare makes us the first Indian firm to introduce eco–friendly IT products in the markets and regions we operate," Ashutosh Vaidya, vice president (personal computing division), Wipro, said.

Besides desktops and laptops, other hardware products from the Wipro stable will be strictly adhering to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) norms of the European Union. In other words, they will be free of hazardous materials such as brominated flame retardants, PVCs and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury, which are commonly used in computer manufacturing.

"As one of the trusted brands, we ensure our products and processes comply with the environment–friendly norms being adopted worldwide. We have invested substantially to launch the eco–friendly range of products as part of our responsibility towards cleaner environment," Vaidya said, adding that GreenWare range of products do not carry a premium price tag and are available at regular price points.

Wipro embarked on tackling the e–waste problem in August 2005 by getting its manufacturing facility certified under ISO 14001. The following year, it began offering free e–waste recycling to its customers.

However, unlike many Western countries where the vendors bear the cost of collecting the obsolete products, Wipro's customers were required to pay towards logistics costs.

"Although in India, there is no such legislation to phase out RoHS substances in electronic and electrical equipment, we are delighted that Wipro is the first Indian company to follow the practice. We certainly appreciate the leadership taken by Wipro and expect that other industries will follow this," said Vinuta Gopal of Greenpeace India.

As a part of its Tox Tech campaign, Greenpeace in 2005 issued a list of demands on Wipro, including introduction of a take–back policy, recycling and a policy for phaseout of hazardous materials.

"They (Greenpeace) do support us and have recognised the environment–friendly initiatives being taken by Wipro," a company spokesperson said.