From Compliance To Responsibility: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Extended Producer Responsibility As A Corporate Environmental Governance Tool In India
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 27
- 1 min read
Dheeraj Bhatt, Amity University Noida, Uttar Pradesh, Amity Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (AIALS)
ABSTRACT
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has emerged as a significant instrument of corporate environmental governance in India, tasked with shifting the burden of end-of-life waste management from public authorities to private producers. Operationalised through a suite of subordinate legislation under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, EPR frameworks now govern electronic waste, plastic packaging, batteries, and tyre waste. Despite the legislative architecture, a persistent gap endures between formal compliance and substantive environmental responsibility. This article critically evaluates the effectiveness of EPR as a corporate environmental governance tool in India by examining its doctrinal foundations, regulatory evolution, institutional mechanisms, and practical limitations. It argues that India's EPR regime, while architecturally ambitious, is undermined by weak enforcement infrastructure, inadequate integration of the informal recycling sector, target-driven rather than outcome-driven compliance cultures, and insufficient judicial oversight. Drawing on comparative insights from the European Union, the article proposes reforms oriented toward transparency, genuine producer accountability, and the alignment of EPR with broader principles of corporate environmental responsibility. Ultimately, the article contends that a meaningful transition from compliance to responsibility requires not merely regulatory tightening but a normative reorientation of how corporations conceive their environmental obligations under Indian law.
