ILS LAW COLLEGE, PUNE

LONGISH TERM PAPER

TOPIC: STATIONERY INDUSTRY AND IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT.

SUBJECT: LAW, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SUBMITTED TO: MRS.SWATI KULKARNI

SUBMITTED BY: TEJUS JAIN

LLM II – 850

1
INDEX

PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH QUESTION

OBJECTIVES

METHODOLOGY

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTERISATION

ENVIRONMENT AND THE LAW

CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME

NEGATING THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENT USING SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

CONCLUSION

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

2
INTRODUCTION:

The word industry traced back to its root origin provides diligence as the meaning of the word.
Ironically the explosion of industries and reckless nature of working in most of them has exposed
an imminent danger to human life and of course the environment. Environment is simply defined
as everything around us. Environment is the sum total of conditions that surrounds us at a given
point of time and space. It is comprised of the interacting systems of physical, biological and
cultural elements which are interlinked both individually and collectively. Environment is the sum
total of conditions in which an organism has to survive to maintain its life process. It influences
the growth and development of living forms.

The term “Stationery” traditionally represents a wide variety of materials like writing instruments,
paper, office supplies, notebooks and greeting cards, etc. The contemporary definition of
‘stationery’ now relates more specifically to materials used for formal or personal correspondence.
The stationery industry is worth more than 11,000crore, and comprises of a wide variety of
products and categories. The stationery industry is generally classified into school stationery
writing instruments, office stationery and paper products. Though the industry is dominated by
local or unorganized stationery players, a large number of organized players have entered the
industry.

The turning point in the relationship between industries and environment is understood to be the
advent of Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution impacted the environment. The world
saw a major increase in population, which, along with an increase in living standards, led to the
depletion of natural resources. The use of chemicals and fuel in factories resulted in increased air
and water pollution and an increased use of fossil fuels. It is estimated that about 50% of all
pollution is as a result of industrial and manufacturing activities. It only displays how industries
and factories are responsible for giving off toxic and dangerous materials into the environment.

Education institutions are the emerging markets in new human civilization. The consumption that
is required in this Institutions is huge and underutilized. Ironically, the very institutes which are
responsible for providing enlightened citizens to the world are facing crisis of despair and deep
slumber. The waste that is generated in this institutions is often non-recycled and unproductive.
The ethics that are preached through books finds no practice in its own galleries. Stationery items
are an essential part of any student’s life. This tools were invented so that they can easily pass on

3
the knowledge with help of these stationery items. But the stationery items have evolved
significantly from their initial usage to now modified with technology.

The stationery industry is a mixed group of categories catering to schools, colleges and offices. It
includes both paper (notebooks, long books, spiral books) as well as non-paper stationery (pencils,
pens, poster colors, etc.). The overall industry is growing at the rate of 8 per cent a year, with new
products & formats being added in every now and then. Increase in literacy, mushrooming of
private schools and other institutions, burgeoning corporate offices, heightened awareness among
children, the introduction of premium stationery offerings and other factors all contribute to this
growth story. Scholastic Paper category is approximately 5000 Cr while the non-paper category
also amounts to roughly the same number (of this, 2500 Cr is just pens). Different product
categories cater to different life stages, for example – color ranges cater to primary and middle
school students, senior school & college students consume long books, pens & mathematical
instruments while corporates generally use diaries, notepads, staplers, etc. The stationery
consumption also differs greatly from market to market, since it is governed to a great extent by
school & institutional requirements which are indigenous to the region’s educational heritage.

The paper segment is highly fragmented and the ratio between local players and branded products
is about 70:30, whereas, in the non-paper category, the same ratio is flipped in favor of established
national brands. The category has its end users, influencers & purchasers often very distinct.
Earlier, parents were both influencers & purchasers with children having little say in which brand
and what design of books or type of pencil that he/she would take to school. However, now, with
pester power from children, they are often both the influencers & end users. Youth has begun to
infuse their own individual style into the stationery they purchase notebooks are not as boring as
they used to be – with fancy covers, selfie upload options & different cover textures available to
those who want to get noticed. School teachers and art instructors are also emerging as key
influencers. The rise in digital content surrounding stationery products & its use has also
introduced an entirely new breed of influencers & reviewers who often sway purchase decisions.

4
RESEARCH QUESTION

1.) What changes have been undertaken by Educational Industry to cope up with Environmental
hazards?

LITERATURE REVIEW

Rachael Greenberg in its article on industry and environment provokes the right chord. In
international social and political discourse, there are some subjects that should be considered
universally important. Without doubt human impact on the environment is one such subject.
Though it has taken many years for global warming to capture public awareness in a way that truly
reflects the urgency of the situation, it now finally seems as though most people have recognized
the degree to which we are responsible for our environmental problems, and the degree to which
we will have to change in order to resolve these problems. Though many of us are reluctant to
lower the quality of our lifestyles, the truth is that if we want to make a significant effort to save
the environment and ourselves, we all need to be willing to make changes in every aspect of our
lives.

The book Environment and Sustainable Development ‘A GEOGRAPHICAL APPRAISAL’ by

Seema Sachdev and Manish Kumar warns “since the industrial revolution the environmental
impact of economic activities have far exceeded the regenerative capacities of earth ecosystem,
resulting in degradation of environment which poses a serious threat to our existence”

CM Jariawala’s book Environment and Justice gives an insight into the judicial handling of
environment litigations. The book exposed the unexposed who played negative role in the
protection of environment. The judicial activism has brought in new environmentally friendly
principles and provided new vision to the then environmentally blind Constitution.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of the present study is to analyze the Students and educational institutions role and
consequently impact on the Environment.

5
METHODOLOGY

The researcher has opted for qualitative and exploratory research studies. The research is a pure
library based Doctrinal Research.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

This research is exploratory and pure doctrinal research. The researcher has analyzed the role of
students vis. a vis. Educational Institutions consequently impact on the Environment.

ENVIRONMENT AND THE LAW

Art. 51A, included in the Constitution by the 42nd amendment Act, 1976 has the provisions as
fundamental duties, says that “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve
the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for
living creatures and to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the other spirit of inquiry and
reform, and to safeguard public property and to abjure violence.”

India had an ancient tradition of paying constant attention to protection of the environment. There
are writings galore, to show that in ancient India every individual had to practice the dharmato
protect and worship nature. In India the devices and rules for protecting the environment are
discernible from ancient times. Environmentalism is not a fixed concept, but is always evolving
influenced by its context. This also applies to Indian environmentalism, which has developed and
changed throughout the years. There is a rapid evolution in the Indian legislations after
independence as the need and concern regarding environment arose. From ancient environmental
rules including Buddhism and Jainism to medieval and then from British era to afterwards and the
coming of modern legislations on environmental laws in India, a great sense of concern has been
shown by the legislature and even the Indian judiciary showed a great concern regarding the
environment with its landmark judgments.

The environment has been defined as that outer physical and biological system in which man and
other organisms live as a whole. Human environment consists of both physical environment and

6
biological environment. Physical environment covers land, water and air. Biological environment
includes plants, animals and other organisms.

‘Environment’ defined under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, ‘Environment’ includes
Water, air and land and the inter-relationship which exists among and between, water, air, land,
and human beings, other living creatures, plants, microorganisms and property1. The term
environment has been derived from the term ‘environ’, which means ‘to surround’ Thus,
etymologically environment means ‘surrounding conditions, circumstances affecting people’s
life2.‘Environment’ includes water, air and land and the inter-relationship which exist among and
between water, air, land and human beings, other living creatures, plants, micro-organisms and
property3.It includes the complex physical, chemical and biological factors surrounding an
organism or an ecological community. Such factors act and interact with various species and
organisms to affect their form, growth and survival. Any unfavorable alteration of this environment
is called environmental pollution. Air, water, land, radiation and thermal are the common type of
pollution.

Obviously, the “Environment” comprises all entities, living and non-living, natural or man-made,
external to oneself, and their interrelationships, which provide value, now or perhaps in the future,
to humankind. Environmental concerns relate to their degradation through actions of humans. The
goals of the Environmental policy may be formulated in several ways - to protect human health,
ensure viability of wild life, preservation of historic monuments, stopping further degradation of
the environment etc.

1
Section 2(a) of the Environmental Protection Act, 1986
2
Collins, P.H. (1990) 62 Dictionary of Ecology and the Environment,
3
National Environmental Tribunal Act 1995, Sec. 2(d)

7
CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME:

“You don’t need grand plans or gestures to have a positive impact on the environment. Small
Changes executed every day make a big difference”.

It is the sustenance of “nature” that is a key to the development of the future of mankind. It is the
duty and responsibility of each one of us to protect nature. Conversations around waste and plastic
pollution don’t always go much further than single use plastic bags and water bottles. But
frustratingly, there are so many aspects of day to day living that generate unnecessary waste, and
office work life happens to be a culprit. And stationery contributes to the large amount of plastic
and paper waste. People might not realize it but average ball point pen is disposable, the wood
used in your pencils might not be sustainably- sourced, and all the notebooks and printer paper
could very well be made from bleached, unrecycled paper.

The stationery industry is a mixed group of categories catering to schools, colleges and offices. It
includes both paper (notebooks, long books, spiral books) as well as non-paper stationery (pencils,
pens, poster colors, etc.). The overall industry is growing at the rate of 8 per cent a year, with new
products & formats being added in every now and then. Increase in literacy, mushrooming of
private schools and other institutions, burgeoning corporate offices, heightened awareness among
children, the introduction of premium stationery offerings and other factors all contribute to this
growth story. Scholastic Paper category is approximately 5000 Cr while the non-paper category
also amounts to roughly the same number (of this, 2500 Cr is just pens). Different product
categories cater to different life stages, for example – color ranges cater to primary and middle
school students, senior school & college students consume long books, pens & mathematical
instruments while corporates generally use diaries, notepads, staplers, etc. The stationery
consumption also differs greatly from market to market, since it is governed to a great extent by
school & institutional requirements which are indigenous to the region’s educational heritage.

The paper segment is highly fragmented and the ratio between local players and branded products
is about 70:30, whereas, in the non-paper category, the same ratio is flipped in favor of established
national brands. The category has its end users, influencers & purchasers often very distinct.
Earlier, parents were both influencers & purchasers with children having little say in which brand
and what design of books or type of pencil that he/she would take to school. However, now, with
pester power from children, they are often both the influencers & end users. Youth has begun to

8
infuse their own individual style into the stationery they purchase notebooks are not as boring as
they used to be – with fancy covers, selfie upload options & different cover textures available to
those who want to get noticed. School teachers and art instructors are also emerging as key
influencers. The rise in digital content surrounding stationery products & its use has also
introduced an entirely new breed of influencers & reviewers who often sway purchase decisions.

NEGATING THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENT USING SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY:

Once a pen has finished its serviceable life, or lost – which is most often the case, it doesn’t simply
disappear into thin air, although it may seem that way the rate they seem to vanish when you need
one. These disposable pens ultimately wind up in landfills and in waterways. Being made of
plastic, they don’t break down quickly and plastics are also usually made from crude oil. A good
refillable pen can last a lifetime. However, they do use cartridges which need to be disposed of.
The cartridges are metallic, so they can be recycled.

Disposable vs. refillable – comparing costs

The refills last a good deal longer than a single disposable pen and given the throw away mentality
we have in connection with disposables, we tend not to take good care of them, increasing
consumption. So, with care, I think you’ll find the costs of buying refills to be comparable with
disposable pens. Keeping track of your refillable pen: I never lose things, but I do misplace a lot
of stuff that I never find again. Pens are really easy to lose. If you’re going to buy a refillable pen,
if you lose one every few months there will hardly be any environmental benefit and certainly no
financial incentive. It sounds corny, but give your pen a name, assign a personality to it or have it
engraved with something that has importance to you. By spending a few bucks on a good quality
pen you’ll be far more likely to hang on to it. Bond with your pen.4

Putting disposable pens to good use: There doesn’t appear to be options to recycle disposable pens
as yet – and I’m not even sure of the plastic resin code used for most pen bodies. I’d love to see
pen manufacturers implement takeback programs. Currently, the only option seems to be to reuse

4
https://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/refillable-vs-disposable-pens.html

9
them to help keep these items out of landfill for a while. If you’ve got a ton of pens to get rid of,
consider sending them to The Pen Guy who uses old pens for rather interesting art projects.
Similarly, you could probably give the pen bodies to school crafts departments for the kids to use
in their projects.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, understanding environmental impact is a complicated matter. To make effective

decisions, we need to make sure we aren’t focused on a single, potentially unimportant detail.
Instead, we look at the bigger picture and, fortunately, prices can be a useful shortcut for helping
us identify which products impose more costs on society.

Claiming any environmental virtue strikes me as a post-hoc justification for doing something we
would do anyway. People have become substantially more concerned about the environment in
the last five years but most are completely unaware that the world is in better shape than it’s been
for decades. Possibly better than any time since the start of the Industrial Revolution. There are
still challenges, both at the local and global levels, but there’s also a lot of good news which doesn’t
get publicised. Jesse Ausubel has a fantastic report which points out how the world is
rebounding: food production is increasing even as farmland declines, forest coverage is increasing,
the biosphere is growing, the world is using less materials (even though we have more stuff), and
air and water pollution is improving (although, unfortunately, marine areas outside national
jurisdictions still face many challenges and this situation is not really improving). These positives
are mostly developments of the last one to two decades, so there’s plenty of reason to feel
optimistic about the environment even if there are still problems left to solve.

10
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

1. Environment and Justice- C M Jariawala

2. Ancient Law of Environment- Dr. R G Chaturvedi

3. Natural Resources Conservation Law- Sairam Bhat

4. State of the World- Lester R. Brown

WEBSITES:

https://www.nap.edu/read/4940/chapter/9#167

https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Environmental_Impact_of_Paper_Production

11