E-waste to be collected from apartments in Mangaluru

MANGALURU: ‘We Are United’ in association with ‘Cyber Safe Girl’ will launch eSwachh Bharat, an e-waste management campaign.
Ananth Prabhu G, professor, Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management told reporters on Thursday that the objective of this initiative is to create awareness about e-waste and encourage people to reduce, re-use and recycle e-waste and make it a part of the Swachh Bharat initiative.
Volunteers will visit 200 apartments and display posters on collection of e-waste on the notice board there, with due mention of the collection date. Following this waste will be collected from the apartment and handed over to a Hyderabad-based agency on October 2. A copy of the book ‘Cyber Safe Girl’ will be distributed to all those who support this initiative by donating e-waste, and a certificate of appreciation will be awarded to highest e-waste donors.
The organisations aims to create awareness about the various regulations associated with e-waste. The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) is primarily responsible for regulations regarding electronic waste. Additionally, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) produce implementation procedures to ensure proper management of rules set forth by the MoEFCC which include e-easte Management and Handling Rules, 2011; e-waste Management Rules, 2016 and Amendment to the e-waste Management Rules, 2018. “Just like dry and wet waste segregation, we will appeal to the government for separate e-waste segregation at source,” said Prabhu.
Electronic waste (e-waste) refers to the broken or obsolete electronic components and materials. E-waste materials may be valuable and recyclable, such as random access memory and reusable laptops. However, hazardous materials, such as cathode ray tube monitors, require special handling in disposal. E-waste is emerging as a serious public health and environmental issue in India which is the fifth largest electronic waste producer in the world.
Approximately two million tonnes of e-waste are generated annually, and an undisclosed amount of e-waste is imported from other countries around the world. Annually, computer devices account for nearly 70% of e-waste, 12% comes from the telecom sector, 8% from medical equipment and 7% from electric equipment. The government, public sector companies, and private sector companies generate nearly 75% of electronic waste, with the contribution of individual households being only 16%, said Prabhu.