Dubai-based Indian teenager helps recycle 25 tonnes of e-waste

DUBAI: A Dubai-based 15-year-old Indian girl has launched a campaign, which helped in the recycling of 25 tonnes of electronic waste in the Gulf nation, according to a media report on Friday.

Riva Tulpule, a student of grade 10, got the idea to start the campaign while clearing out drawers filled with broken devices in 2016, the Gulf News reported.

While shifting to a new house a few years ago, Tulpule found lots of disused electronics while helping her mom clear out drawers.

This sparked the beginning of her campaign 'WeCareDXB' that she said has collected over 25 tonnes of e-waste for recycling in over four years, the report said.

"I had asked my mom why we can't we just dispose the items we don't need.

She told me they need to be tacked in a special way but we were not sure exactly how to go about it.

So that made me curious and I decided to do some research into it, which led me to this cause," Tulpule was quoted as saying by the report.

She said many people just dump old devices and appliances in the general waste as they are not aware of the options for recycling them.

Raising awareness through social media and word of mouth, WeCareDXB has enlisted volunteers -- students, professionals, the general public -- to collect the items for recycling e-waste.

Tulpule, a student of GEMS Modern Academy, got in touch with Dubai-based EnviroServe, an electronics recycler and processor, to hand over the collected items.

In December last, she held her latest collection round, rallying friends and the wider community to drop off over 2,000 broken laptops, tabs, mobile phones, printers, keyboards and other items.

Over 60 students from 15 schools had signed up for the 10-day campaign.