Plan In Place To Tackle E-Waste Threat In City

New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi will enforce measures to manage electronic waste in accordance with the E-waste Management Rules, 2022. Delhi Pollution Control Committee has identified 22 e-waste hotspots in the city.
MCD has sensitised all waste collecting concessionaires to adhere to the prescribed norms. "If e-waste is found mixed with municipal solid waste, it will be meticulously segregated, collected and channelled to the six registered recyclers associated with MCD," the civic body said in its Oct 4 report.The contact information of these registered recyclers will be prominently displayed on garbage-collecting vehicles, through pamphlets, informative boards, and municipal vehicles to facilitate easy access for the general public, who can utilise the pickup facilities provided. All details of the process can be found on the MCD website.
"We have also launched an application for submitting online requests by citizens for the disposal of e-waste," said a municipal official. "Citizens will be provided with a certificate regarding the safe disposal of their e-waste." A monthly review meeting with registered recyclers will be held at the headquarter level. The contract of the six empanelled recyclers has elapsed, so they have been given an extension until new agencies are signed on.
Between Jan last year and March this year, the number of e-waste pickup in areas under the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation was 180 and the compensation to customers was Rs 1.6 lakh. In the erstwhile south corporation, the pickups numbered 962 and the money paid to customers was Rs 3.4 lakh. Similarly, the erstwhile north corporation saw 485 pickups for a payment of Rs 4.6 lakh.
MCD has also established 53 Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (RRR) centres through residents' welfare associations to whom citizens can submit used electronic products. Separate spaces have been allocated for different categories of waste such as plastics, e-waste, old clothes, discarded books, etc., at each RRR centre.
The 517 surveillance teams comprising 1,119 officers constituted by MCD to check open burning of garbage will also keep an eye on mishandling or burning of e-waste. "The teams in the 22 sensitive hotspots, among them Seelampur, Zafrabad, Shastri Park, Mandoli, Brijpuri, Mustafabad, Yamuna Vihar and Turkman Gate, are specifically instructed to keep a strict vigil and act strongly against the defaulters," said the official. "Industrial areas under DSIIDC are also being inspected regularly and no e-waste burning has been reported so far."
To avoid confusion, MCD has shared the mitigation plan with other agencies concerned. A meeting had been held on Feb 5 under the chairmanship of the principal secretary, department of environment & forest, to discuss the preparation of the report and formulate a district-wise plan to prevent and control e-waste burning in the capital in pursuance of the Supreme Court order. Two review meetings were held in May and June with continuous submission on the steps taken by the various agencies on the matter.