Residents of South Bengaluru can now safely dispose of their harmful e-waste by simply walking into post offices.
With the number of mobile users and phones growing exponentially across the country, it becomes even more imperative for conscientious citizens to ensure e-waste generated is disposed of correctly without causing harm to the environment.
And now if you live in Bengaluru, you can stop worrying about your e-waste because two organisations have come together to help members of the general public with the disposal. Environmental Synergies in Development (ENSYDE) and Saahas, companies that are part of the waste management industry have put up e-waste collection units in various spots in the region.
In addition to the drop-off points, there is also a mobile unit that goes around the area collecting e-waste.
Image for representation. Photo source
Kalpana Kar, member, SWM expert committee, spoke to The Hindu about the new initiative, noting that it is important that the city’s civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) plays a more integral role in the process. She said, “Toxicity of handling e-waste is often cited as a reason for non-collection by pourakarmikas. It is high time that the BBMP ropes in a private player at the pan city level to collect e-waste.”
Currently there are nine e-waste collection drop off points in Bangalore One Centres covering 10 wards. There are also three collection points in post offices in the region. For now, the project is geared at places close to J.P Nagar area in the city. And while this initiative has only just launched, in the span of one month a total of 250 kg of e-waste has been collected.
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Recently, a joint study by Assocham-KPMG noted that there are a whopping 100 crore units of mobile phones in circulation in India. Out of them about 25% ends up as e-waste every year. Apart from mobile phones, batteries, laptops, computers etc also compound the e-waste crisis.
So, next time you want to throw an electronic item in the garbage bin, you know what to do.
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