City Kemp News
bE-Responsible: An initiative for Environmentally Responsible Collection and Recycling of e- waste in Bengaluru
E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams and India is the 5th largest generator of e-waste. Bangalore is the 3rd largest generator of e-waste in the countryandis producing close to 100,000 tons of e-waste annually which is likely to grow by 500% by 2020.
Presently in India, more than 90% of e-waste ends up in the informal sector for recycling with serious repercussions on human health and the environment. The informal sector works on small scale with minimal facilities and equipment to take care of the hazardous elements like lead, mercury, cadmium etc. present in the e-waste. E-waste also has some REE (rare earth elements) that need to be extracted and recycled efficiently which can only be done in well-equipped facilities.
Saahasand Environmental Synergies in Development (ENSYDE) together have initiated a programme to create awareness and facilitate collection of household electronic waste (e-waste) in Bangalore. The e-waste collected through this program will be routed to authorized e-waste recyclers. Though Saahas has been working on e-waste as one of the waste stream for more than 10 years now, our programs were mainly focussing on awareness and we did not have a tight collection system in place. With this program, we have placed e-waste bins in 9 Bangalore One Centers and two Post Offices in Jayanagar 3rd block and JP Nagar 6th phase, which are easily accessible to the general public. We also have a mobile collection electric vehicle, which further helps in streamlining will enhance the effectiveness of the programme.
A mini post box is placed at the two post offices where public can drop a mail with their address to pick up e-waste.
The programme in its first phase is being implemented in 10 wards in South Bangalore,creating awareness in Household and Institutions (schools, colleges, hospitals, offices, retail, etc.)through workshops, campaigns, emails, and social media. The awareness drive is supported by the on-ground collection system which includes door-to-door collection drives,drop-off boxes at Bangalore One Centres and Post Offices, and amobile collection van.
The programme was launched at the Bangalore One Centers on 17th February 2017 by Lakshmanan, Chairman KSPCB, Reddy, Corporator Ward 178 & Dr. T H Vishwanath, Joint Commissioner, BBMP. The programme was launched at the Post Offices by Dr. Charles Lobo, Chief Post Master General, Bangalore, in presence of Rajendra Kumar and Veena Srinivas, Post Master General,at the India Post office, 3rd block Jaynagar on 15th March 2017.
The success of this programme will help reduce the damage being caused to the environment by non-scientific methods used in dismantling and recycling of e-waste by the informal sector. We plan to expand the reach of the program to other zones of Bengaluru in future.
e-waste Programme Impact So far
Three months into the initiative the team has:
n Effectively reached out to over 140,000 citizens through campaigns, outreach and social media
n Conducted 14 direct campaigns
n Reached out to 34 RWAs and 50 institutions
n Collected over 1.98 tonnes of e-waste
n Reduced 5678 kgs of GHG emissions
n Diverted 117 kgs of toxic metals
n Potentially recovered 1376 kgs of metals
Next steps
The success of the programme is resounding and from the requests to extend this to other parts of Bengaluru, we are encouraged to take the following initiatives:
n Increase outreach through media
n Seek potential funds from companies and others for scaling in South Bengaluru and to other parts
n Infuse IT solutions into the bins and van scheduling
n Look at redesign of bins to make sorting and e-waste characterization simpler
Now, drop off e-waste at Koramangala Club
