E-waste management: The call for a better tomorrow

There are eco-friendly recycling units such as E-Parisaraa on the outskirts of

Bangalore that make full use of E-Waste

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

BANGALORE, INDIA: Electronic waste, popularly known as 'e-waste' can be defined

as electronic equipments / products. It usually connects with power plug, batteries
which have become obsolete due to: advancement in technology, changes in fashion,
style and status nearing the end of their useful life.

Electronic waste or e-waste is one of the rapidly growing environmental problems of

the world. In India, the electronic waste management assumes greater significance
not only due to the generation of our own waste but also dumping of e-waste
particularly computer waste from the developed countries.

With extensively using computers and electronic equipments and people dumping old
electronic goods for new ones, the amount of E-Waste generated has been steadily
increasing. The problem is that the e-waste generated, in the absence of proper
disposal, finds its way to scrap dealers. Many end-of-life electronics items contain
valuable elements such as gold, silver, and platinum. Unfortunately, E-waste can also
contain potentially harmful substances such as lead, cadmium, and mercury.
Regardless of whether its elements are valuable or potentially hazardous, handling
and recovery of E-waste can be a costly undertaking. These considerations have led
to intense debate about how E-waste can best be managed.

In US alone, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that electronics

comprise somewhere between 1 percent and 4 percent of the MSW stream--the
high-end estimate means approximately 10 million tons of E-waste is disposed
annually. To combat this, a congressional E-waste working group was also formed,
and at least three separate E-waste bills were introduced in Congress. They are also
pressing for a plan to give consumers $15 tax breaks for recycling old computers.

In India, There are eco-friendly recycling units such as E-Parisaraa on the outskirts of
Bangalore that make full use of E-Waste. The plant which is India's first scientific e-
waste recycling unit will reduce pollution, landfill waste and recover valuable metals,
plastics & glass from waste in an eco-friendly manner.

E-waste encompasses ever growing range of obsolete electronic devices such as

computers, servers, main frames, monitors, TVs & display devices,
telecommunication devices such as cellular phones & pagers, calculators, audio and
video devices, printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines besides refrigerators, air
conditioners, washing machines, and microwave ovens, e-waste also covers
recording devices such as DVDs, CDs, floppies, batteries, tapes, printing cartridges,
military electronic waste, automobile catalytic converters, electronic components
such as chips, processors, mother boards, printed circuit boards, industrial
electronics such as sensors, alarms, sirens, security devices, automobile electronic
devices.

WeP's initiatives in this area:

WeP formulated a Green strategy to enter into recycling of IT Hardware products and
has commenced this activity through its Long Life IBU where IT consumables like
print head, toner cartridges etc. are being recycled to reduce IT waste in the
environment. In addition to this, they have entered into an agreement to give their
waste to the only Pollution Control Board authorized e-waste recycler in India.

WeP has also an advantage of taking a lead in e-waste management and hence can
distinguish itself as a responsible player in the market. Apart from internal initiatives
ensuring safe e-waste management practices, WeP launched Bangalore wide citizens
programme in April last year. An awareness campaign was started henceforth
targeting citizens, corporation and schools. This is a simplistic set up of special
collection centers across the city to institutionalize segregation and collection of
compact discs, floppy discs and dry cell batteries. Although the initiative started as a
network of 10 centers placed at prominent shopping areas in the city, they have
around 150 collection centers in schools, colleges, offices, apartments and
commercial establishments in Bangalore. They have received an encouraging
response throughout the year and are committed towards an eco-friendly, financially
viable and socially acceptable E-waste management system for Bangalore.

WeP has been exporting its Printers to European market since 2001 and has been in
the forefront of conformance withRoHS (Restrict the use of Hazardous Substance) –
an Environmental Legislations adopted by the EU. WeP has proactively taken up this
initiative – with a commitment to extent the programme to all products
manufactured by WeP without any regulatory pressure, as there is no similar
mandatory provision in Indian laws.

Recently, they took this one step further by organizing an event titled Green Dreamz:
An annual Interschool competition and awareness campaign on January 31, 2008 on
the theme of "E-waste Management". As part of this, they organised a day's visit to
India's first authorized E-waste Recycling facility in Karnataka arranged by the
organizers, followed by a week long awareness campaign on safe e-waste disposal
and contests ranging from recycle art to skits on the topic. The winners of intra-
school competitions then participated in the inter-school competitions for the coveted
Green Dreamz 2008 trophy. The objective was very clear - to focus on creating
environmental values amongst the leaders of tomorrow.