Vijayanagara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vasundhara Kirloskar, Rotary Club Hampi Pearls had organized a 15 day E-waste collection campaign concluding with an E-waste awareness session attended by dignitaries and students of various schools and colleges from Hospet.
E-waste management session in Hospet
E-waste management session in Hospet
The drive had started from October 14th 2023 also celebrated as International E-waste day and concluded on 30th October 2023. Educational Institutions like Rotary School, National School, Vasavi School, Rani Chennamma school, VNC College and Independent PU College participated in the awareness sessions.
E-waste management in India
E-waste management is a rising problem of our country. Bharat is the third largest E-waste generator in the world. Our country generates more than a million ton of E-waste every year. The Government has come up with the E-waste Management (Rules) 2016 to manage the menace of E-waste. It’s not just the Government who has to play an active part in managing our E-waste, public participation is essential as well.
In the E-waste Management (Rules), formal recyclers play an important and crucial role in the entire E-waste ecosystem. The challenge for formal recyclers is their inability to access the individual generators. Individual generators of E-waste are the general masses who generate E-waste in smaller quantities.
A large chunk of E-waste generated in our country is from individual generators. Most of the devices end up getting informally recycled (scrap merchants/dealers). The methods used by informal dealers to recover material is dangerous to both the environment and living beings. Apart from polluting air, water and land; mishandling and informal recycling of E-waste also leads to numerous diseases and ailments. Informal recycling also leads to under-recovery of the material used in electronics.
E-waste collection activity
To address these challenges, RecyclEarth Foundation joined hands with Vijayanagara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hospet, Rotary Club Hampi Pearls, Hospet, Vasundhara Kirloskar Rural Trust to conduct an E-waste collection and awareness drive in Hospet and nearby areas.
Kirloskar Ferrous, Priyadarshini Hotels among other environmentally conscious individuals and entities from Hospet also supported the event.
CRT TVs, chargers, mobile phones, VCRs, VCD players, CDs, fans, telephones were among the electronic and electrical items collected. The donation exceeded approximately 800kg of E-waste.
We intend to make a positive impact however small but the thought process is to always look at the larger picture of protecting the environment. The collected E-waste would be forwarded to CPCB authorized recyclers for eco-friendly recycling. The recycled material can then be reintroduced into the economy resulting in:
- Reduced mining of our precious natural resources
- Reduced pollution due to informal recycling and mining
- Reduced dependency on imports of minerals
The people behind the event
Officer bearers from the aforementioned institutions are also enthusiastically participating in the event to make it a success. Vijayanagara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hospet President Mr. Ashwin Kotambri, Gen. Secretary Mr. Rajendra Kakubal, Rotary club Hampi Pearls Hospet President Rtn. Mrs. Veena Kotambri, Secretary Rtn. Mrs. Vidya Sindgi, Vasundhara Kirloskar Rural Trust President Mr. Ravindranath Gumasthe, Mrs. Kamala Gumasthe, Mr. Nayan S Momaya, Mr. Praveen Agadi and Mr. Satish Munavalli from RecyclEarth Foundation are the people working to make this campaign a successful one.
Read more: Health hazards of E-waste The importance of rare earth elements