SHILLONG: An e-waste Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), KaroSambhav launched an e-waste collection drive in Meghalaya along with awareness initiative among schools, bulk consumers, repair shops, aggregators and waste pickers.
The organization is working closely with Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board on reaching out to bulk consumers specially the government departments.
Environmental Engineer at Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB), Wanshan Kharkrang, told reporters that recycling of e-wastes would be made possible in the next five years while the state is estimated to have over 2 tonnes of e-waste.
Meanwhile, founder of Karo Sambhav, Pranshu Singhal said Karo Sambhav backed by India’s top electronic producers including Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell has set up a collection system in the state based in Shillong.
According to Singhal, e-waste can be disposed only through a producer driven collection mechanism.
He added bulk consumers are required to file e-waste return annually by June 30 informing the State Pollution Control Board about the kilograms of e-waste disposed.
As per the E-waste Management Rules 2016, a producer selling their product in a certain state is also liable for collection of End of Life products, besides running awareness programme.
Karo Sambhav has collected more than 1100 tonnes of e-waste from across the country as part of countrywide collection programme. In Meghalaya the collection is about 2 thousand kgs.
“The government is the biggest bulk consumer in Meghalaya, e-waste is lying with different departments of the government. The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board issued a notification informing all stake holders for compliance back in early 2017. However, only 2-3 bulk consumer filed their e-waste return,” he said.
Through the School programme, Karo Sambhav has trained schoolteachers of 25 high schools. The program consists of three phases divided over a period of four months.
In the initial phase, teachers were given a training on specially designed toolkit for the purpose consisting of six exercises based on Circular Economy, Understanding Waste, Design for environment, e-waste introduction and Collection, Petitions and Potential career options in the field of Environment.
Thereafter, teachers worked in their schools with the students on various activities, community projects, and practical fieldwork.