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 growingenvironmental 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 Indias 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. WePs 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 days visit to Indias 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.

CREDAI to tackle e-waste menace

Express News Service , The New Indian Express

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KOCHI: Following the footsteps of major cities in the country, Kochi too is marching ahead in its quest to curb the e-waste menace. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI), the participating agency for the integrated environment awareness programme organised by the Kochi Corporation, has come up with an e-waste management project. The major aim of the project is to sort waste at source and recycle metals and electronic waste that will help to create a greener and cleaner environment. If implemented, it will be the first of its kind in Kerala. The proposal submitted by CREDAI is at present under the consideration of the Town Planning Standing Committee of the Kochi Corporation. According to a top Corporation official, the proposal after obtaining the clearance from the standing committee will be presented at the next Corporation Council meeting. As per the proposal submitted by CREDAI, the Corporation is facing problems in the handling and disposal of e-waste, electrical rejections, batteries and rejections coming under hazardous categories. The agency has identified a private company with a good track record of handling e-waste effectively and has reached an agreement for the collection and disposal of the materials that fall in the e-waste category. As per the agreement, the company will collect and store the materials under the supervision of CREDAI. The company will pay those who handover the recyclable materials. The materials will be later shifted to the central storehouse of the company at Kanjikode in Palakkad district. It is also learnt that CREDAI has requested the Corporation to handover the vacant area near the plastic shredding unit at Ravipuram to set up a transit storage space for collection, sorting and storage of non-biodegradable materials. If the Corporation is willing to handover the land to CREDAI for a period of five years, the e-waste project will be a reality. They have agreed to fund for the construction of temporary storage shed as required by CREDAI Clean City Movement if Kochi Corporation allots the space for the shed to CREDAI for five years.

Where shall Kochi dump e-waste?

Kochis waste management has been messed up beyond words. In spite of people and organizations complaining to officials and criticising them for the kind of work done, no one seems to be bothered about the condition. So is the disposal of e-waste! It has been in total mess. Now, CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India) has come up with some smart initiatives to tackle e-waste in Kochi. And this method has been successfully implemented in various metros across the country. The waste shall be sorted at the source. Metals, as well as electronic waste shall be recycled in order to ensure less damage and hazards to the environment. According to authorities, the waste shall be collected and stored under the direction of CREDAI. These waste materials shall be taken at their storehouse in Palakkad. So, that means less menace, and also looks like an easier way to dump trash. Those who handover the e-waste materials shall also be paid. Now isnt that a reason for you to dump waste in a smart manner? The project needs to be approved by higher authorities, and this is undoubtedly a great initiative form CREDAI. Lets see how it turns out to be!

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Waste saga of Kochi: Unending woe of a city By Bindu Milton Published in Toxics Link, 29/10/2007 It was like a heavy blow in the dark to a city like Kochi, which has been sweating over its garbage piles for the last many months. The three containers, containing municipal waste shipped from Newyork to Kochi in the guise of paper waste gave another one month long tension to the authorities. The containers landed at Kochi port in the first weak of the month is now waiting for clearance to a return journey to its port of origin. Now it seems that for Kochi a relief from waste and the stench is a far-flung dream. If the imported waste at the port can be considered as any indication the port city will have to face the dangers of imported waste in the nearest future itself. The imported waste landed at Kochi at a time when the city got a breather from the garbage piles for a while after dumping it at the landfill owned by Gosree project. But the authorities failed to harness the ghost of waste properly and it did a come back to the city, but this time in the guise of paper waste for recycling, interestingly from Newyork. It was during a routine check at the container freight station at Pettah near Kochi the Customs officials stumbled over three containers feeling the presence of municipal waste. The containers were imported in the name of Kochin Kadalas , a paper manufacturing company which imports paper waste for recycling. Further investigations revealed that the containers have municipal solid waste including rotten food, computer peripherals and biomedical waste and were hydraulically packed. Probably due to the wide media coverage the concerned departments including the Customs, Port and Pollution Control Board woke up in to action. Further investigations confirmed that the three containers are carrying all the urban waste from Newyork. Hope the officials will offer a farewell to the containers soon. Waste issue in Kochi Kerala never had thought that waste would become such an issue of concern to the state, which claims to have hundred percent literacy and perfect awareness in health care and sanitary matters. So waste remained an issue of less concern in the state till recently when the uprisings against waste dumping took violent turns in many parts of the state. The last of such protest was in Brahmapuram near Aluva where the Kochi Corporation bought land for dumping waste.

The Corporation took the extreme step of dumping the waste at Brahmapuram without establishing a treatment plant following a High Court order to find a solution for the stinking garbage piles all over the city. The high court intervened the issue many times and it hardened its stand when the court had to observe a holiday following the stench from the piled up waste nearby as the waste removal from the city came to a standstill due to the absence of landfill sites. The Civic authorities sent the waste to Brahmapuram with heavy police escort and also after many futile attempts to dump it in the interiors of neibhouring states. The local protest turned violent and the waste returned to the city. Situations in the city further deteriorated and the health department warned of a possible epidemic outbreak. Court summoned the chief secretary and the issue ruled the state for a month till district collector, after frantic run found out the landfill owned by Gosree. All these happened in June to September this year. The city has a dense population with seven lakh permanent residents and 1 lakh floating population and its landfills are overflowing and further dumping is impossible. Unless and until the people become aware of the issue and find out a solution it will not be solved. It is time for the city people to `waste some time on their waste. Imported waste in Kochi. It is not the first time waste finds way to the country through the Kochi port. Official records with the port authorities and customs department show that imported waste comes to Kochi often. The records say that authorities have sent back 15 containers packed with waste last year only. Official figures suggest that traders from Punjab, Gujarat, Kolkata, New Delhi and Tamilnadu import such banned material through Kochi port. Following a seizure of 477 barrels of waste oil in April 2006 at the port the Pollution Control Board has tightened the vigil and directed the Port and Customs authorities to be alert. It has also directed to send back whatever waste, including paper and oil to the origin of port within one month of arrival. Even after this the Supreme Court monitoring Committee on hazardous waste found out many barrels of waste oil in an oil unit in Kochi. The labels on the barrels say that those were imported from United Kingdome. Four years ago, the containers imported by another paper manufacturing company based in Kottayam had urban solid waste in it. The country s legislation prevents the import of any waste except nonhalogen bulbs and that too with prior permission from the Director General of Foreign Trade(DGFT). Even when the law is strict on the issue how and why such repeated incidents occur at kochi port, one of the major ports in the country and an overseas trading centre in the South? Is it because of laxity on the part of enforcing agencies? . The repeated incidents underlines that the law should address the erring officials also