Sir, 

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) should kickstart immediately e-waste collection centre in each and every district of Karnataka. Since almost all electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, PCB etc., contain potentially harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants, these materials affect the health of all living beings adversely. 

According to EPTRI’s report from 2015, 80% percent of e-waste generated in the cities is from households and also bulk consumers of electronic goods such as public and private institutions, manufacturers or IT companies. It will be more useful if KSPCB starts e-waste collection centre incorporating private organisations via a mobile application.  The waste should be picked up from the user’s doorstep, thereby making small households stakeholders in waste management. Users should get monetary payments for e-waste they give up.

Every year approximately more than 5 lakh tonnes of e-waste is genertaed across State and only few percent out of that will be recycled in a scientific manner. Therefore it is imperative to kickstart e-waste collection drive and mitigate pollution.

– H.K. Vijaykumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, AJIET, Raichur, 10.12.2020

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