CII to work with civic body to create awareness

Mysore:  The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is coming out with a concrete and complete plan to manage electronic wastes scientifically, said Dr. D. G. Nagaraj, Health Officer, MCC.

To create awareness and to draw stakeholder attention and adequate steps to implement towards E-Waste Management in the city, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mysuru in association with SDM Institute of Management and Development (SDM-IMD), organised a stakeholder interaction to deliberate on “E-Waste Management in Mysuru” at the Institute on Chamundi Hill Road here on June 21.

“Mysuru city needs to have concrete plan with regard to E-Waste Management and we have already come out with action plan. Six months back we had a presentation from a private company who is into E-Waste Management working in Bengaluru. Already we are in talks with them and also entering into an agreement with them so that E-Waste in Mysuru city is managed well. We are scientifically planning to collect E-Waste from different locations and also trying to collect data. We have planned to complete a concrete scientific disposal of E-Waste Management which we are planning in the near future,” said Dr. Nagaraj

Bhaskar Kalale, Chairman, CII Mysuru said, “In India E-Waste is not a problem but a menace. Hence the first thing to do is to create awareness about what is E-Waste. Even educated people in corporates are not much aware what  E-Waste is. There should be focused effort; therefore we are willing to working with MCC to make sure we put our brains together to start generating awareness and then suggest actionable plans. On the lines of wet waste which are being collected by visiting door-to-door by MCC, E-Waste should also be started on similar lines. Mysuru is becoming plastic free and similar effort should also be put to make Mysuru free from E-Waste.”  

“On an average every year 50 million tonnes of E-Waste is getting generated worldwide, out of which just 10 million tons get recycled and reused which is less than 20 percent and the rest are put into landfills. In India alone 2 million tonnes of E-Waste are generated; 82 percent of these E-Wastes come from computers, monitors and home appliances like refrigerators, television, etc. After US, China, Japan and Germany, India stands fifth in most polluting countries in the world when it comes to E-Waste. There is prediction that by 2020 E-Waste from old computers  in India will increase by 500 percent, through discarded mobile phones by 18 times and televisions by two times,” said Kalale.

Dr. H. Gayathri, Deputy Director, SDM-IMD said, “India is one of the biggest producers of E-Waste but unfortunately it is managed in an unorganised and unscientific manner. Hence safe and sustainable disposal of handling E-Waste is need of the hour.”  

Bhageerath (an E-Waste Management Company in Bengaluru) President Dr. P.M. Kulkarni and  Dr. A. Ramesh, Senior Environmental Officer, KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) also briefed about E-Waste Management, how to implement E-Waste Management rules, guidelines for setting up collection centres and who needs to set up it up.  Ramesh also mentioned that in Karnataka there is no recycling unit for mercury containing E-Waste.

E-Waste poses a very daunting challenge of its management. Managing hazardous chemicals and heavy metal components without scientific and safe handling increases the chances of E-Waste ending in our dry waste and eventually into landfills which in due course will contaminate our water bodies and the top soil, leading to increased rate of cancer and other harmful diseases in the near future.  Therefore, CII Mysuru, in association with MCC and KSPCB proposes to set up a Model E-Waste Collection and Segregation Centre, wherein E-Wastes are collected and segregated in Mysuru and properly handled and disposed in a scientific way ensuring that the quality of urban habitat in Mysuru continues to remain one of the best in the world, according to a press release from T.U. Augustine, Deputy Director, CII, Mysuru.