Kolkata’s e-waste management: KMC launches collection camp with App-based incentives

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in association with Webel will start its e-waste collection camp at Borough I and IX office of the civic body from Wednesday.

“We have developed an App to be used by the persons manning the collection centres. A person wanting to dispose of his e-waste will have to come with the stuff along with Aadhaar card at the centre. The sale price (incentive) of the e-waste will be ascertained through the App and will be credited to the seller’s UPI account or bank account.

There will be 4 persons manning the desk of which two will accept articles through the App while another two will be working as back office staff,” said a senior official of Webel.

There will be a display board where the resale value of all e-waste will be exhibited. The camps will continue for seven days and the e-waste will be collected by the two empanelled agencies that have been selected by the Central Pollution Control Board and West Bengal Pollution Control Board. There will be CCTV surveillance at the collection centres.

Following the weeklong camp in these two boroughs, similar camps will be hosted in the other borough offices too.

According to sources in the Solid Waste Management department of KMC, 33 metric tonnes of e-waste is generated daily in Kolkata and it is expected to rise further with more electronic devices getting associated with our daily life. Against this backdrop arresting e-waste has gained utmost priority as it not only contaminates soil and water but also contributes to air pollution.

“The electronic items collected by local ragpickers who move door-to-door are broken down into pieces by bare hands in open spaces. This leads to the release of toxic gases into the environment which is harmful for their health as well as that of their family members,” said Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim.

According to an official in West Bengal Pollution Control Board 1.5 lakh MT of e-waste is generated in a year and only 50 MT can be processed presently.

Webel is coming up with an integrated e-waste (electronic and electrical waste) management facility at Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas which is expected to be functional in December and will be able to handle 6 tonnes of e-waste per day. WBPCB has allocated Rs 10 crore for the collection and recycling of e-waste.