Over one tonne e-waste collected in two months across Kolkata
Kolkata: Webel has collected over one tonne of e-waste in a period of two months through camps at the borough offices under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The e-waste collection camps have been hosted at 12 boroughs spread across 107 wards in the city.
“The awareness among people of Kolkata about the hosting of e-waste disposal camps has been lacking. We have received a good number of calls in our call centre from people who were unaware about such a camp taking place within their borough. We tried to help them by asking them to go to the nearest borough camp for disposing their e-waste,” said a senior official of Webel.Among the list of 107 items in the e-waste category that were accepted at the camps, the articles that dominated were electric home appliances like mixer grinder, induction cooker etc. Mobile phones, desktop monitors, UPS, mouse were also deposited in good numbers. The disposers were paid an incentive through UPI transfer against the items they handed over. There was a display board where the resale value of all e-waste was exhibited. KMC had joined hands with Webel to start the e-waste collection camp on September 18.
The number of camps in October was few with the festive season on and several holidays during that period. The duration of each camp at the borough offices was seven days and 12 of the 16 boroughs under KMC have already been covered. Borough VIII and XV will host camps from December 11 while VI and XVI will follow from December 18.
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 and electronic devices getting associated with our daily life. In this backdrop, arresting of 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 kabadiwalas or 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 own health as well as that of their family members,” said Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim. According to an official in the 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 soon and will be able to handle 6 tonnes of e-waste per day.
