First e-waste vehicle of the country flagged off
The first e-waste collection vehicle of the country was flagged off at the Indian Institute of Science on Saturday by the Electrochemical Society along with Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
The vehicle, which belongs to E-Parisara, a company that recycles e-waste, will visit different e-waste collection centres in the City like malls, electronic service centres, etc, and buy the waste. The unveiling of the vehicle was followed by the inauguration of a one-day workshop on e-waste regulation, hazards and solutions.
Flagging off the vehicle, A S Sadashivaiah, Chairman of the KSPCB, revealed that about 1,500 tonnes of e-waste was reprocessed by various recyclers, last year and Bangalore contributed to majority of this waste. Hence, KSPCB had made it mandatory for all apartments to have e-waste collection bins at their premises.
“We have also made it mandatory for builders to have provisions to discard e-waste,” he said.
He added that any new suggestions that would emerge from the day-long workshop on tackling e-waste would be sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
The Ministry is in the process of drafting a law on handling e-waste and has been inviting feedbacks since May, last year. Once the rules on handling e-waste becomes a law, it will be mandatory for every electronic shop to have facility to take back e-waste.
