Source : This article was originally published on Bangalore Mirror
Volunteers of an environmental organisation collected more than 327 kg electronic waste in 2-hour drive.
There have been clean-up drives and waste collection initiatives around Bengaluru , but on Saturday, Koramangala 6th Block residents witnessed a special kind of waste collection drive. The waste collected had no foul smell, no filth, no flies and no direct health hazard. The residents did not need to pack away the waste, they just directly handed it over to the volunteers of the drive.
Old refrigerators, washing machines, discarded batteries, old mobile phones and all other electronic item that were not in a working condition were sent packing away for disposal from the houses.
Volunteers of ENSYDE (Environmental Synergies in Development) collected more than 327 kg of e-waste in the door-to-door collection drive that lasted for two hours.
Manvel Alur of ENSYDE said, “The BBMP might collect garbage at regular intervals, but it has no mechanism to segregate and dispose e-waste in the city. Very often, e-waste like batteries are highly toxic and can pollute the water bodies or the soil if they go to landfills, leading to both health and environmental hazards. We collect all the e-waste and send it to the two government recognised e-waste recyclers in the city. We are not collecting e-waste from bulk waste generators like companies but focussing on homes. Through this, we are sensitising and educating people on segregating e-waste too along with wet and dry waste.”
