Two years after launching electronic waste (e-waste) project in Chandigarh, the UT Administration is struggling to put in place an effective policy for e-waste disposal in absence of an authentic data of total e-waste generation in the city.
At present, there is no comprehensive data available with the UT Administration regarding the e-waste generation in Chandigarh.
While a survey was planned in the year 2012 to quantify the e-waste generation in the city, it remains a non-starter. At that time, the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee had also floated tenders and invited organizations for undertaking inventorisation of e-waste in Chandigarh, albeit, there were no bidders for the inventorisation process.
The e-waste project was launched in 2012 with an objective to promote greener and healthy environment by ensuring scientific collection and processing of Chandigarh’s e-waste.
Around 18 specially designed e-waste collection bins were placed at locations, including UT Secretariat building at Sector 9, EDC Centre at IT Park, Sector 17 Plaza, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
office at Sector 31, Deputy Commissioner office at Sector 17, Government School at Sector 36, MCM-DAV College at Sector 36, Punjab Engineering College at Sector 12, among other places in Chandigarh.
The e-waste is defined as discarded electronics including computers, computer peripherals, printers including cartridges, copying equipment, electrical and electronic type writers, facsimile, mobiles, television sets, refrigerator, washing machines and other electronics.
The electronic waste is considered dangerous, as certain electronic components contain harmful substances like lead, lead oxide, toxic gases, cadmium, toxic metals, acids, plastics and plastic additives.
While talking to The Pioneer, Santosh Kumar, Director, UT Environment Department said that the survey regarding e-waste generation in the city is yet to be conducted.
He said, “Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee had in 2012 planned to hire experts dealing in the field to conduct the study of e-waste generated in the city. We had floated tenders but did not get any response.”
“Now, we are planning to initiate a fresh process for conducting the survey, he added.
Santosh further said that the survey was planned to effectively implement the e-waste disposal in Chandigarh. As of now, the Department does not have any factual data regarding the total e-waste generation.
Though the educated city denizens has knowledge about the negative environmental and health impacts of e-waste, a comprehensive information about the quantity of e-waste generation would make it more useful to frame e-waste disposal policy in Chandigarh, he added.
According to the UT Environment Department estimates, “The city generates over 10,000 tonnes of hazardous waste, of which only 6,000 tonnes is recycled, while the remaining 4,000 tonnes is dumped every year. As per the estimates, 10 percent of the total hazardous waste generated in the city is e-waste.
During the launch of e-waste initiative in 2012, the city denizens were requested to dispose small size-waste through the e-waste collection bins placed at various locations in Chandigarh. As there may be e-waste of larger size which cannot be put in the e-waste collection bins like computer monitor, TV, printer, etc, the Administration had also launched a toll free number 1-800-419-3283 for this.
According to a UN report, the waste from discarded electronics will rise dramatically in the developing world within a decade, with computer waste in India alone to grow by 500 per cent from 2007 levels by 2020. With the increasing amount of discarded electronic devices and lack of proper disposal of the electronic waste, the chances of health problems increase in the country.