With e-waste becoming a major environmental concern today and more importantly increasing everyday, Center for Global Management and Responsible leadership (CGMRl) at XlRI – Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur along with Co-Chairs from Univeristy of Queensland, Australia and IIT, Kharagpur is organising a National Conference on E-waste Management during January 13-14.
Shreekant Mokashi, chief (group information services), Tata Steel would be the guest of honour at the inaugural function of the conference. The conference has received research papers covering different themes of e-waste. Thirty research papers would be presented over the two days. Key note speakers are: Anthony Halog, Geography Planning and Environment Management, University of Queensland, Australia, Brajesh Kr Dubey, Environmental Engineering Division, Dept of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
An official of XlRI said that today people want the latest model of mobile and discard a mobile they purchased just recently. Similarly many electronic gadgets are discarded even when they are in good condition. Many of these discarded products end up in landfills the environment with many of the hazardous materials in these products. The e-waste problem is amplified by the illegal dumping of dysfunctional products from developed countries under the pretext that the products for re-use. The products ending up in landfills are dismantled by unorganised people in dangerous and inefficent conditions adding toxic material to the environment. Ewaste however has a great potential of meeting the needs of rare metals for future if it is properly recycled. “It is therefore important to create awareness and educate people about e-waste management. It is in this context that. The conference will also have a workshop to identify strategies to manage e-waste. The conference will conclude with preparation of an action plan for managing e-waste,” he noted.
CGMRl with the objective of promoting global, ethical, and sustainable business practices through the development of the requisite academic, curricular and outreach support for students and executives interested in global ethical business; was formed in 2010 at XlRI, Jamshedpur, India. CGMRl conducted two National Conventions during 2012 and 2013 to ‘share case studies on Responsible leadership’. Case studies from the two conventions were analyzed to develop a framework for Responsible leadership. Subsequent to the insights gained from the two National Conventions on Responsible leadership, conferences focusing on sectorial issues are being planned; the first on “Agri-input Management strategies for Sustainable Agriculture” was held in 2014-15. In the current academic year a conference on e-waste management is being proposed.