NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Although Panaji has been selected as one of ten urban cities of India for a pilot project on e-waste management, there are no records available as of now of e-waste generated in the city.
So far, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) neither has any records nor does it monitor to check the e-waste generated and disposed by residential, commercial establishments and the government sector.
Institutions and individuals have been disposing e-waste in whichever way it suits them to get rid of such waste. Even government departments do not follow any standard in e-waste disposal.
According to the GSPCB figures, it only shows the e-waste generated by manufacturing units which amounts to 90 tonnes per annum though it has been estimated to be around 900 tonnes of e-waste generated, if the residential and commercial establishments are also considered.
The GSPCB has now started to implement new e-waste (Management) Rules 2016, which mandate consumers, bulk consumers like government institutions, banks, educational institutions, healthcare facilities and manufacturing units to maintain records of e-waste generated by them and make available the same to the GSPCB every year. The GSPCB has further asked authorised dealers to identify the collection centres to store the e-waste and directed them to file annual returns.
The department of science, technology and environment has joined hands with National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) foundation, Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) and local NGOs, as part of an initiative taken up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to embark upon an awareness programme in ten urban cities including Panaji, on environmental hazards of electronic waste and its recycling under the Digital India initiative.
The three month-long pilot project in the city starting from first week of March on e-waste collection, segregation and transportation from households and offices for recycling will represent the main focus of a statewide project to tackle e-waste, which aims to develop a blueprint for electronic waste management across the state.
The pilot project will be launched in the city wherein some special containers will be placed at strategic locations across the city where citizens can dispose off their obsolete electronic waste such as old mobile phones, computers batteries and other consumer electronic equipment. “Once collected, the waste will be taken by NASSCOM to the facilities outside the state that recycle these equipment components,” an official said.
The department of science, technology and environment, in cooperation with NASSCOM will conduct an awareness programme before starting with the pilot project from the next week.