E-waste is emerging as a fast growing and dangerous waste stream, especially in developing countries like India. Saahas is working towards creating awareness around scientific disposal of e-waste and establishing an eco-system for safe and sustainable recycling of e-waste. One of the key requirements is of easy to access and pilfer-proof drop boxes where citizen are encouraged to drop their e-waste. We would like to place 50 drop boxes in different parts of Karnataka to collect e-waste.
As India moved towards becoming a global economic power, there are mountains of electronic waste being created due to discarded gadgets. The volumes of e-waste are rising at dangerously high rates, and in the absence of scientific methods of collection, transportation and recycling, there is huge environmental and social damage being caused. E-waste contains hazardous material which makes it necessary that the e-waste reaches the authorized recyclers who are well-equipped to handle them.
The project is providing awareness about the e-waste stream to people and also establishing easy disposal options to prevent people from disposing their e-waste along with other waste streams. One of the key needs of this program is to set up community e-waste drop boxes at public locations that are pilfer proof and strong. At present, there is no take back scheme by the government or producers of electronic and electrical equipment. This project will prevent 1434kgs of GHG emissions.
The long term impact of this project will be inculcating the habit of safe e-waste disposal among people, maximized resource recovery from e-waste and reduction in the toxic material in the environment. Project will lead to safe work conditions for those involved in e-waste recycling by ensuring that higher volumes reach the authorized recyclers.
