'E-Waste Collection Drive'

• 03 Mar 2022

Why in the news?

On March 2, 2022, President of Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, Vinu Gupta, while launching the third phase of 'e-waste collection drive' from the headquarters of the division, flagged off the vehicles for e-waste collection drive.

key points

• In this campaign, 'e-waste collection drive' will be organized for various industrial areas and residential colonies of Ajmer, Pali, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu and Sikar as well as the residential welfare associations, shopping malls and other commercial institutions.
• In this drive, which will run from March 2 to 15, 2022, e-waste will be collected from industrial units by the authorized dismantler or recyclers of e-waste in the state and they will also be given a suitable incentive amount and certificate for this.
• Continuous monitoring of this drive will be done at the level of the concerned Regional Office of the State Board.
• The e-waste will be collected from residential areas and residential welfare associations and other commercial institutions through 'mobile vans' operated by Godrej Appliances. Awareness regarding e-waste will also be brought through mobile vans through posters and banners.
• On this occasion, Veenu Gupta informed that in the budget announcements of the state for the year 2022-23, the government has announced to formulate an 'e-waste policy' and to develop a 'recycling park for e-waste'.
• In the past also, two phases of 'e-waste collection drive' have been successfully organized to ensure scientific disposal of e-waste and to make the public aware. In the first phase, 11 metric tonnes of e-waste was collected from the industrial units of Jaipur, Kota and Udaipur.
• In the second phase, 66 metric tonnes of e-waste was collected by driving mobile vans from residential and industrial areas in Alwar, Bhilwara, Bhiwadi and Jodhpur. In this phase, an amount of about Rs 20 lakh was provided to the consumers as fair value in lieu of e-waste.
• The Mandal has entered into an agreement with Environment Protection Training Research Institute (EPTRI), Hyderabad to provide accurate statistics of e-waste generation annually. This institute will conduct a study for e-waste inventing in five cities of the state and assess the amount of e-waste generated annually in the state. Similarly, the work of inventing plastic waste is also being done by an institute.