E-waste management Workshop-Brainware University-Reuse Reduce Recycle

Reuse reduce recycle

Faster upgradation of electronic products is forcing consumers to discard old electronic products very quickly, which, in turn, adds to e-waste to the solid waste stream. The growing problem of e-waste calls for greater emphasis on recycling e-waste and better e-waste management.

To raise awareness about this issue, a workshop on E-waste management: scenario, challenges and opportunities was organised by the Brainware University Internal Quality Assurance Cell(IQAC)in collaboration with Hulladek Recycling on December 17, 2020. The session was enriched by the presence of key speaker Prof. Sadhan Kumar Ghosh(President,ISWMAW & Professor, Jadavpur University).

The workshop began with a brief introduction about e-waste and how it is generated. He explained its toxic and hazardous effects and how it is a challenge to prevent it. In India, recycling of e-waste is almost entirely left to the informal sector, which does not have adequate means to handle either the increasing quantities or certain processes, leading to intolerable risk for human health and the environment.

Mr. Ghosh then talked about the various laws in India to manage e-waste. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change rolled out the E-Waste (Management) Rules in 2016 to reduce e-waste production and increase recycling. Under these rules, the government introduced Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) which makes producers liable to collect 30 per cent to 70 per cent (over seven years) of the e-waste they produce, said the study. In 2018, six revisions were made in the EPR.

The workshop was followed by a Q&A session. Then, a presentation was given by the Hulladek Recycling and the workshop ended with a major takeaway that we cannot take e- waste management for granted anymore.