Hyderabad: Like several households in the city which dispose of domestic e-waste irresponsibly, several electronic items were recklessly thrown at K-Block of the secretariat in Hyderabad which belongs to Andhra Pradesh government.
Computers, cables, hard disks, telephones, wires were chaotically piled up outside the building. Hyderabad has the dubious distinction of sixth largest generator of e-waste in India according to study of ASSOCHAM.
Only 5 per cent of India’s total e-waste gets recycled. E-waste contains plastic, metal, cables, batteries and printed circuit boards. According to the stud, since e-waste has a lot of components with toxic substances, if not handled properly, they can have an adverse impact on human health and also the environment.
The Hyderabad city has over 20 waste collection centres that have been approved by the Pollution Control Board.
Several e-waste disposing platforms in Hyderabad provide online or app services including Sanshodhan, Waste Ventures, Banyan Nation, Z Enviro Industries which exchange e-waste for money. The government even signed up with start-ups Toter.in, Banyan Nation in regard to e-waste awareness and disposal.
Despite Telangana state government being a staunch promoter of electronic waste disposal, AP secretariat continues to resemble a dumpyard for piled up e-waste.
Telangana government has brought e-waste policy which advocates setting up of e-waste dismantling centres to channelize, segregate, recycle and dispose of e-waste in an environmentally manner.
