TECH RESEARCH TO HELP DISPOSAL

Bhubaneswar, May 21: The municipal corporation organised a stakeholders' meeting here today to introduce a comprehensive system for electronic waste management and decided to implement the new e-waste management rules from next month.

Sources said the new rules would be implemented keeping in view the Eco-Cities Programme rolled out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a wing of World Bank, for the state capital. The IFC will implement the project with Sofies Sustainability Leaders Pvt Ltd and Siddha Development Research and Consultancy Pvt Ltd.

With deep domain knowledge of over 13 years and experience in e-waste in India and internationally, Sofies, a Bangalore-based firm and Siddha Development Research and Consultancy Pvt Ltd, which has a strong network in the city, will lead the activities in e-waste management here.

"Both firms have technical research capabilities and on-ground implementation experience with respect to e-waste management. They will carry forward the work as mandated under the e-Waste Management Rules, 2016, notified by the Union government in March last year," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

The stakeholders, consisting of representatives from two implementation partners, state pollution control board, IFC and the civic body, discussed various aspect of the new rules. It was stressed that the project must aim to establish a sustainable e-waste management ecosystem in Bhubaneswar.

"This initiative will establish a mechanism of collection and storage of e-waste for future processing and dismantling so that the system may continue for the coming years. Awareness generation is already being carried out since September and the rules will be in place in June," said municipal commissioner Krishan Kumar.

The members also discussed taking help from local agencies and dismantlers, regulatory authorities such as the state pollution control board, other government agencies, industries and others associated in this sector so that proper coordination is established between the key partners at an early stage.

Officials said sourcing of knowledge resources, toolkits and other learning materials and experiences of IFC in cities such as Hyderabad would be integrated into the action.

A robust waste collection network, proper infrastructure and e-waste disposal alternatives for citizens to ensure a formal collection mechanism will be in place in the city.

"Awareness, slapping of fines on violators etc will be the main areas where the civic body needs to focus if they want to implement the new rules with ease. Electronic waste is dangerous since it is difficult to dispose of. Moreover, with the growth of technology, cities such as Bhubaneswar are generating increasing quantities of such waste. It is important to have a robust plan for safe handling of such materials," said environmentalist Sailabala Padhi.