Nowadays, everyone
is tech-savvy. With the launch of a new electronic product which is very
frequent nowadays, we rush to the nearest stores to get one or just sit at home
in front of another electronic product to book one. Our lives revolve around all
sorts of electronic products. We wake up in the morning, first thing we do is, grab
the phone, to check the time even if there is a clock hanging right in front of
us. Reading newspaper has become old fashioned, as there are apps available
which serves the purpose. We have now entered the world where there are 4
television sets in one house, 2 phones for every single person. In addition to
this there are so many other electronic items we use daily like music players,
tablets, laptops and PCs and many many more. But do we know, what is the price
we pay for such “development”?
In India, tonnes
of electronics are disposed off every day and tonnes are shipped from the West
to be used and disposed off leading to heaps of electronics in the landfills, exposing
the people and the environment to harmful chemicals. 70% of the parts of such
electronic wastes (e-wastes) are recyclable. However, these are given in the
hands of poor labours, who don’t have any technological knowhow about the art
of dismantling and handling the wastes. This becomes harmful for those labours
and people around.
Lack of
proper disposal and recycling, along with the overgrowing production of new
electronic products ultimately resulting in e-waste has led to a serious concern
for the environment as well as the people working in this sector.
Chintan
Environment and Research and Action Group, an NGO based in New Delhi, is a sole
collector of e-waste in the social sector authorized by DPCC (Delhi Pollution
Control Committee). The organization works on recycling of the e-wastes and
safe disposal of non-functional e-wastes. Also they help the people in this
sector in various manners.
We,
volunteered for them to organize a successful week long e-waste collection
drive at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka, New Delhi. Thank
you everyone who contributed and supported us.
Some
glimpses of the collection drive:
To know more
about Chintan visit their page: http://www.chintan-india.org/
