European Union missions organise an e-waste collection drive to raise awareness on responsible management of e-waste to mark the International E-waste Day
To mark the International E-waste Day, European Union Delegation to India along with 6 Embassies of the EU member states in India organised an e-waste drive. The objective of the e-waste drive was to contribute to raising awareness on the need for sustainable management of the 57 million tonnes of all e-waste generated globally.
The drive was supported by the EU’s Resource Efficiency Initiative in partnership with Karo Sambhav, which is a tech-enabled, environmentally beneficial, and socially responsible e-waste Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for responsible management of e-waste.
The following EU member states including Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Slovak along with the EU Delegation to India participated in the drive. The e-waste drive started at the Austrian Embassy’s Commercial Section in Sunder Nagar at 11:00am followed by collection at the Embassy of Luxembourg in Jor Bagh, at the French, Danish, and Belgium Embassies located in Chanakyapuri. Finally, the drive ended at 4.00pm at the Residence of the European Union. The e-waste thus collected was handed over to Karo Sambhav for responsible recycling. Nearly 420 kgs of e-waste was collected and included items such as discarded computers, printers, phones, and other office IT equipment.
E-waste problem is much severe in developing countries like India that have deployed rudimentary processing technologies, improper e-waste handling and management, and deal with the additional burden of imported e-waste. The recorded generation of e-waste in India was 1.02 million MT in 2019-2020, increasing at a rate of nearly 32.5% per annum (CPCB, 2020). Global E-waste Monitor 2020 highlighted that, according to the 2019 figures, India had become the third largest generator of e-waste with after China and USA.
The drive was a step towards creating awareness towards responsible disposal of e-waste by bulk generators as per India’s E-waste Management Rules 2016.
