Last updated April 12, 2019
MK Aiyappa, the Bangalore (Urban) deputy commissioner, announced last Thursday that a scientifically built electronic waste management system is to be set up in Bommasandra, Electronics City and Whitefield following the recent verdict by India’s Supreme Court on the issue of managing electronic waste, including the likes of old cell phones.
“There are huge amounts of e-waste in these areas and there is a huge need to manage this,” Aiyappa commented while at the inauguration of a new Electronics City dry waste management facility. “Currently, there are only 13 e-waste collectors in the city and they are not doing it in a scientific manner. They only collect about 10-15 percent of the total junk.”
The state government is currently searching for land that can be handed to industries on either a partnership or lease basis for the purpose of opening the collection and disposal centers. “We will be getting the guidelines on the e-waste management by April this year and we will start working on it soon.”
The solid waste management facility, a joint venture of the Electronics City Industries Association (ECIA) and the Waste Wise Trust is anticipating receiving daily dry recyclable materials from its associated companies. Those obsolete items will then be sorted into glass, metals, paper and plastics, and then sent to recycling factories. The president of ECIA, Baby Ramaswamy, is hoping to be able to get to zero waste management in the area soon.