A’bad civic body will buy your old PCs,cellphones

“The AMC will also partner with Confederation of Indian Industry to host a seminar on sustainable e-waste management and handling to be attended by industry members,corporates and experts. We will also hand out ‘green citizens’ certificates at e-waste collection centres to people who bring their electronic items for disposal,” said AMC’s deputy commissioner I K Patel.

The Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) recently enacted rules concerning e-waste management and handling that require pollution control boards,municipal authorities,industries,recyclers and citizens to come together for its effective implementation.

“The rules came into effect on May 1,2012,” said Municipal Commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra.

According to a study by Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT),65 cities in India generate more than 60 per cent of the total e-waste in the country India. In the country-wide list of the cities generating e-waste,Ahmedabad comes fifth while Surat comes 10 in the list.

“We want to introduce the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR) whereby financial incentives will be used to encourage producers to design environment-friendly products and bear the cost of managing their products at end of life. Currently,four companies in the state have been awarded the licences for disposal and recycling of e-waste by the GPCB,” said V R Patel,senior environment engineer at GPCB.