The F-South ward of the BMC will soon construct a 40 kg/hour e-waste processing facility in Sewri. This plant is likely the first of its kind in the city to serve the ward that includes Parel, Sewri, and Naigaum. According to an official, the ward produces about 0.5 metric tons of electronic waste every day. In accordance with the city's development plan, officials have decided to build the plant on a 2,000-square-foot portion of the plot on T J Road.
In order to prevent the installation of Chinese-made equipment, the BMC modified the tender requirements in order to use only equipment made in India. “We are hoping that Indian manufacturers of machinery for e-waste processing plants will step up. Although there may be different models for processing plants, we are looking at a plant where the total cost of the machinery would be about Rs 26 lakh,” according to a BMC official.
E-Waste Processing Facility Working
He further added, "Once the plant is operational, we plan to designate an agency to handle e-waste collection as well as plant operation and maintenance. BMC won't be charged for doing this. Agencies with the know-how to execute the operations can make money from processing the e-waste, like recovering copper from printed circuit boards."
Another official stated that "BMC's wards are anticipated to take on original projects of their own. As a result, we decided to construct an e-waste processing facility. After reviewing the responses to this tender, we will decide on our course of action and pick the best model for running the processing plant.”
Currently, a portion of the city's e-waste is mixed with dry waste, which is gathered by 46 dry-waste collection facilities spread across 24 wards and run by NGOs in partnership with ragpickers. The NGO is in charge of gathering the dry waste, and BMC provides the land and the vehicles.
As per the 2016 e-waste management rules, urban local bodies are responsible for channelling e-waste that is combined with municipal solid waste. The draft regulations for 2022 stipulate that urban local bodies must make it simpler to collect, separate, and dispose of e-waste.
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Technology is a useful servant, but a dangerous master, it was rightly said. Electronic devices have grown into an inevitable part of our daily lives.
