The Hindu            11.10.2014

Solution to e-waste management in 3 city Corporations in sight

The vexed issue of e-waste management is likely to get a
solution in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram Corporations towards the end
of this month and Kozhikode set to follow shortly.

Clean
Kerala Company Limited (CKCL), an initiative under the Local
Self-government Department, has identified a Palakkad-based agency
through tendering for the collection and processing of e-waste in the
private-public-participation model with zero investment to the State.

Giving
a fillip to the arrangement was a government order issued on Friday
authorising CKCL to collect e-waste from government bodies and public
sector enterprises.

Local bodies, in association with
CKCL, would identify locations for collecting e-waste from where the
agency concerned would collect and transport it to its processing centre
in Hyderabad.

“We are in the process of finalising
locations in consultation with the two Corporations and will start
operations on getting clearance from the Kerala State Pollution Control
Board,” Kabeer B. Haroon, managing director, CKCL, told
The Hindu
.

As per the arrangement, CKCL will buy e-waste from
local bodies at Rs.5 a kg and sell it to the collecting agent three to
four times that rate.

Mr. Haroon said the collection
and processing involving a third party was only an interim arrangement
with the ultimate target being setting up a plant of its own to treat
e-waste as envisaged in the last budget. “Once that happens, we would be
able to double the profit through e-waste processing compared to the
new arrangement,” he said.

The collection and
processing system will be extended to all interested Corporations and
municipalities in due course. Panchayats will also be able to avail
themselves of the benefits from the system, provided a block panchayat
or district panchayat takes the initiative to coordinate it.

A
preliminary survey conducted has put the e-waste generation in the
State at 6 to 10 tonnes a month. But that is the figure taking into
account the organised sectors alone.

“The volume
generated in the three Corporations would be taken as a sample for
arriving at a more accurate figure based on which areas in need for
collection centres will be identified,” Mr. Haroon said.

Palakkad-based agency to process e-waste

Local bodies to identify spots for collecting e-waste