Students made aware of e-waste threat

Hyderabad: An e-waste management awareness and action programme was organised at Bhararti Vidya Bhavan  and St Amber High Schools, Tulasi Nagar, Amberpet by Sahara, a voluntary organisation under the auspices of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITy), GoI.

Sahara Director R Narsing Rao said that the electronic devices such as computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, old TVs, mobile phones, refrigerators, washing machines, A/Cs, printers, micro wave, geyser, fax machine, stabiliser, UPS, key board, mouse, kitchen mixture, radio, tape recorder, speaker, VCR/DVD, dead cells and batteries etc., contain high levels of lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, brominates toxics, cobalt, cathode ray tubes, batteries, wiring boards, lithium gases, acids, plastics, mercury, ionizing and non-ionizing - polluting agents etc. 

 If they are disposed of along with other garbage, they components cause permanent damage and huge pollution in earth, water, air and food products. If they are not properly managed, it leads to various health problems such as cancers, tumors, dry eye, muscle problems, damage to the brain, lung cancer and affects immune systems.

“We know that the technology is growing fast and along with that e-waste is also increasing alarmingly. There are proper methods to dispose of electronic items, they should be handled differently,” he said and suggested to the students to collect e-waste and send it to recycling and refurbishing units.The students of Bharathi Vidya Bhavan and St. Amber Schools came forward to launch an e-waste collection campaign to create awareness in their neighbouring localities. The collected e-waste would be sent for recycling units to protect the environment.