Hyderabad: GHMC begins collection of e-waste

Hyderabad: The initiative by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) to collect electronic waste from every doorstep in the city through exclusive collection received a good response from citizens. A large number of citizens are calling upon the local sanitation wing and giving away the daily household waste besides e-waste in the collection van.

According to Special Chief Secretary for Urban Development Arvind Kumar, as part of Solid Waste Management (SWM) and e-waste management, the GHMC has taken up a drive to collect discarded materials from every doorstep in the city. A dedicated van is put in each of 30 circles and citizens utilise this service by calling to the concerned area Sanitation Field Assistant (SFA) or the local sanitation staff.

The GHMC staff is collecting the waste to segregate and dispose of the e-waste safely. This is being done with an aim to make the residents conceive the practice of handing over the e-waste safely to the municipal corporation instead of dumping it along with the daily waste. The staff is collecting old television, refrigerator, AC, washing machine, and unwanted things like clothes, old furniture, old vessels and old books.

The e-waste in Greater Hyderabad continues to increase every year. The Environmental Protection Training Research Institute (EPTRI), Hyderabad study found that only televisions, computers, cell phones, and printers generate 12,000 tonnes of e-waste in a year throughout the metropolitan city.

Further, telephones, refrigerators, ACs, coolers generate 28,000 tonnes of waste annually, including electronics and electrical waste. A total of 40,000 tonnes of e-waste is generated annually in Greater Hyderabad.