India’s first e-waste clinic to come up in Bhopal

Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched multiple initiatives in their campaign for a better position in Swachh Survekshan. The Corporation has recently launched an E-waste collection model that is helping clean out the city more efficiently

The Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has indeed taken the cleanliness initiative of the Prime Minister very seriously. And for the good of its citizens! While the biggest city of the state, Indore, topped the chart of the cleanest city competition for three successive years with its various novel methods, many other cities of the state have also fared well on this score.
Bhopal, said to be one of the greenest capitals of the country, with beautiful natural features like lakes, hills and forested areas, has also been launching multiple initiatives to keep the city spic and span; the latest of the measures being the e-waste collection model launched by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). Earlier, the decades-old large Bhanpur dumping ground’s garbage that weighed in several thousand metric tonnes and which was set to acquire the shape and size similar to Delhi’s infamous Ghazipur garbage dump, was treated in phases and the entire area has been cleaned up. Once it was seen to be a real challenge for the city managers, but now the levelled ground there shows the good amount of work put in.

Most ragpickers are now making 100-250 per day. Like most Indian cities, Bhopal too generates huge amount of plastic waste. According to the BMC Commissioner Vijay Datta, IAS, close to 11 MT plastic waste is generated in the city daily, besides other wastes which also include tetra packs, double coated plastic sheets, rubber footwear and glass bottles.

The e-waste collection model is not much different but yes, the non-profit Sarthak Group has now kept a large number of dedicated e-waste bins in the city with the help of MP Pollution Control Board, in addition to plying an old and redone-up bus called e-waste ambulance-cum-clinic. This innovation is termed as the first such step in the country towards making the city e-waste free over the next few months. This bus collects e-waste from residential colonies and business districts of the city. So far, all this waste was going into the unorganised sector and polluting the environment.

The collected waste would be scientifically treated by Rajasthan-based Green Tech, a Private company in Alwar. The BMC has set up a call center from where regular calls are being made to citizens to create awareness for e-waste disposal. The NGO is also proposing to issue Green Certificates to those who are bringing in the e-waste for disposal.

On any given day more than 800-1000 such calls are made and E-waste collectors are dispatched to the homes for collection of electronic items which are junked by users but they do not know how and where to throw them, said Datta, adding “with the e-ambulance moving in the city, more and more e-waste collection is happening as people know it now that these electronic and electric gadgets and spares are not to be thrown and mixed with domestic and kitchen waste”. Ali says that more than 70-80 calls have started coming in from citizens who wish to see the mobile e-waste ambulance which also houses clinic and dumping box. The e-waste is also being purchased at different rates which is proving to be a cash incentive. A touch screen mobile is being bought for50 and a kilogram of electric bulbs is being bought for Rs 10 and so on.
Bhopal, not an industrialised city like Pune or Bengaluru, however generates 432 MTs of e-waste per year with citizens mixing the items with regular domestic waste. Now there is a solution provided by Sarthak and BMC to the citizens. The unique e-waste clinic was inaugurated in Bhopal by Union Environment Secretary CK Mishra and CPCB chief SPS Parihar in January end.
Laptop accessories, printers, monitors, mouse, cables, disc cartridges, fridge, broken or old washing machines and its parts or LED bulbs are being increasingly dumped into these bins by citizens or being sent to the bus. Ali says soon Bhopal will have more e-waste clinics set up in different areas of the widespread city for the convenience of people. There are 24 items listed under e-waste category so far and their disposal plans have also been put in place.