recycling e-waste

Undoubtedly, India is emerging to be one of the leaders in the field of information technology. Computer education, being made mandatory in all schools right from the primary level, India is undoubtedly witnessing a surge of IT companies and professionals.

In such a situation, imagine the amount of e-waste generated per year per state! What happens to all those computer hardware parts and related non-degradable items which are beyond any use??

If your computer keyboard or mouse or some other electronic gadget gets damaged irrepairably, what do you do? Throw it off? Burn them? Bury them? Or give them to your local shop or dealer for recycling? Just imagine the scene where thousands and thousands of such parts are thrown away.. They are no doubt, taken away from your houses or offices along with the other garbage, by the concerned dealers , and dumped in some waste dumping grounds, or thrown into some river, where they contaminate the earth and water alike. some of them are burnt periodically... which no doubt causes a rise in the pollution level, resulting in several health hazards.

This is a grave situation which is causing concern to the government and environmentalists alike. So imagine the condition of Bangalore, the IT hub of India... But thanks to the efforts of Mr. P. Parthasarathy, an IIT Chennai product, and an entrepreneur at Bangalore, the city can heave a sigh of relief. Encouraged by the centre and state pollution control boards, he has created a company called e-parisara, which aims to recycle and manage e-waste, without causing any ecological damage

Computer components and other e-wastes generated by the computer companies and other manufacturers are carefully recycled, and reusable raw materials are created. Hazardous components such as chromium, arsenic, mercury, nickel, cadmium, lead and zinc sulphate are separated from the material they are contained in. The metal content that can be safely reused is seperated, and the rest are buried carefully, without causing any related environmental pollution.

I just wish that more such waste recycling companies come into existance, and more people are made aware of such safer options to dispose of their e-wastes. If such options are made available in all major places, It would certainly do a lot of good to our planet.