Coimbatore civic body to reboot e-waste collection project

The decision by Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) to accumulate only e-waste from the citizens at the corporation park on Alagesan road in ward-22 via an exclusive collection bin is getting a poor response.

Residents highlighted the pandemic as the cause for the reboot. The officials claimed that a few residents are reportedly emptying daily household waste besides e-waste in the collection bin.

Now, the e-waste from the ward, where the e-waste collection project was executed on a trial basis, would end up at the Vellalore dump yard, the officials added.

It is to be recalled that CCMC partnered with a city-based start-up to collect, separate and dispose of the e-waste safely. The civic organisation in 2018 put a white-coloured e-waste collection bin in ward-22.

This was done to make the residents understand the practice of disposing of the e-waste safely in the bin instead of dumping it along with the daily waste. The process was running smoothly until the pandemic hit the nation in March 2020, until, then, the bin had accumulated 120 kg of e-waste since the time it was placed.

An official privy to the developments told the media that the pandemic harmed the regular e-waste collection process. The civic organisation had ideas to set up more such bins in some places, but the thought was put on the backburner.

With the newly begun Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 that deals with star-rating performance for each solid waste management project, the authorities said the civic body might contemplate giving a new lease of life to the e-waste collection process.

The start-up, which is into the accumulation and disposal of e-waste, is preparing to reach out to CCMC with an idea to take this project in a bigger way.

Coimbatore city produces approximately 200 tonnes of e-waste a month and 3,000 tonnes yearly.

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