Ramanujan College Promoting Swaccha Bharat Mission in Electronic Way

The Clean India Mission of the Government of India has motivated the countrymen to focus on the cleanliness. By doing so, we can protect ourself from getting affected by the deadly diseases happened due to the bacteria born out of a filthy place. But many of us have neglected the bigger picture of the mission. The mission doesn't just promote to clean up solid and liquid wastes of the household; it also tells us to focus on the other wastes whose harmful effects are not directly visible in daily life but are of primary concern in the long term. 

One of such waste is the e-waste. Electronic wastes are the residues that include discarded electronic items like computers, mobile phones, and televisions. The e-wastes lands up in the landfills and the toxic emerges out of it like mercury, cadmium and lead get mixed into the water and soil. This causes an adverse impact on the health of a human body. The effect of inflammation and oxidative stress-precursors to cardiovascular disease, cancer, skin disease and DNA damage may happen due to e-waste. The e-wastes also highly damages the environment. It is inevitable to properly dispose of the e-wastes time to time.

Recycling of the e-waste is an excellent solution. It will also help to reduce the pollution that generates from manufacturing the new electronic products. Therefore, it is advisable to dispose-off the e-waste at the right place. Recently, Ramanujan College has organised an E-waste drive in the college in association with the Department of Environmental Science of the University of Delhi to dispose-off all the e-waste of the campus safely. Students were the major participants in the attempt to make the campus e-waste free. The E-waste that was disposed-off were ranging from Computer Equipment, Office Equipment, Consumer Electronics to various Household Appliances.

The e-waste problem is so severe in India because India is the fifth largest producer of e-waste. We discard around 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of e-waste every year. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, the production of e-waste in India is likely to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30% and will reach to 52 lakh metric tonnes per annum by the year 2020. The main problem lies in the improper disposal of the e-wastes. Over 95% of the electronic waste generated in India is handled by the unorganised sector who dismantle the disposed waste instead of recycling it. 

E-waste problem is a serious issue that has been unrecognised and highly neglected. Most of the e-waste is disposed off in the sea which leads to the death of marine life. This causes indirect effects on the life of the people. The explosive growth of the electronics industry will bring more problems. We should be ready to prepare oulself with all the challenges about the e-waste management. The e-waste drive that is conducted by the Ramanujan College is a good initiative that can be followed at every level and in each part of the country to tackle such issue. It is the high time to act proactively.