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E-Parisaraa, an eco-friendly recycling unit on the outskirts of Bangalore, which is located in Dobaspet industrial area, about 45 km north of Bangalore, makes full use of E-waste since August 2005. KSPCB approved, E-Parisaraa represents in the National Task Force on e-waste constituted by MoEF.
E-Parisaraa works closely with GTZ of Germany and EMPA of Switzerland. The plant, which is India's first scientific E-waste recycling unit, will reduce pollution, landfill waste and recover valuable metals, plastics and glass from waste in an eco-friendly manner. E-Parisaraa has developed a circuit to extend the life of tube-lights. The circuit helps to extend the life of fluorescent tubes by more than 2000 hours. If the circuits are used, tube-lights can work on lower voltages. The initiative is to aim at reducing the accumulation of used and discarded electronic and electrical equipments.

India, as a developing country, needs simpler, low-cost technology, keeping in view of maximum resource recovery in an environmental friendly methodology. E-Parisaraa deals with practical aspect of E-waste processing by hand. Phosphorus affects the display resolution and luminance of the images that is seen in the monitor.

An eco-friendly methodology for reusing, recycling and recovery of metals, glass and plastics with non-incineration methods has been developed. The hazardous materials are segregated separately and send for secure landfill; for example, phosphorous coating, lead, mercury, etc. We have the technology to recycle most of the E-waste, and only less than one per cent of this will be regarded as waste, which can go into secure landfill planned in the vicinity by the HAWA Project.

The Challenges

The challenges of managing E-waste in India are very different from those in other countries, both the developed and developing. No doubt, there can be several shared lessons; the complexity of the E-waste issue in India, given its vast geographical and cultural diversity and economic disparities, makes WEEE management challenges quite unique. A few of these are: -

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Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth started his career as Lecturer at Post Graduate Dept. of Economics, Government College, Gurdaspur, and later at Khalsa College; Amritsar, specializes in Quantitative & Development Economics. Has the distinction of serving Punjab Agricultural Univ, Ludhiana, for more than 2 decades and remained Director-Principal of Saint Soldier Management & Technical Institute, Jalandhar. Currently, heading GAD Institute of Development Studies, Amritsar, a self-financed research institute. Has been honoured with various awards, including Guru Draunacharya Samman, Vijay Rattan Award, etc.
Article posted on February 22, 2009.