NEWS

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will soon become the first government body in Delhi to auction its electronic waste. Fused bulbs, discarded computers, compact discs (CDs), floppy drives, keyboards, etc, will be collected from the civic body’s headquarters — the New Delhi City Centre (NDCC) on Jai Singh Marg — and will be handed over to a private firm for recycling. The civic body has floated tenders for this project. “Our offices generate a lot of e-waste such as discarded computers, mouse, keyboards, etc. Usually, such waste keeps lying around and takes up a lot of space. Some of it is also sold to scrap dealers. We have floated tenders inviting private companies to come forward to process such waste,” said a senior NDMC official. There are six companies that have permission from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, India, to recycle electronic waste. “We are hoping to get a response from the companies in the next 10 days after which the project will begin from the NDMC office,” the official said.

The NDMC plans to extend this project to residential areas under its jurisdiction. “We plan to purchase vans that will make rounds of colonies on a designated day and will collect e-waste from households. The e-waste will be weighed and contributors will be paid accordingly,” added the official. According to officials, one factor that may prevent the successful implementation of the project is that people are not very forthcoming in getting rid of electronic waste. Currently, people sell e-waste to scrap dealers who dismantle the gadgets and keep whatever is useful and throw the rest at landfill sites, officials said. “Delhi is the second largest carrier and producer of electronic waste in the country after Maharastra E-waste is recycled in a crude manner at Seelampur, which is hazardous for health,” said the official.