Hazardous e-waste lies unattended

BHOPAL: Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not been able to bring into force the e-Waste Management and Handling Rules 2011, even six months after they were implemented by the centre.
This has resulted in the non-disposal of a huge chunk of waste that has got collected over the time. Interestingly, the e-waste management guidelines specify that the e-waste cannot be stored for more than 90 days, due to the radiation emitted from it.
“Around 4 metric tonne of e-waste has been collected here,” said BMC officials. An estimated amount of 437 metric tons of e-waste is collected on a yearly basis from the state capital, officials said.
“We are facing some technical problems in the implementation of these rules,” BMC additional commissioner Kishore Kanyal said, adding, “The state so far does not have a proper recycler – an agency that can recycle the e-waste. The BMC and the state pollution board are negotiating with a few companies from outside the state to recycle the waste from Bhopal, the MoU for which is expected to be signed by month end.” “Due to this, even if we collect the e-waste, we are unable to recycle it,” he added.
The corporation, in May this year, had marked five centres for the purpose of collecting e-waste which includes the BMC ward offices in Bhanpura, Anand Nagar, Nehru Nagar, Bagmugaliya and Gandhi Nagar areas of Bhopal. Bhanpura is the main centre of e-waste collection. The e-waste collected so far is temporarily being dumped here, officials said.
However, BMC officials claim that Bhopal Municipal Corporation is the first in the entire nation to promptly take action on the newly implemented rules of e-waste management in the city.