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 NGO members to go on jatha today to educate people on e-waste
Santa Claus is coming to town. But this Santa is upset and will take out a jatha (awareness march) from Mahatma Gandhi statue to malls and tech parks today. Instead of giving you gifts, Santa will give you brochures asking you to dispose of your mobile phones carefully.
"This Santa wants a clean world for the children. So he will ask people to please stop giving their mobile phones to kabadiwalas who dispose them unscientifically, thereby harming their health and those of others," said Shweta Nayak, president, Clean World, an NGO.
The NGO has taken up the cudgels for regulating the disposal of e-waste. Over 100 volunteers will visit places and create awareness about the hazards of e-waste.
"We have tied up with mobile shops in the city. Here we will keep bins where people can dispose their mobile phones," said Vijayaraj, secretary, Clean World.
Toxic
The NGO claims that mobile phones produce 250 million kg of carbon every year worldwide. Only two per cent of this is recycled. Cell phone batteries contain cadmium and brominated flame retardants, and are replaced at least once before retiring the phone. The mobile phones contain lead. These chemicals are very harmful. Due to unscientific disposal where the mobile phones are either dumped in landfills or burnt in open areas at low temperatures, the chemicals are released in the air and the residual remains also contaminate water.
The fad for flashing latest models of phones had also resulted in people replacing phones much earlier than the phone's life span. The NGO claims that Indians replace their phones every 18 months, which means that there are 60 million unused mobile phones stashed away.
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