14 companies to manage electronic waste
View(s):Sri Lanka is to implement a countrywide “Electronic Waste Management” project with the active participation of the private sector electrical and electronic equipment companies.
The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 14 companies on May 26 to properly and effectively manage Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), CEA Waste Management Director Ajith Weerasundara toldthe Business Times.
The partner companies comprises telecommunications industry (SLT, Mobitel, Dialog, Etisalat, Hutch and Lanka Bell), home appliances (Singer and Abans), office appliances (Metropolitan, E-Wis, Virtusa, and ABC Trade & Investments), and service providers (Geo Cycle and Green Link, Recycling Pvt Ltd Ceylon Waste Mnagement Ltd, Think Green Pvt Ltd, Green Cycle and Holcim (Lanka) Ltd.)
These service providers are exporting e-waste to countries like Korea as Sri Lanka has no proper e-waste recycling facilities, he revealed. A large number of unusable mobile phones and their accessories, discarded TVs, radios and their accessories and other consumer goods such as refrigerators, ovens, washing machines and bulbs is stockpiled in homes and offices as there is no proper disposal system and lack of awareness on WEEE disposal among the people, he said.
As an initial step, the CEA has declared an electronic waste management week with the aim of eliminating the e-waste problem countrywide. Consumers have been given an opportunity to hand over their e-waste to partner companies on the directions of the CEA, Mr. Weerasundara disclosed.
These partner companies will in turn hand over these stocks collected from consumers through their island wide branches to e-waste collection centres.
Currently Softlogic Plc together with Think Green, which is an exporter of WEEE approved by the CEA, is implementing environmentally friendly WEEE waste disposal mechanisms.
The mobile phones and their accessories are collected at the 140 designated services centres of SoftLogic for export. Singer Sri Lanka together with the CEA is also collecting e-waste through its countrywide outlets.
Orange Plc in collaboration with Nordic Recycling AB of Sweden has set up a CFL and fluorescent bulb recycling plant with a capacity to recycle up to 30million bulbs per year in Pitipana, Rideemulla, in Homagama South, Managing Director of the company Kushan Kodituwakku told the Business Times.