ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday December 9, 2007
Vol. 42 - No 28
Financial Times  

Dialog launches waste management initiative

Dialog Telekom is leading the way in corporate environment consciousness by launching Sri Lanka's first mobile phone battery and handset take back initiative aimed at reducing electronic or mobile waste (M-waste).

The company has recognized the significant environmental concerns if forward thinking steps were not taken at an early stage to develop social and institutional consciousness. Currently with over 7 million mobile users and rapid growth expected in the sector in coming years, discarded mobile phones, batteries and accessories could contribute to a growing stream of waste in Sri Lanka if proper and safe disposal practices are not adopted, leading to environmental damage, adding to pollution and other ill effects of hazardous waste.

At a press conference this week to launch the initiative, Chief Executive of Dialog Hans Wijayasuriya said that Dialog has pledged to donate Rs.10 towards every battery that is returned and Rs.25 for every handset that is returned to the company's ongoing Joy-Toy programme which gifts toys for needy children over the Christmas season.

Wijayasuriya said other beneficiaries will be added in 2008 and hopes other players in the industry such as electronics manufacturers will also join the initiative.Mobile phones have a finite life cycle and when thrown away, they get accumulated in domestic waste which ends up at landfills, causing variousproblems. Senior Manager of Dialog's Group Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility Michael De Soyza explained that mobile phones and accessories contain environmentally damaging materials, carcinogens and lead. Some materials such as glass and copper can be recycled. He estimated that 1 million phones end up in landfills, taking up space and accumulating to 130 tons of waste. Dialog's target is to collect 1 million handsets by 2008.

Collection points have been set up in 14 locations across to country to start including the greater metropolis areas of Colombo, Badulla, Kandy, Galle, Wennapuwa and Kurunegala. The collections will be transported to a secure warehouse and will subsequently be exported to a recycling plant in the United Kingdom that is equipped with the technology to recycle or refurbish the material.

Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority Udaya Gammanpila said waste is a huge problem and a growing concern for Sri Lanka. He added that many industries in the country are not socially responsible and must be punished if they fail to adapt healthy initiatives. (NG)

 

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