GOA, INDIA - A Workshop on "E-Waste Management - Challenges, Prospects and Strategies was organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Association with World Trade Center Goa, Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change and Goa State Pollution Control Board on Wednesday 22nd March 2017 at Panaji.
The Chief Guest, Ms. Revati Mujumdar, CEO, Goa Electronics Limited, in her opening remarks opined that the E-Waste is a serious concern for our country, as India ranks as the 5th largest producer of E-Waste in the world. On the positive side she noted that India ranks as the 2nd largest consumer of Electronic products but lacks professional collection facilities and the mechanism to treat the E-waste properly. She quoted the example of Norway which has a professional system in place for the proper collection and treatment of E-Waste. We need to take such solutions to our organizations and look at the bigger gains of making a cleaner and better society, she added.

In his welcome address, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that the overall objective of this workshop was to highlight e-waste Management and in context of the E-waste Rules 2016. He expressed serious concern that e-waste is posing serious problems for the Human health and since only 1.5% of India's E-Waste is recycled he foresaw a problem of gigantic proportions for the coming generations. He also touched upon the challenges that the State of Goa is facing in the sphere of the E-Waste collection and disposal and advocated that Goa should put in place professional collection and processing units to successfully treat the increasing amount of E-Waste that is generated. 

Earlier, Mr. Cyril Desouza, Asst. Director, World Trade Center Goa remarked that Under the new rules, producers have been made responsible for the collection and the recycling of e-waste. He said that the electronics industry is the world’s largest and fastest growing manufacturing vertical and it is estimated that around 1.7 million tons of e-waste is generated in India annually which poses huge challenges but also offers immense opportunities for new business startups in this area. 

Mr. B.K. Soni, Chairman & Managing Director, Eco Recycling Ltd.  Have the opinion that the government must focus on the three Ts namely training, transport and technology. The first T refers to imparting skills to informal kabadiwalas about eco-friendly methods of e-waste management. The second T refers to investment in reverse logistics to transport e-waste from generation points to collection centres. The third T refers to use of cutting-edge technology to recover assets from waste.

Mr. Abhinav Apte, General Manager, SWM Cell, Department of Science and Technology, Goa elaborated on the E-waste Rules 2016 and expressed that in the producers have a huge responsibility in the area of collection and treatment of E-waste. House hold item like Compact fluorescent Lamps and other mercury containing lamps are also included in the ambit of E-Waste. He spoke on the Schedule I and Schedule II of classification of E-waste. 

Mr. Ashley Delaney, Partner, Group TENPLUS, in his address, spoke on the strategies to address the problem of E-waste. We need to develop education programs, he said, to address sustainability within the organization and develop a green office program to address the E Waste issue. He also expressed the need for e-waste accounting and organizations need to come together and form a group and make take back easier he opined.  Ms Kanchan Zutshi, Secretary, Environment Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry moderated the Workshop.

In Photo From (L-R): Mr B.K. Soni, Chairman and Managing Director, Eco Recycling Ltd,  Mr Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Ms Revati Mujumdar CEO, Goa Electronics Ltd, Mr Abinav Apte, GM SWM Cell, Department of Science and Technology, Goa, and Mr Cyril Desouza, Asst. Director- Trade Promotion, WTC Goa.