Narela to get India’s 1st e-waste park
The e-waste park is being planned in Narela industrial area and will be spread across 20 acres.
The Delhi government will build India’s first electronic waste eco-park in the national capital which will include dismantling, segregating, refurbishing, storage, testing, plastic recycling and precious metal extraction facilities, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.
The e-waste park is being planned in Narela industrial area and will be spread across 20 acres. The Delhi cabinet, chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal approved a proposal on Thursday to appoint a project consultant.
“As the use of technology is increasing by the day, the amount of e-waste generation has also gone up. But it is not being handled scientifically and safely, which results in many life threatening incidents such as fire, and harmful impact on the health of capital’s residents and waste handlers. At this eco-park recycling, refurbishing, and dismantling of waste will be done in a scientific and environmentally safe manner,” Sisodia said in a press conference after the cabinet meeting.
He said no other state has started work on such a facility yet.
To be sure, this is not the first time the project has been announced.
On September 22 last year, the project was first announced by the office of lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, who convened a meeting to finalise the modalities of the e-waste eco-park.
It is estimated that Delhi generates about 200,000 tonnes of e-waste annually from electrical appliances, electronic items, computers, accessories and mobile phones, among others. This is potentially hazardous to not only the environment but can, in the short-term, also harm humans.
Collection centres across 12 zones will be set up to channelise e-waste. The eco-park will provide infrastructure, training and tools to operators in the informal sector to groom them as formal recyclers, Sisodia announced.
“The e-waste eco-park shall engage informal operators involved in this work for a long time and with a sufficient knowledge base in the collection network. Cooperation with the informal sector will help to ensure availability of e-waste for processing in the formal sector and will contribute to make the formal units economically viable. There will be end-to-end processing of e-waste and zero landfill will be ensured,” Sisodia said.
