Sustainable e-waste management system in Sangam city soon
To deal with this problem, the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun efforts to implement a sustainable electronic waste management project in the city.
PRAYAGRAJ: With rapid urbanisation resulting in a large-scale generation of electronic waste, the management of e-waste is becoming a challenge in Sangam city. To deal with this problem, the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun efforts to implement a sustainable electronic waste management project in the city.
The PMC has initiated the process of engaging an end-to-end service provider for the management of e-waste generated within Prayagraj, said PMC officials. PMC has invited ‘expression of interest’ (EOI) from experienced firms interested in shouldering the responsibility of collection, transportation, processing, and reuse/scientific disposal of the e-waste. The initiative is in line with PMC’s commitment to achieving the goals of the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ of 100% scientific processing of waste, said Uttar Kumar Verma, environment engineer, PMC.
As part of the initiative, PMC wants to engage a firm that has experience in the collection, transportation, and processing of waste on a small, effective, and self-sustainable model, he added.
“The broad responsibilities of the firm engaged for the task would include carrying out electronic-waste management in residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial areas as well as from the secondary transfer station located in Prayagraj. The implementation model shall include the collection, transportation, processing, and disposal of e-waste in Prayagraj. The interested entities, operators, or NGOs can send their organisational profile along with the mechanism through which they wish to provide a feasible and sustainable solution along with the forms available in the EOI document uploaded on the E-tender website,” Verma explained.
The last date for the submission of EOI and their opening is December 5, 2023, and we expect the firm to get finalised by the year-end, he added.
Prayagraj Municipal area, spread over an area of about 380 sq kms, is divided into eight zones called. The population of Prayagraj as per the 2011 census was around 11 lakh. The current population is estimated to be approximately around 15 lakh.
The chosen firm would also be expected to undertake civil construction of the treatment/processing facility and operate it using suitable technology. “It will also be responsible for carrying out Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) activities for awareness and behavioral change and encourage citizens for source segregation of e-waste besides obtaining necessary permissions and approvals from the relevant authority for specific processes/machineries it proposes to use at the facility,” the PMC Environment Engineer said.
A dump of e-waste at a scrap dealer’s shop in Prayagraj (HT)