Speakers urge for effective e-waste management

Speakers at a discussion urged for an integrated collaboration of policy formulation and intervention, community awareness, effective waste management system, knowledge creation and recycling of e-waste through public private partnership participation.

Voices for Interactive Choice & Empowerment (VOICE) organised the discussion titled ‘E-waste management and environmental sustainability in Bangladesh’ at its civic center on Saturday, says a press release.

The keynote paper presented by VOICE research wing’s Abtab Khan Shawon and Meher Nigar Tuli stated that use of e-goods and generation of e-waste grew simultaneously in recent years that leads towards a new environmental challenge in Bangladesh.

Every year about 2.8 million tonnes of e-wastes are generated in Bangladesh. Among them 10,504 tonnes of toxics e-waste are generated from cell phones alone in the last 21 years, the paper said.

Scrapped TV sets generate approximately 0.17 million tonnes of e-waste while ship breaking yards alone accounts for more than 2.5 million tonnes of toxics e-waste generation each year.

In Bangladesh every year more than 15 per cent of child workers die as a result of e-waste recycling and more than 83 per cent are exposed by toxics substances and become sick and are forced to live with long term illness, according to the news release.

The speakers said, Bangladesh currently has no specific environmental policy or act or guidelines to directly manage the e-waste problem.

Though a draft regulation on ‘E-waste management rules’ was developed and amended in 2011 and 2017 respectively under the Environment Conservation Act, 1995, no progress in implementation has been visible till date, the speakers added.

Presiding over the meeting, activist Jyoti Chattopadhyay said most e-waste ends up in landfill, where it can cause serious environmental problems.

Deputy general manager of Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) Nur Quamrunnahar said there should be in-depth studies in Bangladesh regarding e-waste management.

Waste management activist and CEO of CLEAN Hasan Mehedi, Zayed Siddiki, Serajuddahar Khan, Ipsita Bonhi, Walid Akram, Dilruba Shormi, among others, spoke.

Executive director of VOICE Ahmed Swapan Mahmud moderated the discussion.