THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Around 10,000 schools and educational offices in the state will now be able to dispose of e-waste accumulated over the years, thanks to a special drive by IT@School project along with the government’s Clean Kerala Company.
Accumulated e-waste in schools eats up huge space of IT labs, besides obstructing the lab activities in a large way. Instead of simply disposing of e-waste as garbage, there are scientific mechanisms to recycle and refurbish it. It is estimated that through this programme, over one crore kilogram of e-waste from over 10,000 schools and offices will be processed.
As per the Government Order issued with respect to e-waste management, electronic equipment and their components received by the schools before March 2008 and CRT monitors, mouse, keyboard and 600 VA UPS received till March 2010 will be disposed of as e-waste in the first phase. The list of equipment which can be considered as e-waste includes computers, laptops, desktop cabinets, monitors, drives, printers, projectors, UPS, camera, speaker system, television, network components and generators.
Clean Kerala Company will collect the e-waste in batches of 500 kg from schools, for which neighbouring schools will be clustered. “IT@School has devised an online system to register the quantity of e-waste in each school and to collect them as batches. The exercise will be completed by July 15,” said K Anvar Sadath, Executive Director of IT@School project.
IT@School will also set up hardware clinics in selected regions to repair and upgrade machines which are repairable. The e-waste collected from schools will be scientifically processed at Clean Kerala Company’s Hyderabad facility. This will ensure hazardous materials like mercury, lead, cadmium and barium, which are heavily toxic in nature and hazardous to human beings as well as environment, are intelligently treated with absolute caution.