KOCHI: One of the major issues confronting the modern world today is the pile up of electronic waste. The e-waste which contains toxic and hazardous materials, including mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, chromium and chemical flame retardants, can cause severe health problems. These chemicals enter the food cycle when they seep into the water and soil. Proper recycling of e-waste is the only effective method to tackle this growing menace.
Through recycling, discarded electronic items’ valuable components which remain intact can be recovered and put to use in new products. The students of Govt Vocational Higher Secondary School, Maradi East in Muvattupuzha are doing precisely this. According to school’s NSS programme officer Sameer Siddiqui P, as many as 35 students, whose trade is basically agriculture, are involved in the project in which old LED bulbs are repaired and returned to the owners.
“Once the bulbs stop working, people throw them away unaware that the circuit is the only thing damaged and not the bulb as such. With the government also encouraging the use of LED bulbs to conserve energy, the volume of e-waste being generated will increase. We can prevent this if the old bulbs are repaired and reused,” he said.
During the two-day summer camp ‘Jwala’ organised under the aegis of the VHSE National Service Scheme, the students gave discarded LED bulbs a lease of life. The students were given training in repairing the bulbs by K M Jayan, an electronics expert.
“The programme was organised as a part of Siddhi 2020. The discarded LED bulbs were collected from the village adopted by the students under the project. Also, bulbs were collected from nearby houses. The children then repaired these bulbs and returned to the owners free of cost,” said Sameer.
The students repaired over 90 bulbs during the camp. “They also made around 30 new ones. These bulbs were distributed free when we visited the houses in the village as a part of promoting the use of LED bulbs and conservation of electricity. We also distributed around 50 CFL bulbs given to us by the KSEB. The electricity board too helped us in our endeavour,” said the programme officer.
According to Sameer, the cost for repairing a bulb comes to be around `30. “It is the cost of the circuit board. For making new bulbs, we bought the materials from Angamaly and the cost for making a single bulb came to be around `90. But when compared to the ones available in the market, the cost of the bulbs made by our students is affordable,” he said.
Since such a project requires funds, the school has approached various NGOs and organisations for investment. “It is a noble venture and needs to be promoted. The students are getting to learn a new thing, which also benefits society at large. Some organisations have agreed to help us, but there have been no concrete developments,” said Sameer.