BENGALURU: Despite the lockdown, old televisions, computers and dry waste material from South Bengaluru made their way to recyclers, thanks to dedicated residents of the city. Vikram Rai, general secretary of Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF), which has over 800 apartments in its fold, told The New Indian Express that they launched a Dry Waste/E-waste campaign on June 5, World Environment Day, in association with Saahas Zero Waste, a non-profit.
“Apartment complexes and residences were facing challenges in collecting dry waste and recycling it. We collected nearly 6,000kg of dry waste from apartments in South Bengaluru. This is a considerable quantum of waste to be collected in the midst of a lockdown,” Rai said.
Volunteers with Saahas collected over 1,533kg of e-waste and 4,463kg of dry waste from 6,000 flats over nine days in June, he said. Sorting through the material took almost the whole of July. To avoid any contact, residents were advised to keep the waste at a specific spot in an apartment, from where it was collected by Saahas volunteers, Rai said. It was then despatched to Saahas’ Material Recovery Facility in Anekal from where it was sent to authorised recyclers.
BAF plans to extend it to East Bengaluru shortly and then to other parts of the city, Rai added. Saahas Zero Waste Chief Operating Officer Shobha Raghavan said that over 40 apartment complexes signed up to join the campaign. “Though there was only 60% participation finally, it is still a very good response bearing in mind the Covid crisis,” she said.