Responsible recycling of e-waste

Management of e-Waste is a serious issue. Currently India is estimated to generate around 4 lakh tonnes of e-Waste annually (Toxics Link, Delhi, 2014). This e-Waste is generated by households, institutions, government offices and the corporate sector. The generation is estimated to go up many times in coming years, making it a critical issue. However, e-waste is not just a problem of waste quantity or volumes. The concern is compounded because of the presence of toxic materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, certain brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and many other chemicals which are carcinogenic in nature.

Currently 95% of e-Waste continues to be recycled by the informal sector. Open burning, acid baths, unventilated work spaces and crude handling of chemicals are typical of these operations, where susceptible groups like children and women are regularly employed. With no safety equipments at hand, the workers in some of the recycling hotspots spread all over the country, are exposed to the toxic cocktails daily with evident affect on there health. The unregulated practices also release hazardous materials in air, water and soil.

The above situation is not meant to overwhelm. It is meant to caution and bring attention to the current situation as also to motivate all generators including households to actually get involved in the solutions.

India introduced progressive legislation in the form of the e-Waste management and Handling Rules in 2012.

These rules make a mandatory guideline for all generators including households to ensure that e-Waste is recycled only by authorised recyclers. In large cities like Bangalore and Chennai there are adequate recyclers who are authorised by the State Pollution Control Board. These recyclers however continue to face difficulties in getting e-Waste to their facilities since a large fraction of e-Waste generated continues to flow to the informal sector.

Currently only a few large companies have introduced internal policies which ensure appropriate storage and safe recycling of all their e-Waste through authorised recyclers. All other generators continue to ignore the rules.

Special attention must be drawn to households where there is practically no awareness about e-Waste and also to the responsibilities of consumers as well as the sales network. On the one hand large retail chains advertise exchange programmes which lure customers to bring in their old electronic equipment including televisions and refrigerators and exchange them for new models. While customers are happy to hand over their e-Waste to these retail outlets they rarely ask the stores what is done with all the e-Waste collected. Recently Saahas in association with EMPRI, the research arm of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board studied the flow of the e-Waste from these retail chains. It was observed that 90% of these retail chains use services of scrap dealers who purchase the waste from the stores and sell to the informal sector.

It is really surprising that the retail sector has not put any attention to this huge lapse. This situation also arises because of the consumer demanding to be paid for his e-Waste. He does this either through a direct sale to his neighbourhood Kabadiwala or through an exchange programme where he receives a discount against a new purchase.

Over the last few years Saahas has set up drop points for collection of e-Waste in Bangalore. Our experience with running these centres has not been very encouraging since there is very little e-Waste that is actually dropped off by consumers at these centres. This is because the consumers do not get paid for the material dropped.

For now there is a need for readers to connect with the fact that consumers are expected to demonstrate responsible behaviour by using authorised collection centres to drop their e-Waste. These collection centres provide citizens an opportunity not just to comply with the rules but also to ensure that their e-Waste does not become a threat to our health and environment.

Tiger conservation on the rise!

On July 29th, the world celebrated The International Tiger Day. A century ago there were 100,000 tigers that roamed in the wild. Today, this number is down to a painful 3200.

There are many reasons for this – illegal poaching and illegal tiger trade in tiger skin, tooth, bones, claws that are considered potent remedies in traditional Asian medicine, rampant loss of tiger habitat and habitat fragmentation has forced tigers to live in small, isolated pockets of remaining habitat, making it harder for tigers to reproduce. Given the shrinking habitat, there is also rise in man-animal conflict.

The Government of India has taken a pioneering initiative for conserving its national animal, the tiger, by launching the ‘Project Tiger’ in 1973. It is through these efforts that India has half the world’s tiger population in the wild.

The countrywide estimation of tiger in India is done once in four years

Counting Tigers or estimation of their numbers (Tiger Census) is an important exercise to find out that the Tigers are present in healthy numbers and how the Conservation efforts of Forest Department are working on the ground. The process of estimating the number of tigers in a given area is called ‘Tiger census.’ This exercise provides us with an estimate of tiger number, density and change in tiger indices – a measure of tiger occupancy in a given area. Given the diversity and richness of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, this year CSS Corp donated 200 camera traps to the Karnataka Forest Department for monitoring of tigers and conducting the Tiger Census at the Nagarhole Forest Reserve .The advantage of camera traps for gathering data on tiger is that along with data on tigers, data are also collected on co-predators, prey, habitat and human disturbance at the same resolution.

Early indications of the results of the census show that the number of tigers have grown. The census, conducted once in four years, revealed a population of 1,706 in 2010 and among them, 300 tigers were found in Karnataka. Finally the efforts to conserve this beautiful animal, yet the most vulnerable to extinction, are paying results.

As responsible citizens we can do our bit as well such as:

• Learn about tigers as much as possible and share the same with others along with the threats they face
• Follow the Forest guidelines when as a tourist
• Support the Zero tolerance approach towards Poaching
• Try and reduce the consumption of products derived from the forests viz paper

Volunteering – the new Mantra to make a difference

Employee volunteering is about giving time, energy and skills-freely. Unlike many things in life there is choice involved in volunteering. Finding new interests and hobbies through volunteering can be fun, relaxing and energizing. What I like about volunteering is that it brings together a diverse range of people from all backgrounds and walks of life and can be a rich source of inspiration. It is an excellent way to develop one’s interpersonal skills. It also offers an incredible networking opportunity. Not only does it help an employee develop lasting personal and professional relationships but it is also helps them learn about people from different environments and backgrounds.

It is for all these reasons and more, that organizations encourage volunteering by its employees. For example, one of the volunteering program at CSS Corp was focussed on E-Waste. It was great to see employees keen to understand more about it and what they could do to make a difference. A key learning from the program – was most of them were honest enough to agree that till date they had not thought about the dangers of junking their old gadgets, or about recycling the e- waste responsibly. However, by the end of the session, there was complete agreement that they need to start caring about the environment and pollution and hence no more junking old phones without thinking first. All participants have committed to change!

Volunteer programs therefore create a superb channel for an engaged corporate culture that attracts top talent and keeps them engaged. It is also an effective way to develop leadership skills. Volunteering can also help develop soft skills such as problem solving, mentoring and communications. For example the volunteering program at CSS Corp is structured to Energize – through Internal Communications, impactful messaging and leadership commitment, Empower – by allocating responsibilities and in the process developing leadership skills through mentoring and feedback and Emulate – giving an opportunity to be role models and create a snowball effect.

I feel through volunteering programs like these, enable and empower individuals to make a difference at their workplace and their homes and give them a sense of responsibility to care for their environment. This goes a long way to show that by having a committed workforce we can change the world!

You cannot leave home without it

Today it’s impossible for us to leave home without our cell phones or laptops, and other electronic devices we use for communication, work, health or leisure. For habitual ‘road warriors’, it has become second nature to be on the move with a sackful of electronic gear. The days when a note book meant a bound paper pad used for scribbling in with a pen or pencil have all but disappeared amongst the youth. Even a generation earlier, telephone numbers (land lines only) would be jotted down in here, bank account numbers, people’s names and postal addresses, and reminders. Now, the devices store it all, on your instruction or from the cloud – the cell phone numbers and email ids of your friends and family, your bank manager, your passwords and passcodes, your work email, your friendly personal Gmail, your favorite pics, your passport details, your social media and your favourite tweets. This super-wired and wall-to-wall gadgeted world means a lot of hardware, big and small, and at the rate electronic fashions change, a good part of this becomes obsolescent – or so your trendier colleagues tell you – every six months.

Cell phone, laptops, iPhone, tablets (the non-medicine ones) are ubiquitous today in cities around the globe – the cell phone for instance is not just an appendage for urban dwellers. Today the cellphone is transforming rural economies too. Cellphone technology is now being used to fight poverty. In most of the developing world, and that means two thirds of the global population, the people that do not have bank account or are known as the “unbanked” population. Suddenly this population has access to financial services through mobile technology – likewise there are many innovative ways ewastetechnology is being used to help the small, rural farmer get access to markets, weather information and alerts.

On a recent visit to Shoolagirivillage in Krishnagiri district, I asked some women in a Self Help Group, (SHG) how many of them had cell phones – with pride almost all of them raised their hands waving their cell phones.

Indeed, we are all getting upwardly mobile and technology is transforming the way we live, how we work and how we communicate. And this is the good news.

The bad news is that we are generating a whole lot of electronic waste that is piling up because technology becomes obsolete very rapidly. The entire world is discarding technology that has come to its end of life – from phones, to computers, to laptops, to TVs, to music systems, to motherboards, and all kinds of household appliances. When that happens, where does your suddenly ‘old’ gear go to? If it’s not tossed into a carton in the loft and forgotten, the chances are that it will make its way into a pile of electronic discards that grows bigger every day creating a there is a mountain of toxic waste.

So should we be concerned and act responsibly even though it is not our headache? The short answer is yes. Because computers and computer peripherals constitute the largest proportion of e-waste and pose a dangerous threat to our health and environment. What makes e-waste complex is that its waste has disparate materials, some highly toxic and some precious.

In India, as in most emerging economies, e-waste recycling is done by the informal sector and is exposed to hazardous work conditions. The vast majority working in this unofficial recycling sector are the vulnerable, urban poor, including women and children.

At CSS Corp, we are conscious of this burgeoning problem and are committed to doing our bit for responsible e-waste management. We are committed to using our electronic goods for a longer period of time, we return all our electrical goods to a certified and recogonised – e-waste recycler and above all, we build awareness among our employees to segregate waste wisely, and that includes e waste . As part of our community awareness building, we work with schools to make the kids aware of the e waste, we are engaged with our local community for better waste practices and engage with our employees too.

Awaiting pre-monsoon showers

 Summer has descended upon the subcontinent.

The cities, towns, plains, and the once salubrious hill stations are heating up. 

The days are hot, the nights are still. There is no escape. 

It is immutable.Everyone waits for  rain. The Malnad is ready to receive her.

Even the beautiful Coffea Arabica  bud is ready. It awaits Revathi ,the pre-monsoon shower.  Revathi, the giver of life, the nurturer.In the wilderness of the Malnad will Revathi keep her date ? But this year she is late again. Her timely arrival is important. For some its life .For some its business as usual. Her arrival announces that the South West Monsoon is on its way.Her drizzle enhances the coffee bloom .The coffee farmer waits in anticipation.  She brings the Malnad back to life.
This year the temperatures in the Malnad touched 36 degrees  against a normal temperature  of 33-34 degrees Celsius. Apart from this higher than normal temperature, there has been a dry spell of  nearly 5 months in the coffee growing areas that is affecting coffee production. But Revathi did not come.

In the year 2009  both Arabica and Robusta suffered losses due to unseasonal heavy rains. Likewise, heavy rains during the blossoming delayed the harvest and lowered crop quality in 2010. There have been periods of drought  In 2002, Karnataka experienced a severe drought for three consecutive years (2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04). The IPCC on Climate Change predicts that yields from rain-dependant agriculture could be down by 50% by 2020 . In the Coorg region, some areas have already seen rainfall drop by one-third – from 106 inches per year to 70 inches.

The problem with today’s economy is that we have become obsessed by  the idea of “GDP growth” – which seems to be the single most important measure for success. A green economy is the only sustaining economy – it put values on natural resources, it uses resources sparingly, makes use of its natural capital rather than wasting it and stands committed to environmental protection.Our current GDP models do not recognise the role of natural capital.There is a lot that needs to change. Unless the economic importance of biodiversity and ecosystems, of ecology and forests, not just among economists, but at the level of policy makers, administrators, businesses and the public is understood, the wait for Revathi will get longer.

Up and up and up

“Earth, upon which this moving, breathing life exists.May she bestow on us the finest of her harvests! Earth, the all-sustaining, treasure-bearing, resting-place; Golden-breasted Earth, home of all life, Who bears the sacred fire.” - Atharva Veda Book XII

In a world that is obsessed with higher and higher growth, expressways and XUVs, where SUVs are becoming passé, where development  is equated only with highways, roads and spiffing airports, where man’s insatiable consumption need  has to be met at any cost , where a desire to monetize any and everything , deforestation at the light of speed , where the slow dying of our coral reef does not seem to matter , where unsafe and high pollution levels make our cities unfit for us to breathe in or live in, the dropping dead of bee colonies by the millions, the drying up of our rivers, the destruction of wetlands that give way to sky scrapers, chemical riddled food, where nuclear contamination and radiation uncertainty is accepted, where we are unconcerned  about the acidification of our oceans and parts of our seas being declared sea dead,traffic jams on the 8,848-metre high Everest caused by people who came from far away countries to “conquer” the peak ,instead leave behind  waste on the pristine white mountain , where dams are not good enough, but mega dams is the answer, where glaciers melt rapidly, where peak summer temperatures are reached more frequently than ever, where we want growth at any cost, a significant change happened to our planet.

We crossed 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (C0₂) in the atmosphere again, earlier this month. To preserve a liveable planet, scientists tell us we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from its current level of 400 parts per million(ppm) to below 350 ppm. But instead, we are rapidly and rapaciously adding more C0₂ into the atmosphere, making a planet that will not be habitable by humans.

While I contemplate our present and brood our future, I often ask where is all this leading to, who gains and who benefits  – for it is in this pursuit of what we call a “good life”  that  the falcon cannot hear the falconer.