Bengal pollution board mulls IIT Kharagpur partnership for listing e-waste

The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) on Monday said IIT Kharagpur could work with the regulator in making an inventory of e-waste generated in the state.

The board also planned to translate the e-waste management rules into Bangla for convenience and public awareness.

"Just like census, we need to generate data on e-waste. We don't have data. We need to see what type of e-waste the state produces, its characteristics, etc. So IIT Kharagpur could help with that," WBPCB Chairman Kalyan Rudra said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on 'E-Waste Management - Challenges, Prospects and Strategies and Hazardous Waste Management' organised by Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Progress Harmony Development Chamber and Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

The workshop discussed the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016 which were notified in supersession of the e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011.

"Since the rules were notified in 2016, awareness is yet to sink in. We are translating the rules into Bengali for mass awareness. We are doing a series of meetings and workshops on awareness for urban local bodies," Rudra added.

As an example, Basab Chakraborty, Assistant Professor, Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship, who was present at the workshop, said one could take stock of the e-waste produced in an organisation-specific basis by cataloguing the number of PCs discarded in a year etc.

"On the basis of such data, the state government can assess what kind of recycling facility is needed for these organisations, such as banks, railways etc.," Chakraborty said.

--IANS

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