Civic bodies set targets for zero e-waste in Hyderabad’s CURE region

Three civic bodies in Hyderabad have launched intensive e‑waste collection drives under the CURE initiative, targeting zero e‑waste status by year‑end. Nearly 100 tonnes of discarded electronics have already been collected.

Hyderabad: Three civic bodies—Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) in the ‘Core Urban Region Economy’ (CURE) area have set targets for e-Waste collection to achieve zero. The e-waste initiative involves the civic bodies and focuses on collection measures through special drives.

GHMC officials have launched an e-Waste drive in March to dispose of discarded items, including defunct computers and laptops, mobile phones, batteries, home appliances, electronic gadgets, and cables.

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Meanwhile, the MMC and CMC officials have launched special drives in their jurisdictions and are collecting e-waste as part of a pilot project. “The drive has continued since then by setting up separate counters at all three civic bodies and appealing to the ‘resident welfare associations’ (RWAs) to take part in the drives. As of now, nearly 90 to 100 metric tons of e-Waste have been collected,” a senior GHMC official who is handling e-Waste collection in the ‘CURE’ area told Telangana Today.

The GHMC has been tying up with onboarded certified local e-waste recyclers, including Earth Sence, Recytronics, Pure Earth, Z Enviro and Green Enviro, to ensure scientific processing of discarded items.

Apart from special drives, the civic body has launched ‘doorstep’ collection services. The doorstep services will be carried out through a request made by the house owner for pickup of electronic waste, including larger appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, via a centralised QR-code system without needing an app, a GHMC official said.

The GHMC has already placed 30 e-Waste drop-boxes across retail outlets of leading electronics stores, including Big C, B New, Happi, LOT, Sangeetha, Select, and Touch, for disposal of unwanted electronic waste. From April onwards, all designated stores have started the operation of e-Waste collection with standardised drop boxes, the official added.

The e-Waste collection drive will be continued to make three civic bodies ‘Zero-e-waste’ civic bodies by the end of this year, the official said.

HMWSSB’s e-Waste collection drive starts in its offices

In May, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) launched an e-waste recycling drive and scientifically disposed of electronic waste and outdated IT equipment that had been lying unused at its main head office in Khairatabad and at various divisions for the past 15 to 20 years.

The HMWSSB is working with the Telangana Green Technology Services (TGTS), an authorised recycling agency, to undertake the e-Waste process, including collection, transportation and environmentally safe processing. According to a senior HMWSSB IT-wing official handling Information Technology issues, collecting e-Waste from the head office and various wings housed at Khairtabad took at least five days.

The materials identified for disposal include old printers, CRT monitors, CPUs, UPS systems and other obsolete electronic devices. The official said the recycling process is being carried out in accordance with existing e-waste management rules and environmental protection guidelines, with the initiative aimed at ensuring safe handling of electronic waste and preventing potential environmental hazards from improper disposal.

Collection and transportation of the accumulated e-waste is ongoing and, so far, over 50 to 80 tons of materials have been shifted for processing and disposal, the official added.