e-waste management in Sri LankA:

Private sector to the rescue

By L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

The haphazard manner of discarding electronic waste which is detrimental to the environment should be stopped. The waste could be given to collecting institutions for recycling, waste management specialist Nalin S. Gunaratna said.

The Sunday Observer interviewed Gunaratna on electronic waste management and environmental hazards.

Q: What does e-waste stand for?

A: People use various electronic items such as hand phones, air conditioners, radios, television sets, refrigerators, CDs, tapes, telephones which have a limited life span. People discard these items in a haphazard manner in landfills and water bodies.

Q: What is its impact on the environment?

e-waste warehouse at Wattala

e-waste

Dismantling e-waste items

A: E-waste found in landfills, wastelands water bodies or when is buried cause severe damage to the environment, most of them are non-degradable and it takes a long time sometimes hundred of years to disintegrate. Some items generate a toxin poisonous liquid which contaminates with virgin soil and water beds. When burnt, heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury in e-waste are released into air and deposited as ashes. Mercury released into the atmosphere can bio-accumulate in the food chain particularly in fish.

Q: What are the uses of e-waste?

A: Developed countries in Europe and Asia have set up modern waste management centres with a network of waste collection centres. In Sri Lanka under the guidance of Environment and Natural Resources Ministry the public and private sector organisations had set up a waste management project.

Geo-Cycle Sri Lanka, a member of the Holcim group is one such organisation. It has provided professional waste management solutions to many industries to dispose of its hazardous waste.

The Geo-Cycle's State-of-the-art analytical laboratory provides analytical reports on conventional and waste derived fuels.

This laboratory awarded the ISO 17025 certificate has been listed as a competent laboratory of the Central Environmental Authority.

Co-processing, a method used by Geo-Cycle for waste disposal is globally accepted as the best system to dispose hazardous waste.

It is technically superior to existing systems such as incineration where residue will not be left out. Co-processing is recognized and encouraged by international institutions such as the World Health Organization the World Business Council for sustainable development, Hazardous Chemical and Waste Convention, Basel Convention, European Cement Association and German Technical Corporation.

Q: How do you evaluate the garbage and waste collection and recycling system in Sri Lanka.

A: It was due to the combined efforts of the government, Private Sector organisations, united Nations and NGOs that the waste management sector was developed over the years.

The Colombo city garbage collection and disposal system had shown a remarkable improvement during the past few years.

There is room for improvement. At present much attention should be taken to provinces.

A systematic garbage collection and recycling system should be implemented for the whole country.

Q: What are the main activities of your organization, Green Link Lanka in e-waste management?

A: Sri Lanka imports over three and half tonnes of CDs annually according to the Department of Customs.

Sri Lanka has over 15 million mobile phone users. In addition cell phone batteries and spare parts, bulbs, and wires TV sets, TV spare parts and hundreds of electronic items are also imported. It is still not known as to how they destroy the CDs which contain deadly mercury and other chemical coatings.

Our organization with the assistance of Singer Sri Lanka maintains an islandwide network to collect electronic waste used Hibrid batteries also will be collected under a agreement with Stafford motors, agent for Honda vehicles.

Waste is stored at our main warehouse in Wattala. The e-waste is sorted by our organization which is an authorised venture by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and the UN BASEL Convention.

Last year 4,000 metric tonnes of e/waste were exported to China and Malaysia where they were recycled.

Sri Lanka does not have such e-waste recycling facilities. E-waste such as used TV sets, used batteries or cell phones should not be re-sold. Most of the buyers dismantle them for spare parts dumping unused parts in waste lands.

An incident in which several members of a family had fallen sick after being exposed to mercury and led while trying to dismantle a television set was reported from Wattala.

Parents should not allow children to play with discarded electronic devices as they could be exposed to the dangerous chemicals. When people are exposed to chemicals from e/waste it could damage the brain and nervous system and affect the kindneys and liver and cause birth defects in children to born.

Q: Should not awareness on systematic e-waste be erected since are not aware of its harmful effects on health?

A: Yes, such an awareness campaign is vital. The media specially the electronic media has a vital role to play. Though there are many advertisements on electronic items there are no awareness campaigns on e-waste management.