ROTARY CLUB OF PUNE SAHAWAS PROJECT UNDER COMMUNITY SERVICE AVENUE E-WASTE : AWARENESS DRIVE & COLLECTION CAMP “Rotary Club of Pune Sahawas” successfully implemented the Project- “E-Waste: Awareness Drive & Collection Camp” in Karve Nagar/ Erandvane/Warje /Kothrud area in Pune. Project was implemented jointly with SWACH (SWaCH Pune Seva Sahakari Sanstha Ltd.) in coordination with Pune Municipal Corporation. Project Planning: Concept: by Rtn. Dilip Deshpande. Rtn. Shalaka Deshpande came forward to volunteer as the Project Convenor and made formal request for project approval on August 26th, 2012. The President approved the request on August 27th, 2012. Preparation: Under guidance of the Director-Service Projects – Rtn. Milind Pandit, the project committee was formed. It comprised of Rtn. Sudhir Vaidya, Rtn. Dilip Deshpande & Rtn. Dinkar Palasker. First committee meeting was held on Aug 28th. The committee members met almost everyday between Sept 7th and Sept 14th. Coordination with PMC: Following telephonic calls & discussions, formal letter was submitted to PMC Office on Sept 6th. Formal meeting was held (jointly attended by SWaCH & “egz”) with Mr. Pramod Yadav(PMC) at PMC Main Building on Sept. 7th. From RCP Sahawas side, the meeting was attended by President –Rtn. Dattatray Kulkarni, Rtn. Shalaka Deshpande, Rtn. Dinkar palaskar & Rtn. Dilip Deshpande. Formal approval letter was collected from PMC on Monday- Sept 10th. The following Rotarians coordinated for the procurement of the promotion material: 1. Handbills: Rtn. Dinkar Palaskar & Rtn. Dilip Deshpande 2. Placards: Rtn. Vinod Deshpande 3. Banners :Rtn. Milind Pandit The sitting Corporators from Karve Nagar in PMC, Mr. Rajabhau Barate & Ms. Surekha Makwan were formally invited to visit the Collection Camps. Execution: During the first phase of the Project, Awareness Drive was launched from Monday-Sept 10th, 2012 at Commercial complexes, Malls, Offices, showrooms, shops, repair centers in Karve Nagar /Erandwane/ Warje. Theme related banners were displayed at prominent locations. The Rotarians also arranged short duration awareness campaigns with banners & placards near public places like City Pride(Kothrud) Multiplex, Big Bazaar, Spencers, Major Tathawade Udyan in the mornings & evenings. Group meetings were conducted at various residential societies & apartments. More than thousand students at Palkar School & Sevasadan English Medium School were briefed regarding the importance of safe disposal of E-waste and they became ambassadors of the drive. Further, thousands of E-waste Awareness Leaflets (Handbills) were delivered door-to-door in the community by the SWaCH Kacharawechaks personally. In the areas not covered by SWaCH, the Handbills were distributed through the Newspaper vendors. Total number of Handbills thus distributed was 10000. Collection Camps: After the first phase of five days awareness drive, “E-Waste Collection Camp” was organized for collection of the E-Waste at following locations (between 4.00 pm & 8.00 pm): 1. Near Major Tathawade Udyan 1. Near City Pride (Kothrud) Multiplex /Big Bazaar The citizens visited the Collection Camps in large numbers for handover of their E-Waste for safe disposal. The major items that were collected includes CRT Monitors, Computer CPUs, LCD Monitor, Laptop, Printers, VCRs, VCD Players, Scanners, cameras, Key-boards, table lamps, Record Players, Emergency lamps, Tape recorders, etc. Also, small items like CFL Lamps, PC Mouse, CDs, VCDs, DVDs, Diskettes, cassetts, switches, cables, PC Hardware were also collected. Many Housing Societies & offices collected the e-waste from their members and we collected it from their premises, free of cost to them. On behalf of PMC, Mr. Nandkumar Jagtap was present during the entire duration of the Collection Camp and facilitated the event with coordination and discussion with the citizens. On behalf of SWACH, Ms. Maitreyi Shankar & Mr. Kailas Yesge ensured the coordination with RCP Sahawas.SWACH also provided volunteers at the Collection Camp sites to handle the incoming E-waste. Segragation, Packing & transportation of the collected E-waste was taken care of by SWACH representatives under leadership of Mr. Kailas Yesge. AAG Rtn. Subodh Malpani & Ann Sanjota Malpani spared time from their busy schedule and visited the Camp venues and motivated the RCP Sahawas team. Rtn. Sachin Pise (President – RCP Gandhi Bhavan) also visited the event venues & participated. “Aakashwani” representatives visited the venue to cover the event and recorded the interviews of the Project Convenor, Annet Tanmay Deshpande, SWaCH Coordinator and PMC Officials. This program was wired on Friday- Sept 21st at 12.30 hrs. From the Marathi Dainik Lokmat – Reporter Mr. Kadam visited the event venue and collected details & pictures. Back-ground on social scenario: Modern life-style & technological development also leads to the Pollution problem, of which “e-waste” is an important part that is growing very fast. E-waste includes all types of Electrical & electronic scrap & components. Some examples are Pencil cell, CFL Lamp, Printed Circuit Boards(PCB), Electronic components, Electronic scrap, Tube, Emergency lamp, Table lamp, Heater, Cooler, fan, Radio/Transistor, Telephone, Cordless, Mobile Handset, Charger, Music System, VCR, Scanner, CD, DVD, Cassettes, T.V., Oven, Laptop, Computer Monitor, CPU, Keyboard, Mouse, Printer, Toner cartridge, Mixer, Toaster, MCB, Washing M/c, Microwave Oven, Refrigerator, etc. Many elements (Mercury, Lead, phosphorous, Cadmium, Hex. Chromium, etc.) that are hazardous to health & environment are present in the electrical & electronic appliances & components. Uncontrolled disposal may contaminate the earth/ground water and also pose a risk to the handlers/ habitants. Therefore, unsafe disposal of such material is hazardous to health and environment. With proper disposal such risk is minimized. There are many valuable metals/elements used in various electrical & electronic items & appliances. Proper Recycling facilitates the recovery of such valuable resources. Due to these reasons, it is not allowed to include the E-Waste into Landfill. Hence, it is very important to dispose the E-waste responsibly. Government guidelines: As per the Central Govt. Rules 2011, it is mandatory from 1st May 2012 onwards to dispose the e-waste to the Authorized Recyclers & Collectors only. Post-event Disposal: SWaCH has undertaken the responsibility of transportation, storage, segregation, recycling & disposal of the collected E-Waste as per the guidelines of the “Maharashtra Pollution Control Board” thru formal tie-up with “Eco Friend Industries, Navi Mumbai” (MPCB Approved Recyclers). Media coverage: 1. Aakashwani 2. Dainik Sakal:Pre-event:Sept. 14th, 2012 3. Dainik Lokmat: Sept. 18th, 2012. 4. Dainik Sakal:Post-event:Sept 20th, 2012.