Pollution board working on e-waste policy

The Central Pollution Control Board is in the process of quantifying and assessing the quality of "e-waste" generated from IT companies in Bangalore as a prelude to framing a national policy on e-waste management, the board's officials said.

The board's south zone office, here, has been given the mandate for 'E-Waste Inventorisation and Survey', said Suneel Dave, an environment engineer with the board at a two-day seminar on energy conservation and industrial waste management on Friday. The seminar was organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The board has constituted a task force in consultation with representatives from the IT industry, government bodies, and non governmental organisations (NGOs).

The task force is expected to conduct a rapid survey covering cities having IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES) concentration, such as Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata, Dave said.

Some companies have come forward voluntarily while others are worried about being penalised. The board had roped in the NGOs to help speed things up, he said.

Earlier, Tapan Chakrabarti, head of the environmental biotech division of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) said there are 13,000 industrial units spread over 340 districts in the country.

"Half of them, comprising small and medium size businesses, pollute the environment. But they can't be taken lightly for they generate three million jobs," he said.