For decades we Indians lived under the myth that we Indians recycle our waste in eco-friendly manner out of economic compulsions and everything is OK.
However things aren’t as rosy as they are made to appear. The local bhangarwala or raddiwala are not the best persons on earth to understand the ecological implications of their actions. They survive on low margins and their focus is maximum output from the scrap. The other big new challenge is, as packaging, production and processes become more and more advanced, they are creating wastes that are becoming impossible to recycle for smaller units.
The ray of light are those small and medium new age entrepreneurs who are using indigenous or internationally recognized technology to recycle waste causing minimal damage to the ecosystem.
The EarthSavers Alliance proposes to bridge the gap between the consumer and these recycling units.
Everything that we consume and throw away today causes immense ecological damage. Packaging material today uses plastics paper and metal bound together making it impossible to reprocess it by simple processes. Cables and wires are now filled with gel, fibre-optic (glass) and multiple polymers. Traditional recyclers simply burn the cable and extract out copper and aluminium causing serious air pollution.
Paper recycling traditionally involves heavy use of bleach which pollutes our water bodies despite effluent treatment. Not all paper processors even have ETPs.
The biggest damage is being caused by electronic waste. The awareness level is so low that even the High Court’s tender cell did not know the rules, it had almost disposed off its printers, fax machines and photocopiers to unorganized vendors by calling tenders. It was TESA who made the registry to recall the tender and issue a fresh tender as per E-Waste Management Rules under Environment Protection Act.
The electronic waste is usually dismantled using hammer and tongs method and extractable metal is extracted by use of crude methods such as acid burning or melting and un-extractable is dumped into the ground. This is where these metals enter the food chain. People are concerned about lead in Maggi but they forget that lead was not added to it, it came into the food chain from the environment.
The EarthSavers Alliance is a socio-commercial project that will work with corporate and NGOs to help bridge the gap between the scrap generators and truly eco-friendly recyclers. It will also help fund social projects and environmental NGOs through the initiatives and also help give them exposure.
The EarthSavers Alliance will utilize the technology of websites and applications to reach out to the customers, traditional waste collectors will be trained by us to collect waste from households in honest and diligent manner and it will oversee the disposal and processing by sending it to recognized recycling centres that will process
It will also work with construction firms for responsible disposal of construction waste. Corporates for better recycling of paper and plastic waste.
TESA will work with smaller environmental NGOs by giving them exposure and creating platforms for them in form of e-waste melas and in-turn collect the e- waste and process it through recognized recyclers.
Earth-savers – will reach the end customers through mass publicity campaigns, PR exercises, direct marketing and word of mouth campaign. The entire disposal process shall be app/website based, where scheduling, transmission of photos, quotation, pickup and payment, all shall be technology driven.
