Massive campaign for e-waste management is required at the government level in Bengal, felt companies engaged in ewaste management in the state. Hulladek Recycling, a Kolkata-based company that has presence in 45 cities, directly or indirectly. West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), WEBEL, West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC), West Bengal Police, Burdwan Municipality have engaged Hulladek to remove e-waste.

Nandan Mall, head of Hulladek felt that time has come to do a massive campaign to clear e-waste properly. Mr Mall said the company has an e-waste recycling plant at Ankurhati where the recycling is done properly. “Time has come when awareness to recycle e-waste is needed in Bengal as the level of awareness is not up to the mark,” remarked Mr Mall. His argument is not without basis.

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As there is lack of awareness, the electronic goods and electrical gadgets that have become inoperative are often given rag pickers who do recycling in a most crude manner. Senior officials of state IT department said the Goa Municipal Corporation has set up e-waste collection centres in every ward. In 2022, two lakh metric tonne e-waste was recycled across the country while Bengal’s contribution was 12,000 tonnes, he said.

In Karnataka, to renew the licence of factories, the owners have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with an e-waste management company. In Maharashtra, flat owners are not allowed to form an association unless there is an ewaste management agreement.

Mr Mall, who set up Hulladek, the first e-waste recycling company in Bengal, said as a student of St Xavier’s College, he had joined a competition where he had floated the idea of e-waste recycling in 2009.

After becoming a graduate, he went to Hungary for higher studies and on return set up his e-recycling plant in Bengal at 22. “I believe in the setting up of a clean and green world and to do this we should all take initiatives.”