Minister for Industries and IT K.T. Rama Rao on Friday launched ‘Mission E-waste’, an initiative of mobile phone retail chain Celekt to encourage safe disposal of electronic waste by incentivising customers.
The initiative assumes significance as households now possess multiple electronic devices, especially mobile phones and accessories such as chargers, the Minister said at the rollout in the presence of Industries and IT secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Celekt CMD Y. Guru.
Noting that with growing affluence, waste management has come to be one of the biggest challenges, he said while scientific disposal of electronic waste is important, people tend to retain unused or malfunctioning devices.
Under Mission E-waste, Celekt will be installing dedicated e-waste bins at all its mobile phone stores for customers to dispose of defunct cell phones, laptops, tablets and other electronic devices. “As a token of appreciation, such customers will receive discount coupons ranging from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000, redeemable for up to six months on new purchases from the mobile [phone] store,” the firm said in a release.
The Minister also urged Mr. Ranjan to explore the possibility of having such e-waste bins installed at IT parks. Celekt executive director Murali Krishna Retineni said the firm is collaborating with three e-waste disposal companies to ensure that the collected e-waste is treated responsibly.
