E-Waste treatment plant for city

Chennai
The Asian Age

The city corporation will float a tender to set up an exclusive e-waste centre in the city, corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said. The site for the e-waste plant is yet to be finalised.

Speaking to this newspaper, Lakhoni said the treatment of waste would be taken up in a scientific manner in phases. Initially, the liquids and gases in the electronic waste are to be removed and then the dismantled parts would be segregated and shredded before undergoing a special treatment. The treatment will include electromagnetic separation, eddy current separation and density separation using water. The process has to be scientifically dealt with as the ferrous, nonferrous metals and plastics have to be removed.

According to a recent study by the city corporation, the IT revolution has generated an additional solid waste of about 30,000 tonnes in the city, of which, 14,000 tonnes of e-waste are generated from faulty computers and hardware. For the fiscal 2008-09, the waste generated through compact disc (CDs) and tapes is estimated to be around 2,800 tonnes, while mobile phones generated a solid waste of 47 tonnes during this period.

According to sources, the civic body has engaged the services of Infrastructure Management and Advisory Services Private Limited for selection of a private developer for implementing the e-waste treatment facility in the city and the project will be taken up on design, build, operate, maintain and transfer (DBOT) basis.