Waste And E-Waste Collection Drives Catching Up With Masses

It was a Diwali celebration with a difference. The Kolkata-headquartered Hulladek Recycling, a leading waste management company, completed its extensive waste and e-waste collection drive held during the Diwali season. The initiative yielded an accumulation of nearly 15,000 kg of waste and e-waste from various regions across India. The community’s active participation in this initiative underscores their dedication to responsible waste disposal and environmental sustainability. Waste management refers to the processes involved in managing waste from cradle to grave. This includes collection, transportation, disposal, recycling and monitoring of waste materials produced as a result of human activity. The waste management process involves five Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose and finally, recycle. This is an important methodology for businesses to follow to ensure that they effectively reduce waste and boost the recycling efforts. This ultimately lessens the amount of waste that will end up in landfill and will optimise one’s recycling programmes. The collection drive was conducted in Hulladek’s key markets, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Delhi and Punjab.

To create awareness, they launched "Iss Diwali Ki Safai Hulladek Ke Saath" campaign in schools, colleges and residential colonies highlighting the environmental risks of improper e-waste disposal apart from conducting awareness sessions on safe recycling methods and the extent they can help involve a larger audience. The campaign encouraged individuals to dispose both general waste and e-waste responsibly and reducing landfill accumulation. Conducted annually, the initiative facilitates responsible waste disposal and management along with fostering a sense of collective responsibility among the participants. Interestingly, during the festive months many households engage in cleaning and disposing of unwanted items. The company organized this Diwali collection drive in collaboration with its partners to ensure that these items are recycled scientifically. Significantly, waste management awareness amongst the people is going up and the enthusiastic participation of people from across states is indicative that it is widening all over. The substantial amount of waste that was collected this time around demonstrates that collective efforts can make a real impact.

This festive season, Hulladek collected 10.5 tonnes from West Bengal, followed by one tonne in Jharkhand. While in Maharashtra, the collection was at 700 kgs, in New Delhi it was 1,200 kg and in Punjab the collection was 500 kg. The growing impact across different states, contributing to improving waste management systems and environmental sustainability was palpable. Producer Responsibility Organisation (PROs) norms and practices are already in place in the country. But one must look beyond these PROs. Such campaign drives and actual activities on ground zero can only reach a meaningful level, if other companies also come forward and take to it as enthusiastically. Companies need to expand such initiatives to more locations in the years to come. They also need to be committed to continue its efforts to enhance waste management and sustainability practices, planning more initiatives throughout the year to further educate the public on the proper segregation and disposal of waste and e-waste products. All of them should continue to motivate people to stay engaged in sustainability and eco-friendly practices.