XISS students attend Panel Discussion on e-Waste Management organised by JSPCB

A group of 19 students of Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi participated in a one-day Panel Discussion on e-Waste Management organized by Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) on 17 February 2023.

The chief guest for the event was Shri Shashikar Samanta, Chairman - Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board. In the beginning a brief about the panel discussion and the topic was given by Mrs Munmun from A&M Communication, which has organized this panel discussion along with JSPCB.

The panellists were Dr B. Santosh Ramesh (Environmental Scientist, Deputy Manager, MECON Limited, India), Dr D K Saxena (IFS, Regional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest in Jharkhand Govt.), Mr Prashant Bose (Asst VP, Head Technical, Hindalco, Muri), Ms Archana Sharan (General Manager, Design and Innovation at Steel Authority of India Limited), Mr Debnath Bera (Director, Ranchi Partners Management Consultants Private Limited), and Dr Ganga Prasad Singh (Director, Indian School of Mines (ISM) Dhanbad).

Shri Samanta, Chairman JSPCB, delivered the introductory keynote remarks, where he emphasized on the need to create awareness about e-waste and the role of the youth in solving this issue. He also mentioned the e-waste management rules and the initiatives taken by the Jharkhand Government and JSPCB to bring awareness about the same.

Earlier, JSPCB presented a brief presentation, providing a wealth of facts and data about e-waste in India. They highlighted authorized recyclers in Jharkhand and various government initiatives about e-waste. The presentation also covered the rules and its amendments on the topic. They introduced the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as a policy approach in which producers take responsibility for the management of disposal of products that are no longer useful for consumers. The presentation emphasized that responsibility for disposal may be fiscal, physical, or a combination of the two.

The panellists discussed on topics such as e-waste management and challenges in India, management rules of 2011, and its amendments in 2016 and 2022, statistics related to e-waste generation in India, and highlighted that the average person generates 7.6 Kgs of e-waste every year. 3R’s - Reduce, Re-Use & Recycle, need for town and city-wise aggregators to collect e-waste from individuals and get it to authorized recyclers were also discussed.

Furthermore, it was discussed that plastic and e-waste are increasing at an alarming rate of 31% annually in India, a result of rapid digitalization. They also discussed on the challenge of status quo and human habits that contribute to the generation of a large amount of e-waste.

Along with the students and audience, representatives from various organizations such as NLN, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Hindalco industries, Tata Chemicals, RBL etc. also participated in the panel discussion.

The session proved to be an extremely valuable experience for the students of XISS, as it broadened their understanding and sensitivity towards the challenges of e-waste management in India, providing them with a new perspective.