THROW IT RIGHT

Oman is piecing together norms to effectively dispose off e-waste

By V L Srinivasan
VL.Srinivasan@apexstuff.com

Electronic waste – e-waste – generated from the discarded accessories of mobile phones, old televisions, computers and other electronic items pollute the environment when disposed improperly. Though digitalisation of Oman is currently on at a hectic pace, the public and private sectors are yet to wake up to this threat and focus on managing and recycling e-waste. Most people are unaware of the fact that recycling e-waste is a potential business opportunity. Recycling e-waste also yields precious metals and third-grade plastic items.

Besides recovering precious metals like gold, palladium and platinum, recycling e-waste also helps in extracting other metallic and non-metallic substances from the scrap. Currently, e-waste is disposed off in a routine manner like any other kind of garbage, posing health hazards to people handling it because of the toxic materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium in it.

“E-waste is created by everyone of us, but proper disposal is our collective responsibility as doing so is beneficial to the local community as well as the environment,” said Sangeetha Sridhar, business content consultant with Information Technology Authority. According to her, some of the community-based efforts to manage e-waste include creation of a safe and eco-friendly e-waste recycling plant; coordinating the public and private sectors’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in e-waste management and recycling; putting in place a segregated e-waste collection system with local municipalities; encouraging the use of bio-degradable components in electronic products; clearly labeling hazardous substances used in electronic products for the knowledge of customers; promoting brands that encourage buyback schemes of old electronic products; and launching public awareness campaigns to minimise the quantity of e-waste.

“Developed nations like the US and Japan have strict laws governing disposal of e-waste and its recycling. We should have similar legislations in place so that e-waste does not degenerate environment,'' Sangeetha said.

Dr Bassim al Bahrani, a senior consultant and head of medical oncology at Royal Hospital, said that exposure to toxic elements that are also found in e-waste result in various kinds of cancers. Explaining why e-waste is harmful, another doctor from the hospital, Dr Rajan Balakrishnan, senior consultant and head of the radiation oncology department, said, “While alpha and beta rays affect human beings only when they are touched, the gamma rays emitted by such waste penetrate human bodies even if they are kept at a distance. “E-waste cause environmental pollution leading to health hazards. These should be handled and disposed off properly.”

The current practice among owners of computer shops in Ruwi is collecting e-waste in dustbins until these are taken away by the municipality to dumping yards, according to Thomsy Abraham of Venus Computer in Ruwi.

The Environment Society of Oman (ESO) believes that people can reduce e-waste by adopting various methods. Buying devices which are more durable and using rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones are some of these ways, said Nida Helou, manager of ESO.

According to Ahmed bin Zahir al Hinai, director of environmental inspection and control in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, e-waste has to be managed in compliance with the law on conservation of the environment and prevention of pollution issued through Royal Decree No (114/2001), the ministerial decision No 18/93 on the guidelines for the management of hazardous wastes and the Basel Convention of 1994 (on the control of transboundry movement of hazardous wastes and its disposal) of which Oman is a signatory. “We are currently in the process of finalising guidelines for proper disposal of e-waste,” he said.


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