The New Town authorities will upcycle waste items collected from its three action areas and Sector V in Salt Lake to prevent waste and hazardous materials from stockpiling at dumping sites.
From old smartphones to used drinking water jars, garments and electronic gadgets will be collected from residents and offices. For this, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority inaugurated a waste museum and a store for upcycled products near the New Town bus stop on Thursday.
The NKDA has partnered with the Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage, an NGO that works with women self-help groups, to upcycle waste items collected.
Women from more than 100 self-help groups will make bags, furniture, jewellery and home decoration items from waste items.
The finished products will be put up for sale at a display counter. The Merlin Group has partnered with the NKDA and will display upscaled items at the Acropolis shopping mall in Kasba.
The NKDA will train residents in segregating waste at source and in recycling techniques.
Those who want to discard waste items, including e-waste such as used laptops, mobile phones and other gadgets, can do so at the waste museum, Debashis Sen, the NKDA chairman, said. “We want to encourage residents to recycle and upcycle waste items.”
E-waste has proved to be the most dangerous. “E-waste is often burnt or dismantled manually. The ash finds its way into canals or streams. The items that cannot be reused are left at dumping sites… they release corrosive chemicals into the ground,” Sen said.
India is among the top five e-waste generating countries in the world, according to a report published last year by the trade body Assocham and NEC Technologies India Pvt Ltd. China, Japan, Germany, and the US are ahead of India.
Maharashtra produces maximum e-waste in the country — 19.8 per cent of the country’s share. Bengal is at 9.8 per cent.
The global volume of e-waste is expected to reach 52.2 million tonnes by 2021 from 44.7 million tonnes in 2016, according to the report.
The volume of e-waste will keep rising exponentially because of the rise in the use of electrical and electronic equipment, a report by the World Health Organisation says.
