Over the recent past, Sri Lanka has seen an influx of cutting-edge electronics which have replaced in large quantities the existing equipment which are fast becoming obsolete in the middle of the speed technological advancements. While the life spans of the equipment become shorter, the accumulation of e-waste as debris has increased significantly, leading to one of the biggest challenges in the waste management in Sri Lanka.  

Electronic waste or e-waste is an electronic or electrical item which is out of use, due to being outdated, beyond repair or has expired. The annual e-waste generation in Sri Lanka is nearly 70-75MT and piles of cathode ray tubes (CRT), mobile phone, CFL bulbs, batteries, computers and other tech items mixed with domestic waste turn to trash and get dumped on landfills across the country leading to many environmental and health hazards due to an alarming range of toxic compounds they contain.  

Access Engineering PLC, as an ISO 14001-certificated corporate entity that is committed towards minimizing its environmental footprint and proper disposal of its day-to-day waste, embarked the e-waste collection drive for the third consecutive time partnering with Ceylon Waste Management (Pvt.) Ltd recently. The campaign, which was launched as a corporate social responsibility initiative, managed to collect a total of 12.2MT of e-waste through 28 collection points spread across the country within three consecutive days.  

“Our attempt aims to create awareness on the predominating issue of electronic waste and to find a viable solution. While the campaign raised the public awareness on electronic waste, we were able to provide the Colombo metropolitan and the distant communities a reliable and environmentally safe process to dispose the electronics piled up at their households. The strategically located 28 drop-off points made it more accessible to the community,” said Access Engineering PLC Senior General Manager Vasantha Manatunge.

Beside the individual participants, state and private companies across all spheres and sectors contributed the collection with their redundant workplace electronic equipment for safe and environmentally friendly disposal. The total collection has been handed over to Ceylon Waste Management (Pvt.) Ltd, which is an approved service provider for environmentally friendly disposal 
of e-waste.