The Greater Chennai Corporation will conduct a citywide door-to-door e-waste collection drive on October 31, asking residents to keep discarded electronic items separate from regular household garbage for collection by conservancy workers.
The drive is being held as part of the Union government’s special campaign 6.0 to promote the safe collection, segregation and scientific disposal of electronic waste. GCC said its workers would visit households across Chennai to collect unused and discarded electronic and electrical appliances.
Items listed for collection include old mobile phones, chargers, computers, laptops, keyboards, electrical cables and other electronic devices. Residents have been urged to segregate these items and hand them over separately when conservancy workers visit their homes during the special drive.
The civic body said e-waste should not be mixed with regular household waste. It also cautioned residents against dumping electronic items in public places, along roadsides or into water bodies, practices that can contribute to environmental pollution and pose health risks.
After collection, the e-waste will be sent to authorised recycling agencies for processing and recycling in accordance with prescribed regulations. The arrangement is intended to ensure that discarded electronic items enter a regulated disposal and recycling chain rather than the city’s regular garbage stream.
The campaign places household segregation at the centre of the collection process. Unlike routine waste collection, which generally handles regular household refuse, the special drive requires residents to identify electronic and electrical items and hand them over separately to the civic workers assigned to the exercise.
The Union government has directed rural and urban local bodies to strengthen systems for the collection, segregation and disposal of e-waste under special campaign 6.0. The GCC’s citywide drive is being conducted within that wider effort.
The civic body has also appealed to resident welfare associations, educational institutions, commercial establishments and other organisations to participate. Their involvement could help the corporation collect e-waste from locations beyond individual households during the October 31 exercise.
The collection drive comes as cities handle a growing range of discarded electronic products, from small accessories such as chargers and cables to larger equipment including computers and laptops. The GCC’s instructions are limited to the special collection exercise: residents are required to keep e-waste separate and hand it over to conservancy workers for transfer to authorised recycling agencies.
