TEZU, Oct 14: The Science Club of Indira Gandhi Govt College (IGGC), Tezu in Lohit district observed 9th International E-Waste Day by organizing a National Seminar titled-‘E-Waste to Wealth’.
The event was marked by confluence of academicians, technocrats, faculty members and students from premier institutes and Government department to deliberate on the opportunities and challenges presented by electronic waste per se or in essence.
During the inaugural session, Dr P M Singh (organizing chairman) emphasized on the relevance and need to be useful electronic consumers, and appealed to the students to make the most of the seminar and develop inquisitiveness on how to translate e-waste into a treasure.
In his inaugural address, Dr P C Swain while referring to registered data hinted on the alarm e-waste poses globally. He opined if AI tools could be incorporated to manage solid e-waste as a way forward given the diversity and volume of the same.
Dr M K Jana (Principal In-charge) also walked the audience through the prospects and consequences of e-waste, policy loopholes and how it could be rectified through recycling strategies.
Delivering the technical address, Prof Madhusudhan Mishra, Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, NERIST spoke on ‘Urban Mining- The hidden wealth in E-waste’. He elaborated on how urban mines are basically E-waste which acts as a wealth of circular sustainable economy going to replace the redundant linear economy. He also delved on the idea of value chain of urban mining, framework rules, implementation and responsible resource loop etc.
Nani Yami, JE urban development, Tezu deliberated on the topic- ‘E-Waste Management Rules in India’ wherein she highlighted the chronology and evolution of the policy documents over the years from 2011 (1st E-Waste) rule to the latest amendment (2023-24). Illustrations on EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), CPCB portals, MRF (Material Recovery Facility), RDF (Refused-Derived Fuels), Segregation etc. were the focal points of her talk.
On the occasion, 18 papers in the form of posters were presented by the college students of various streams under the guidance of faculty members.