What is the fate of that dusty old mobile phone that’s been sleeping in your table drawer for years? Or the outdated QWERTY keypad phone that you replaced with a shiny new touch phone from the mobile store down the road? These castaway electronic gadgets can now hope for a new lease of life — thanks to Aamir Jariwala and Akshat Ghiya, the founders of Karma Recycling, an e-recycling start-up company.
While the environment-conscious have been diligently collecting and segregating waste generated at home through the neighbourhood scrap-dealer, very few have given a thought to e-waste, which, according to Akshat, is a “fast growing problem” in present times; given the number of gadgets hitting the market and the consumers’ fetish for updating their devices such as mobile phones every now and then.
Aamir and Akshat “followed the trail of e-waste” to understand what happens to unused mobile phones and tablets. While a vast majority end up with the kabadiwala, Akshat says that 95 per cent of the device’s body can be repaired, while five per cent has to be recycled.
Their online trade-in portal lets users sell their used gadgets. Akshat explains that their pricing algorithm gives the customer a quote for his/her gadget. Once they login to http://karmarecycling.in/eportal/, enter the brand and model of their mobile phone, for instance, and answer a few questions that assess the condition of the phone, they will be given a quote. Once sold, “our representative will collect the device directly from the customer,” adds Akshat. “They will be paid within seven days through a bank transfer.” Their service is now available in 24 cities across the country.
This is the starting point of Karma’s e-recycling process. Once it is collected by the company, the device lands at their factory in Delhi and is repaired by their engineers before being put up for sale on their website karmashop.in. “There are so many people who cannot afford a new phone,” says Akshat, while a harmless scratch on the phone is enough for some to feel inclined to switch to a newer model. Akshat adds that the parts of the device, that cannot be repaired, are “scientifically recycled” unlike a kabadiwala who, due to “lack of awareness”, tends to burn the plastic and metal, which may end up in the air we breathe and our ground water.
Karma’s algorithm is also used by a few mobile phone shops in the city to assess the value of the used devices customers bring in to exchange for newer models. A Government of India authorised e-waste collector and segregator, Karma has recently launched their door-step pick-up service in Chennai. While Aamir and Akshat speak of addressing the grave threat that e-waste poses for the environment, they say that they are “not an NGO”. “We are also businessmen,” smiles Akshat. Dressed in an impeccable suit, he takes out his mobile phone just then. It looks like one of the latest models, but, “It’s a recycled device,” he explains. “We don’t use new ones.”
