Ditched computers and smartphones are fast raking in money for the cash-strapped coffers of the Kerala government.
Clean Kerala Company, a State-run agency under the Department of Local-Self Government, has contributed about Rs.25 lakh to the exchequer through sale of recyclable e-waste and plastic scrap collected from 43 local bodies across the State and 15 government and private institutions since October last year.
The company’s strategy to ‘earn money from waste’ seems to have hit the bull’s eye as the local bodies are now competing each other to sell plastic waste, with a few even selling it for a higher price to private players.
“Forty-three local bodies sold 163 tonnes of plastic waste at Rs.2 a kg to us while 15 institutions contributed 118 tonnes of e-waste that included computers, laptops, television sets, and refrigerators at Rs.5 a kg,” said Kabeer B. Haroon, Managing Director of the company.
“We sell plastic scrap and e-waste to private companies short-listed through a tendering process at Rs.5 and Rs.22 a kg respectively. Care was taken to include a key provision in the agreement that they should take the hazardous content of the e-waste and not leave it here,” he added.
Impressed by the revenue possibilities emerging through the sale of e-waste, four municipalities and three corporations have now agreed to join hands with the company to sell their electronic scrap at Rs.5 a kg. These include Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram corporations and Attingal, Koothuparamba, Kottakkal, and Nedumangad municipalities.
Mr. Haroon said plastic waste was being transported to the collection unit of the company at Erode and Tiruchirappalli. The e-waste was being taken to the Hyderabad facility of the company involved in the process.
The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation came first among the local bodies selling plastic waste (41,090 kg) since October followed by Kozhikode (26,840 kg) and Kannur (14,503 kg). Kerala University led the list of institutions that sold e-waste (38,370 kg) followed by Cochin University of Science and Technology (43,235 kg) and Thiruvananthapuram Corporation (12,840 kg).
