How often do you buy a new mobile phone or upgrade your bluetooth speaker just because you find it cooler than the older version? Have you ever wondered what happens to your old electronic devices after they cease to be of any value to you? In most cases, the old phone ends up languishing in some remote corner of the cupboard or worse, finds a place in the dustbin! All this is contributing to the steady rise in e-waste and a need for effective recycle mechanism. According to a recent Assocham-cKinetics study, India is emerging as one of the world’s major e-waste generators, growing at 30 % compound annual growth rate. By 2020, India is expected to produce 52 lakh metric tonnes (MT) per annum from the current 18 lakh MT. It was to address this alarming situation of one of the most neglected sectors that startup Apna Bhoomi was founded in April 2016 by Leena Basanthi with the support of her husband Rajesh Kumar. The firm was registered at Srikakulam and the warehouse of the start-up is located at Etcherla Srikakulam Industrial Park. After a work experience in the IT industry spanning over a decade, Basanthi embarked into her entrepreneurial journey believing in a cause that she felt strongly about. "E-waste is one of the most unorganised sectors. I wanted to address this issue and bring in more efficiency and awareness while managing the end-to-end operations associated with waste management,” said Basanthi. The couple's experience in handling the back-end of IT hardware sector gave them a solid understanding of electronic wastes and hardware parts.
After getting licence from the Vizianagaram Pollution Control Board in November 2016 with an approval of 30 MT per month, the start-up reached out to corporate firms in Vizag, Pune and Hyderabad and also one government firm for e-waste collection. "So far, we have been able to drive e-waste collection in Vizag zonal region and get nearly 2.7 tonnes of e-waste," Basanthi told The Hindu . This apart, the start-up has also generated 4 tonnes e-waste from other cities. In its plan to provide end-to-end operations of e-waste, Apna Bhoomi is planning to come up with a recycling plant in Srikakulam. "We already identified the land for it and are now looking to raise ₹40 lakh funds over the next six months for setting up the e-waste recycling unit," she added. The recycled e-waste is segregated into plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and mixed metals and routed to vendors and industries as raw material.
Apna Bhoomi’s next focus is to make foray in to the household sector in Visakhapatnam region by kick-starting an e-waste collection drive in the city. “We will be starting a mobile e-waste collection van in the city from February targeting households which contributes to nearly 40 per cent of the total e-waste generated in India,” Basanthi said. Apna Bhoomi has three e-waste collection centres at Gaujawaka, Akkayapalem and Lawsons Bay Colony. Once the e-waste collection drive starts, the start-up plans to introduce customer reward points that can be redeemed in cash or vouchers.
ADVERTISEMENT