By Jaideep Jairam,
Today switching to sustainable alternatives is a choice but in near future it is going to become a mandate. We know that the resources on this earth are limited, and consumerism is on the rise, which means that one has to be careful as to how one uses these resources. It is time for one to make conscious choices and move towards sustainability. It is the only way one can continue enjoying the resources that is already available. Today we take a look at four companies in Bangalore focused on sustainability
– E- Parisaraa Private Limited [E-Waste]
About the Company – E-Parisaraa Pvt. Ltd, is India’s first Government sanctioned electronic waste recycler. They started their operations in September of 2005.
What difference do they make – They are involved in handling, recycling and reusing of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in an eco-friendly manner. Such equipment mostly ends up in landfills.
Why is the work done by the Company important – E-waste is on the rise, from 2016 to 2017, the amount of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market in the EU increased by 6.5% from 8.4 million tonnes to 8.9 million tonnes.1 The most recent evaluations of e-waste show that the world now discards approximately 50 million tonnes of e-waste per year out of which only about 20% is ever formally recycled.2 Though it may seem that e-waste cannot bring about any economic value, that presumption couldn’t be more wrong. E-waste presents a resource opportunity that is worth over US$62.5 billion per year.3
What can the readers do - When it comes to e-waste a new thought process of not throwing e-waste into the garbage disposal needs to be conveyed. E - Waste if disposed without proper procedure can become hazardous waste. Instead of which, recycle it. The plastic can be recycled to make items like insulators, plastic trays, metals, to manufacture new products, the glass can be recycled to manufacture new screens, circuit boards can be recycled to recover valuable metals like gold, tin, silver, copper, etc. From a hard disk aluminium ingots can be recovered. The first stage of e-waste recycling is collecting the waste and transporting it, next comes shredding and sorting, this is done to identify whether the waste can be recycled, restored, etc. Then there is magnetic separation, where metals are separated, after that there is water separation this is done to separate glass from plastic. And finally there is preparing recycled materials for sale.
Mother Earth Environ Tech Private Limited [Hazardous waste]
About the Company – Mother Earth Environ Tech Private Limited is a private company which began their operations in Bangalore in June of 2011.
What difference do they make – Hazardous waste is a colossal issue, at Mother Earth Environ Tech they are concerned with sustainable environment infrastructure for hazardous waste management, which is the need of the hour.
Why is the work done by the Company important – We are producing hazardous waste at an alarming rate. We 13 tons of hazardous waste produced each second, and about 400 million tons each year.4 Hazardous waste is so intertwined with our daily lives that we do not realize that up to 700 man-made chemicals have been found in humans that are not supposed to be there.
What the readers do – An individual will have to be aware and more conscious of the kinds of products they are buying. Change can only start from there. As one uses quite a lot of products that turn into hazardous waste like batteries, bulbs, mercury in the thermometer, distilled water used in invertors and generators, pesticides, etc. This waste can be treated by chemical, thermal, biological and physical methods. This is done to reduce the amount of hazardous substances and reduce their toxicity or to eliminate their exposure.
Saahas Waste Management [Waste Management]
About the Company – Saahas Waste Management is a private company which began its operations in 2002.
What difference do they make – They provide end-to-end waste management services based on the principles of circular economy. They handle waste sustainably & responsibly for MNCs, tech parks, residential communities and other bulk generating organizations and institutions.
Why is the work done by the Company important – According to the World Bank Global waste generation could increase 70% by 2050,5 which means that the count will reach 3.4 billion tonnes per year unless the waste generated per person is managed sustainably. This still remains quite difficult as high-income regions generate about 34 percent of municipal solid waste in the world, despite accounting for about 15 percent of the global population.6 These high-income regions mainly influence the global trends, so that it could move towards a more sustainable approach for the rest of the world to follow.
What can the readers do – The first thing an individual can do is change the waste disposal in their respective houses, to ensure segregation of waste. To begin with starting by getting colour coded bins to differentiate the types of waste would be the way forward. For instance, in the city of Bangalore in India, the waste disposal is segregated into – wet waste, dry waste and medical waste. Wet waste is to be disposed in a green colour bin, dry waste goes in the white bin and medical waste goes in the pink/red bin.
REConnect Energy [Renewable Energy]
About the Company – REConnect Energy is a private company which began its operations in Bengaluru September of 2010.
What difference do they make – Their goal is to empower clients to achieve efficiency, transparency and scale in energy management practices Energy start-up focussed on renewable energy trading and technology services. They launched India’s first marketplace (clickpower.in) to transact renewable energy-based contracts.
Why is the work done by the Company important – Since the dawn of industrial revolution fossil fuels have dominated the energy market, but not only are they a limited source, they also cause immense amounts of pollution, which leads to at least 5 million premature deaths each year.7 The world is moving towards a greener and better approach with green energy options. Renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, increasing 100 percent from 2000 to 2018.8 In 2019, around 11% of global primary energy came from renewable technologies.9
What the readers do – It is known that one will have to switch to renewable energy in the near future, so why not start today. It is possible to use wind energy on a smaller scale, this is known as residential wind power, and this is one option that an individual can think of using. There is also geothermal energy which is derived from the heat below the surface of the earth, so that it can be used to maintain the temperature of an individuals’ home. The next is solar energy, installation of photovoltaic roof tiles that is an effective way to utilize solar energy. A widespread adoption is already seen in several parts of the country.
1https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Waste_statistics_-_electrical_and_electronic_equipment
2 https://globalewaste.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Global-E-waste-Monitor-2017.pdf
3https://unu.edu/news/news/world-ewaste-statistics.html#:~:text=Latest%20estimates%20(see%20The%20Global,about%2020%25%20is%20formally%20recycled.
4 https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/waste/hazardous-waste-statistics/story
5 https://www.wastedive.com/news/world-bank-global-waste-generation-2050/533031/
6 https://www.statista.com/topics/4983/waste-generation-worldwide/
7 https://ourworldindata.org/renewable-energy
8https://www.c2es.org/content/renewable-energy/#:~:text=Renewables%20made%20up%20more%20than,wind%20power%20(6.6%20percent).&text=Renewable%20ethanol%20and%20biodiesel%20transportation,from%207%20percent%20in%202006.
9https://ourworldindata.org/renewable-energy#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20around%2011%25%20of,of%20electricity%2C%20transport%20and%20heating.