How to popularize e-waste recycling among common people

No one can deny the fact that electronic gadgets make our day, be it work or fun. For millenials, checking updates on social networking sites is the topmost priority, regardless of what they are doing. In a more serious scenario, reliance on electronics encompasses business communication to cooking and all daily chores.

By tapping into this huge demand, manufacturers are making fortunes at every quarter of a financial year. However, a few of them are serious about the end-of-life consequences and responsibilities of the products. Add to that the lackadaisical attitude of end users or consumers and the picture worsens further.

In the recent past, we have witnessed some notable movements among the government authorities and law enforcement agencies. Almost all of their endeavors, although necessary and laudable, have failed to create any significant impact. While all existing laws aim at creating more stringent standards for the corporates and manufacturers, little has been done to bring on board the end users.

Under such circumstances, it is pertinent that we revisit the approaches and make some adjustments in the existing channels of communication between the public and other stakeholders. Such a fresh outlook demands active collaboration of all critical elements of a vibrant economy, a brief outline of which is given below:

Involvement of academic institutions: In any society, academics play a very vital role in molding the character of citizens. Schools, colleges and universities often imbibe the values in people that adds to their moral strength. Ensuring the proper transfer of obsolete electronic items being a moral issue on part of the common people, a progressive society must include necessary modules within its academic curriculum to grow awareness from a very early stage.

Cooperation among Manufacturers and Government Agencies: In every country, whenever anyone buys an automobile, the concerned government agency takes due care of elaborate formalities. The same model can be replicated in a much smaller scale by the manufacturers of electronic products. For example, a mobile phone manufacturer can keep a tab the sales details through its channel partners and annunciate its customers through text messages and emails, when the product approaches the end of its life cycle. The same information can be shared with government agencies to help them trigger initiatives of proper disposal of e-waste.   

Policy formation by employers: People tend to learn a lot from their workplaces and adapt to the culture fostered by their employers. Corporate initiatives have delivered tremendous success, when it comes to minimizing the use of paper and electricity consumption. One can reasonably hope that appropriate policies and its diligent implementation by companies across the globe will make their employees more responsible and sincere towards understanding the necessity of e-waste recycling.

We must remember that the most crucial of all stakeholders is the consumer and without their active participation, it is difficult to weld the broken link of the value chain. As of now, the onus is on the manufacturers to convince their customers about the benefits of recycling end-of-life products. But surely, that does not suffice. Even, offering tangible incentives has not worked in favor of the objective. It is necessary to develop a coherent approach that will kick-start movements across different strata of our society. The focus should be on the creation of awareness among the public about e-waste recycling and the rest will follow automatically.