Bangalore: WeP Peripherals, a leading IT (information technology) peripherals products and solutions company, along with Saahas, an organisation committed to finding solutions to problems related to solid waste management, has organised a contest to motivate people to set up mini-collection centres in their localities.

According to a press release issued here on Friday, people bringing in CDs, dry-cell batteries and floppies to the collection centres at Safina Plaza and The Forum Mall are eligible to participate in the contest. The e-waste will be weighed, and people turning up with the maximum collection are entitled to an all-inclusive holiday package. There are over 400 other prizes and gifts to be won.

WeP and Saahas initiated the collection system for e-waste products on April 22.

Around 80 kg (5,000 dry-cell batteries, 600 floppies and 900 CDs) of e-waste was collected from different collection centres around Bangalore. The quantity is less than one per cent of the actual amount of e-waste discarded in the city every month. According to a 2004 estimate, over four lakh dry-cell batteries are thrown out every month, the release said.

Deepak Chari, General Manager (Finance and Business Development), WeP Peripherals, said, "Although systemising safe disposal methods for e-waste is essential, we should look at measures that restrict the content of hazardous material at the manufacturing stage itself."

Europe and the U.S. have made it a priority to collect and recycle e-waste in a safe manner and recycle more than 50 per cent of it. However, India is still waking up to recycling e-waste.

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