The Ministry of Environment is looking at introducing a new system to manage the disposal of environmentally dangerous electronic items like computers and mobile phones.
ldblquote We are right now doing a research to develop a policy where the agents or the producers of certain electronic items will be held responsible for the disposal of these items, dblquote said an Official.rn
rnComputers, TVs, mobile phones and photocopy machines are the products that will be netted into the new disposal policy. rn
rnAt the moment these items, that contain toxic material within them, are treated the same way as other solid waste endash thrown away, because despite State driven technology diffusion initiatives, there is no system for the disposal of growing volumes of electronic waste. rn
rnldblquote Computers for instance contains heavy metals that are highly toxic and easily absorbed by plants and animals and passed on to us through the food chain, dblquote said Dr Harsha Liyanage, Deputy Executive Direct