Getting Rid Of The E-waste
In a bid to address the e-waste crisis in the country, International Finance Corporation and Karo Sambhav, a tech-enabled producer responsibility organisation (PRO) launched a consumer awareness campaign titled ‘E-waste Hum Le Jayenge’. The campaign will educate consumers of electronic and electrical devices about the right practice of disposing their e-waste as well as inform them about the environmental and health hazards of irresponsible e-waste recycling.
The campaign will be promoted through digital, social media and radio platforms to create widescale awareness around responsible and effective e-waste management across the country. The campaign will engage with individual consumers, bulk consumers (universities, corporates, etc.) and policymakers so that all stakeholders in the ecosystem can collectively address the e-waste crisis. The campaign will be initially promoted in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Chennai and will be adapted in four languages (Hindi, English, Kannada and Tamil) during the outreach.
Sharing his views on the critical need of addressing India’s e-waste crisis, Pranshu Singhal, Founder, Karo Sambhav, said, “Discussions on e-waste management have largely been confined to experts and industry stakeholders and it is yet to become a mainstream topic. We need to engage creatively with people and drive long-term behavioural shifts. This campaign aims to build an e-waste movement in India.”
The campaign has been designed by J Walter Thompson and aims to create top-of-the-mind recall by building relevance for the Indian consumers, while providing a clear call-to-action to dispose e-waste responsibly through e-waste collection channels set up by Karo Sambhav.
Joy Chauhan, Managing Partner, J. Walter Thompson, Delhi, said, “E-waste management is a complex ecosystem with multiple stakeholders involved in generation of e-waste and its unsafe disposal. Our campaign’s objective was to cut through all segments in a way that is simple to understand and easy to follow. To resonate with all the different stakeholders and public at large, and to reframe the technology / environment conversation in order to make it more exciting, more relevant and more engaging – we took to pervasive cinema culture of India. We believe it would help create a positive dialogue for the programme and bring the issue to fore.”
As part of the larger mission to curb e-waste, Karo Sambhav has collaborated with 17 producers, 1,214 schools, 520 bulk consumers, 1,007 repair shops, 1,528 waste aggregators, 2,274 waste pickers and has set up 266 collection points across the country.
