Discounts for handing over used mobile phones at Mobitel
Mobile phone service provider Mobitel is planning to offer discounts to customers buying brand new mobile phones by handing over used phones which the users wish to discard.
This initiative is in keeping with the Electronic Waste (e-waste) Management Week. Mobitel Senior General Manager Marketing, Nalin Perera told the Business Times on the sidelines of the launch of the e-Waste Management project at the BMICH last Monday.
Adding to that, he said, “With innovation, mobile phone devices going out of the market is becoming faster. When innovating, new things come into the market and the old ones’ product lifecycle gets shorter and shorter.” It is the responsibility of the mobile service providers to make sure to have a proper mechanism in place. During the course of the week any electronic waste will be collected but Mobitel will continue in the process of collecting only used mobile phones following the e-waste management week, he noted.
Central Environmental Authority (CEA) Director General Dr. Saranga Alahapperuma speaking to the Business Times mentioned that e-waste is an issue not only in Sri Lanka but worldwide. The CEA has always wanted to have a partnership with the public and private partners to implement the idea of e-waste collecting campaign.
Mobitel being the main partner for the campaign has declared 14 offices around the country to collect e-waste. Also Singer collected e-waste in more than 200 outlets and Abans in more than 23 outlets. Likewise there were more than 300 e-waste collecting centres island-wide last week, added Dr. Alahapperuma.
Speaking at the event, he said, “CEA is working towards minimizing the harmful risks on humans and the environment that occur due to negligent e-waste disposal. E-waste management has been a continuing challenge for countries such as the US and China and as a rapidly developing country Sri Lanka too must bring its focus to the management of e-waste products.”
A special part of the initiative was ‘National e-waste Management Week’ which began on May 26 and will be ending tomorrow (June 2nd). To mark the occasion a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the CEA and all its partner organizations including Mobitel.
The primary objective of this initiative is to minimize the adverse impact on the environment that is caused by the harmful disposal of electronic items which have become essential in the modern age. The increased usage of devices such as computers, mobile phones, printers, CDs and DVDs have transformed the lifestyles of people as old electronic items are discarded and replaced by more technologically superior devices to keep up with modern trends.
The harmful disposal of e-waste could drastically damage the environmental equilibrium due to contamination caused by poisonous chemical components in e-waste products such as Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Halogens, Lead, Mercury and Polyvinyl Chloride which would ultimately lead to detrimental effects to the lives of people as well as the environment, officials said.