by: Marjorie M. Delos Reyes and Alexil Cheska T. Fajardo
The Laguna Water District Aquatech Resources Corporations (LARC) launched on January 30 its first e-waste collection drive starting at the LARC Main Office in Los Baños, Laguna.
The set up at the LARC office during the launch
Sharmaine Poebe Sumiran, community relations and external affairs associate at LARC, said that the collection drive is in observance of January as Zero Waste Month.
The collection drive is a part of the Dalayday Project that aims to promote environmental conservation and proper management of water resources. “Dalayday: Lingapin yamang tubig” is one of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs of LARC that started last March 18, 2017.
E- waste consists of discarded electrical appliances that are considered obsolete. These include household appliances, electronic items, and technological devices that can be reused, refurbished, or recycled.
Electrical and electronic products contain hazardous substances that could be harmful to the environment.
“Yun na yung isa sa malalaking sumasakop ng landfills natin…napupunta doon sa lupa na eventually napupunta sa water resources natin. Tayo din ‘yung magsa-suffer in the end kasi mahirap tanggalin ‘yung waste na ‘yun sa water. Hindi s’ya basta basta kasi toxic s’ya,” Sumiran explained.
Collected electronic waste is kept properly in a storage box located at LARC Main Office
Waste collected from the drive will be processed by Envirocycle Incorporated, an e-waste recycling company that serves as LARC’s partner in the initiative. Some of these will be recycled, some will be repaired for reuse.
“Definitely, hindi mapupunta sa landfills,” Sumiran added.
LARC intends to eventually bring the e-waste collection project to the municipalities of Bay and Calauan. At the moment, no definite date is set for launching the collection drive in these areas.
Last January 2019, LARC distributed reeusable bags for Zero Waste Month and held various online contests to promote environmental conservation. In 2018, they held a tree-planting activity called “Nurturing Program” which entailed planting 2,000 treees at the Makiling Forest Reserve.
The E-Waste Collection Drive will run until the end of the year.
You may drop your electrical waste at 77 Grove Modemar Bldg. Lopez Ave, Batong Malake, Los Baños, Laguna or contact them at (049) 536-0331 / 536-0127.