I recently came across a news item about Nokia's initiative on e-waste saying the company would take back even non-working mobile phones. If there is something we are least bothered about, it is e-waste. We don't care about where our printer cartridges go after we discard them. It's the same with mobile phones, monitors and each and every electronic item we use.
I have a (non-working) monitor, two flatbed scanners (in working condition - one without a driver and another without a cable), a multimedia speaker set (non-working again) and a bill printer (I am still wondering how and why I bought it). I have no idea what to do with them or how to dump them. I have tried all I could but they refuse to get out of my house.
I first rang up a guy who had advertised saying he would take `working and non-working' computer parts. "Yes, sir, what do you have?" he asked. I listed out the items. "What else do you have?" he asked. "That's it,' I said. "No, sir, we can't take them," he politely said. I could understand why he wouldn't take the monitor, but the scanners? They were in working condition. "No sir, we can't do anything with them." I told him there would be someone who would be ready to take the scanners. "No, sir, nobody wants scanners. If you have anything else, please let me know. I will definitely take them," he said.
After several unsuccessful attempts, I asked my computer dealer friend Roshan. "Why don't you give me the scanner model number? I will find the driver," he said. I told him I had already tried to get the driver, but couldn't. "No sir. Just tell me the model number. It's easier to find a driver than to dispose it," he said.
I called my friendly neighbourhood raddiwallah. "No. I don't know what to do with it," he said, and offered some helpful advice. "Why don't you call a computer dealer?"
So, I am back to square one. I have decided to wait till I get a proper recycler - despite my wife's protestations about putting up with "all that junk."
This appeared in the eWorld supplement of The Hindu Business Line dated Monday, June 15, 2009
