Bajaj Foundation & UNICEF YuWaah Launch E-waste Awareness Campaign

Bajaj Foundation Initiates E-Waste Awareness Campaign in Indian Schools

National, February 20, 2025: Bajaj Foundation, in association with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), initiated a national e-waste awareness and e-waste disposal campaign. The initiative will cover over 100,000 students in 650 schools of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu in the first phase.

Managing India's Booming E-Waste Problem
India produces 2.6 million tonnes of e-waste every year, and estimates say the same will grow to 82 million tonnes by 2030. Even with waste management regulations in place, recycling and disposal of e-waste are gigantic undertakings. The campaign aims to include e-waste awareness in school curriculum to impart green lifestyle at a young age.

The program is guided by National Education Policy (2020) and takes lessons from eco-club efforts under Samagra Shiksha for education on environment to be holistic in nature. UNICEF YuWaah and its program implementing partners also supplement the campaign to increase scale and depth of reach.

Implementation and Key Objectives
The following will be accomplished under the program:

Workshops on Awareness of E-Waste: Organized in 50 schools in a city to make students familiar with safe recycling and disposal.
E-Waste Drop Off: Every school shall have an exclusive e-waste drop-off spot, with all the cities having central collection facilities to dispose through proper recyclers.
Student Engagement: Engaging students in the identification of e-waste from around them and taking appropriate measures towards proper disposal.
Backed by the government, the campaign is designed to create an ecologically replicable model, with effective waste management practices being adopted across the country.
The initiative takes advantage of the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) campaign and identifies a niche area for interventions specific to e-waste. There are only 7% environmental initiatives currently that address e-waste management as it increasingly harms human health as well as ecosystems. By educating children about e-waste, the initiative seeks change agents in long-term behavior modification and the establishment of a vigilant community of young citizens who embrace sustainability.

Future Expansion
The pilot phase is implemented in three states, which have been chosen due to their active involvement in environmental education and eco-club initiatives. Depending on the campaign's success, it can be expanded to other states in the future.

Source: Bajaj Foundation, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL).