ILOILO City – The Iloilo Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) kicked off its campaign for proper e-waste disposal with its newly-launched electronic waste (e-waste) dropbox project.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. led the ceremonial dropping of e-waste on Nov. 7 and encouraged the Ilonggos to deposit their e-waste as well at the dropbox situated in the capitol lobby.
Electronic wastes refer to broken, obsolete, unusable, or surplus electronic devices like old cellular phones, cable wires, cameras, web cams, tablets, power banks, microphones, headphones, digital watches, external and flash drives, memory cards, keyboards, mouse, batteries, and computer parts.
Senior environmental management specialist Mitzi Peñaflorida said these wastes will be properly disposed of at an accredited treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility.
PENRO, however, will not accept overly huge e-waste such as washing machines and big TVs or computer monitors, among others.
PGENRO said improper disposal of e-waste could lead to several health risks, such as changes in lung function, DNA damage, impaired thyroid function, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
All electronic wastes are made up of deadly chemicals such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants.
“Improper disposal of gadgets and devices increases the chances of these dangerous chemicals contaminating the soil, polluting the air, and leaching into water bodies,” the PENRO said in a Capitol press release.
The e-waste disposal project forms part of the First Provincial Environment Awareness Month Celebration and Climate Change Consciousness Week this November. (With reports from Iloilo Provincial Capitol PIO and PIA)/PN
