Goa CM can't handle his e-waste

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Tuesday said he does not know how to handle the e-waste he generates.

He added that after plastic, e-waste could be the biggest waste disposal problem in Goa.

"I have seven computers. Whenever I buy a new one, I dump the old one at my house. I do not know what to do with the old one," said the chief minister, who is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mumbai.

Parrikar was speaking at a national workshop on "Electronic System Design and Manufacturing: Advantage Goa" at a city hotel.

He said the rapid rate at which computer hardware units were being constantly upgraded and sold, compounded with the fact that it takes over 40,000 pounds of material to manufacture a four-pound laptop, would increase the quantum of e-waste.

"Plastic is creating a disturbing scenario in Goa with plastic strewn all over the place. I get disturbed when I travel on the highways. There will be a time when plastic bags are replaced by computer parts on roads as garbage," Parrikar said. - IANS