E-Waste campaign takes off

THE Sunway Education Group recently kicked off its annual e-Waste Disposal Campaign on campus in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

E-waste collection bins were placed in strategic locations throughout the campus for the disposal of unwanted electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, batteries, chargers, and other electronic components belonging to staff and students.

A joint effort by IT Services Department together with Safety and Health Department, and Facilities Department of the Sunway Education Group, the collected e-waste is to be properly disposed of by Meriahtek (M) Berhad, a certified vendor of the Department of Environment (DOE) which advocates and supports restoration of the environment in order to preserve a cleaner and greener environment. Meriahtek is to collect the e-waste for Sunway Education Group twice a year.

The campaign was launched by Sunway Education Group senior executive director Dr Elizabeth Lee, in the presence of Sunway Education Group IT Services Department director Tony Lee; Meriahtek executive director Datuk Jason. Yee and managing director William Ung, Sunway College Student Council president Joel Tan and vice-president Natasha Ting Zet Ping were also present.

In his opening speech, Tony Lee emphasised the importance of thinking green and making wise purchasing decisions.

Since the initiation of this campaign in 2012, Sunway Education Group have collected a total of 19,000kg of e-waste and about 150kg of light tubes.

Making proper purchasing choices by evaluating power consumption, stand-by power, materials of the equipment used, energy style compliance of equipment and ways equipment can be discarded, is important.

This has resulted in Sunway Education Group’s power consumption being reduced by three times.

Ting said the e-waste campaign enables electronic items to be separately recycled, thus avoiding hazardous chemical components such as lead and mercury contaminating ground water.

According to her: “With most students on campus carrying at least one laptop and more than one mobile phone, the e-waste campaign is a good opportunity to educate students on the issue of e-waste enabling them to consciously align their actions to be more environmentally friendly and contribute towards a more sustainable environment.”