Dubai-based Indian teenager helps recycle 25 tonnes of e-waste

A Dubai-based 15-year-old Indian girl has launched a campaign, which helped in the recycling of 25 tonnes of electronic waste in the Gulf nation, according to a media report on Friday.

Riva Tulpule, a student of grade 10, got the idea to start the campaign while clearing out drawers filled with broken devices in 2016, the Gulf News reported.

While shifting to a new house a few years ago, Tulpule found lots of disused electronics while helping her mom clear out drawers. This sparked the beginning of her campaign WeCareDXB’ that she said has collected over 25 tonnes of e-waste for recycling in over four years, the report said.

“I had asked my mom why we can’t we just dispose the items we don’t need. She told me they need to be tacked in a special way but we were not sure exactly how to go about it. So that made me curious and I decided to do some research into it, which led me to this cause,” Tulpule was quoted as saying by the report.

She said many people just dump old devices and appliances in the general waste as they are not aware of the options for recycling them.

Raising awareness through social media and word of mouth, WeCareDXB has enlisted volunteers students, professionals, the general public to collect the items for recycling e-waste.