Green Links: Enabling planet conscious e-waste solutions

By Kalani Kumarasinghe

Modern life is all about ease and efficiency, to a degree that routine tasks are almost impossible to do without the assistance of an electronic device. With a planet inhabited by over seven billion humans, this is a considerable burden on earth’s limited resources. It also means that billions of people discard electronic material on a regular basis. What happens to these material is rarely a point of concern.

In Sri Lanka, the concept of e-waste management is one such rare point of concern. Often limited to corporates who are encouraged to minimize its carbon footprint, the efforts to properly discard electronic waste material are rarely taken up at the individual level. According to Mr. Nalin Gunaratne, Founder of Green Links, a company dedicated to total e-waste solutions in Sri Lanka, this is the root of what eventually becomes a larger problem.

“Sri Lankans often lack the discipline to dispose electronic waste properly. It can be chalked down to a problem with awareness, in comparison to a lot of other countries in the West, the interest here is minimal,” Mr. Gunaratne opined.

Beginning its operations in 2005 as a total e-waste recycling solutions provider, Green Links has been leading the way to responsible waste disposal, encouraging a number of corporates and businesses to embrace planet-friendly and sustainable ways to dispose of its waste.

“We were the pioneers of electronic waste management in Sri Lanka and we have been in this business for over 19 years,” Mr. Gunaratne recalled. Currently catering to more than 300 companies in Sri Lanka, their clientele includes a number of leading banks and telecommunication companies which dispose large volumes of electronic material every year.

“We initiated this in Sri Lanka because at the time there was no other company or individual engaged in this type of work. I actually took a chance,” the founder said. “At first I had to go and convince people, make individuals and companies aware about e-waste management and the repercussions of not managing electronic waste properly. I even had to educate people on harmful electronic components and other material in machinery,” he recalled.

“Earlier people used to burn electronic items and derive valuables such as copper, aluminum and mercury. Unaware of the repercussions they were harming the ozone layer and our environment. Added to that were the health risks they subjected themselves to, such as cancer.”

This however, is not a problem unique to Sri Lanka, although there is much to be desired in terms of awareness and action. E-waste accumulates in landfills across the world, making it an increasing public health hazard by means of irreversible destruction to the environment. Consumer electronics such as office electronics, personal devices such as laptops, lighting devices such as LED bulbs, or even home appliances such as air conditioners or refrigerators, they all contain toxic materials which contaminate the environment. When leaked into bodies of water, or absorbed by soil and air, not only do these affect plant life, but also animals and humans too.

Almost two decades later however Mr. Gunaratne is happy to note that the situation has somewhat improved. The company endorsed by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and with the approval of the Basel convention — the international treaty to reduce movement of hazardous waste between countries, Green Links is permitted to export e-waste to several countries for recycling, becoming the first and only e-waste management company in Sri Lanka to do so at the time.

“Green Links is the only company with the license to export electric and hybrid car batteries as well as nickel waste batteries for recycling. In 2014 we reached an agreement with a Belgian company to export these items and we have been doing it since,” he said.

“At the beginning when only a few companies had this awareness, I must note that the CEA extended their fullest support to manage and increase our awareness campaigns. We started several projects with the CEA and advertised that we had collection centres for e-waste. Every month we used to have such collection centres in public locations. Our very first collection centre was at Shalika Grounds and we collected more than 7 tons on that day with the support of Metropolitan and the CEA,” he said.

The e-waste management expert was also delighted to note that the subject ministers of consecutive governments had extended their endorsement and support with this initiative. “From Ministers Patali Champika Ranawaka to Mahinda Amaraweera, all the ministers were very supportive of this initiative to collect more and more e-waste around the country,” he said.

Green Links which had humble roots of a small warehouse of 6000 square feet in Wattala, now boasts of a well built modern facility of over 50,000 square feet. As the company grows, its mission is to encourage responsible management of electronic waste among Sri Lankans.

“People are more and more aware of their actions and how it affects our environment, the country and the planet. Once a foreign woman who was travelling in Sri Lanka contacted me through our website as she found that there weren’t many options to discard e-waste in Sri Lanka. She wanted to discard her phone battery, but wished to do so properly, and not haphazardly,” Mr. Gunaratne said. “This is the level of responsibility I wish to see in Sri Lankans.”

Any person who wishes to discard of electronic waste material can contact Green Links through its website. The company guarantees that the material would be collected regardless of your location within 72 hours. “Due to the pandemic however there have been delays in collection. But we are still in operation and we do carry out our operations across the country, be it Jaffna or Galle. Anyone can handover their e-waste to us just by getting in touch with us.