“e-Source”, an open-source platform for monitoring and retrieving electronic waste (e-waste) is under beta status testing by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. The initiative is being promoted by the Indo-German Center for Sustainability (ICGS) at IIT Madras.
Main Objective :
Facilitating systematic steps to detect and recycle electronic waste from the formal and informal sector, and to bring hazardous e-waste back into the circular economy will help achieve the $ 50 billion economies.
- e-Source also serves as an online marketplace for waste electrical and electronics (WEEE) Equipment connecting sellers and sellers across various sectors.
- The open-source platform uses machine learning techniques in combination with image learning and natural language processing to update the data in the e-waste database.
- IGCS was established in 2010 under the IIT Madras campus to provide a research platform on various aspects promoting sustainable development in Germany, India, and South Asia.
- India is the world’s third-largest e-waste producer, generating 38 percent from 2019 to 2020.