Online Maps Indicate The Location Of E-waste Collection Centers

The citizens of São Paulo will soon be able to find the location of an e-waste collection center in just a few clicks. The project, a partnership between the Secretaria do Meio Ambiente (São Paulo’s State Bureau for the Environment) and Instituto Sergio Motta (Sergio Motta Institute), a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of creative applications for technology and telecommunications, consists of a mashup website called E-lixo, (E-waste) linking a database of e-waste collection centers to the Google Maps platform.

By filling in your ZIP code and the type of e-waste to be disposed, the system gives you a number of geotagged collection centers nearby. E-lixo also presents clear information of how the dangerous substances found in electronics affect the human organism. For example, 10 grams of silver nitrate, a substance found in CDs and batteries, are enough to kill a human being.

This initiative addresses a problem that is crucial for a city like São Paulo, where roughly 19 million people live and produce e-waste everyday. In fact, according to a recent UN Environment Programme Report, Brazil is the leader in e-waste production per capita among emerging countries.

By using technology to better deal with the consequences of it’s own products, E-lixo helps reduce soil contamination, environment degradation and health problems.

E-lixo