Ezone and DDB Mudra leverage festive season for a green cause

A larger-than-life e-Ganesha made from old electronic appliances has been installed at Mumbai's Infiniti 2 Mall to create awareness about safe re-cycling of e-waste

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 22, 2015

Apart from being a time for nationwide celebrations, the festive season marks the onset of a shopping frenzy. Starting with Ganesh Chaturthi, consumer electronic brands go all out to woo customers by offering outrageous discounts.  However, with every new purchase, there are old electronic goods that become useless and are sold off to kabadiwalas, which end up as scrap. Most people do so without even considering the environment hazards posed by old electronic goods.

According to an August 2014 report by Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India), increased usage of gadgets and appliances is creating nearly 13 lakh tonnes of e-waste annually in India. Of that figure, 2 lakh tonnes of e-waste is being produced by just three cities – Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai.

A major chunk of this electronic waste is being handled by the unorganised sector operating out of worn-out factories, which leads to environmental pollution and health hazards. They do not have the adequate means to handle the increasing quantities and generally employ crude and primitive methods for dismantling and recycling, like acid stripping and open air incineration. These processes release numerous lethal components that cause medical conditions like cancer, asthma, bone diseases and brain diseases, thus posing a major threat to human life. Besides, the toxins poison the water, turn the air toxic and cause substantial harm to animal and aquatic life in the process.

To leverage the ongoing Ganesh Mahotsav, consumer electronics chain Ezone has joined hands with DDB Mudra West to create awareness about the proper disposal of electronic waste by making an e-Ganesha out of e-waste.

Mandheer Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Ezone, said, “In India, people and organisations are unaware about hi-tech recycling companies in our cities who do a very good job of managing e-waste. Which is why this Ganesh Chaturthi, we have taken it upon ourselves to educate the public about the perils of e-waste and the importance of recycling through such firms.”

The larger-than-life e-Ganesha is made from old electronic appliances that were exchanged for new goods by consumers. The purpose of this installation is to not only ask people to celebrate new beginnings, but to gift their old electronics a new beginning as well, keeping in line with the spirit of the festival. The installation is on display at Infiniti 2 Mall at Malad, Mumbai from September 20 to 27.

Ashish Phatak

Ashish Phatak, Executive Creative Director, DDB Mudra West, added here, “In a developing country like ours, progress shouldn't come at the cost of our environment. So our e-Ganesha is an excellent initiative to inculcate recycling electronics as a habit. And the festive season is the best possible time to raise awareness about the hazards of e-waste when people are buying new electronics and junking their old ones.”

Credits:

Creative agency: DDB Mudra West

Chairman and CCO, DDB Mudra Group: Sonal Dabral

President, DDB Mudra West: Rajiv Sabnis

National Strategic Planning Head: Amit Kekre

Creative Team: Rahul Mathew, Ashish Phatak, Siddhesh Khatavkar, Vilsen Gonsalves, Gunjan Gaba, Sruthin KC

Account Management: Sanjay Panday, Luv Chaturvedi, Shalini Rao, Abhay Bhonsle, Jason Misquitta

Account Planning: Mehak Jaini, Neha Damle

Production House: Loki Studios, Vishal San

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