CBSE schools to run e-waste awareness and collection drive under Mission LiFE

CBSE Academic Circular Acad-59/2026, dated 14 September 2026, tells affiliated schools to join a nationwide E-Waste Awareness Campaign and Collection Drive under Eco Clubs for Mission LiFE. The drive is organised by the Department of School Education and Literacy with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The circular sets a two-phase calendar. Phase 1, the preparatory phase, runs from 15 September to 30 September. Phase 2, the implementation and collection phase, runs from 1 October to 31 October. Schools are expected to move from setting up corners and training staff in September to collecting material and logging metrics in October.

Phase 1 corners, recyclers and orientation

In Phase 1, schools must establish a dedicated E-Waste Collection Corner with secure, dry containers marked for obsolete electronics such as cables, old phones, calculators, chargers and keyboards. District authorities are to connect school clusters with CPCB or SPCB authorised recyclers or Producer Responsibility Organisations. Schools should also run webinars or workshops for students and teachers on e-waste dangers, responsible disposal and circular-economy basics.

Phase 2 collection rules and the Eco Clubs portal

Phase 2 adds co-curricular work such as inter-house poster-making, e-waste art installations and essay writing. Students may audit homes for end-of-life electronics and deposit them at school collection points with parent consent. CPCB-certified recyclers are to collect accumulated e-waste from designated schools or cluster hubs.

Eco Club coordinators must log metrics such as number of student participants, workshops held and kilograms collected on https://ecoclubs.education.gov.in. For outreach, schools may post best practices on social media with #SpecialCampaign6.

Acad-59 is explicit on safety. Students must not dismantle or open electronic devices. They must not handle hazardous items such as damaged lithium-ion batteries, leaking cells or broken cathode-ray tubes. Collection is for authorised recyclers and PROs, with the documentation those agencies require.

Acad-59 asks schools to facilitate safe collection through authorised recyclers or PROs with the documentation those agencies require. That means the school corner is a holding point, not a dismantling workshop. Coordinators should keep the containers dry and labelled and should refuse damaged batteries or broken CRTs from student deposits.

District-level nodal mapping to CPCB or SPCB authorised recyclers is part of Phase 1. Schools that do not yet know their authorised collector should raise that with the district education or pollution-control contact named for Eco Clubs rather than hiring an informal scrap dealer. Phase 2 logistics depend on that authorised link.

Portal logging on ecoclubs.education.gov.in is the official metric channel. Coordinators should record participant counts, workshop numbers and kilograms collected during October so that Mission LiFE reporting is not left to memory after 31 October. Social posts under #SpecialCampaign6 are optional outreach, not a substitute for the portal entries.

For a school Eco Club, the immediate tasks are the September corner, the recycler link-up and the orientation sessions, followed by October deposit drives and portal logging. The circular does not authorise student DIY dismantling. Schools that keep the corner dry, labelled and supervised, and that push metrics to the Eco Clubs portal, will be working inside the Phase 1 and Phase 2 plan printed in Acad-59/2026.