E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams, because computers and televisions become obsolete so fast. Sending them to landfill is a really bad idea. Computers contain heavy metals which can cause toxic leachate in landfills, affecting human health, land and water. Old televisions contain up to 3kg of lead each. Plus they fill up the landfill really fast.
By recycling e-waste, you can recover some really valuable materials. The medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics contained a small amount of recycled metal from e-waste, including gold. Not to be found in TV’s though – unfortunately there’s nothing much of value in there.
e-Cycle Depot
Wanaka Wastebusters is now an official e-Cycle depot, one of the first of 20 plus e-Cycle depots to be set up around the country. We take computers, printers, monitors, faxes, televisions and other computer equipment for recycling. The e-Cycle depot is in a container in the front yard – come and have a chat to one of the guardians in the yard if you have e-waste to recycle.
Recycling your computer
Unlike eDay, which received substantial Government funding and commercial sponsorship, e-Cycling is not free. The drop off charges are set to cover the costs of safe and responsible recycling. In the long run, we would like to see the companies who are making the money pay for the costs of recycling. In the meantime, we’re happy to report that 90% of people are happy to pay for their e-waste to be recycled safely and responsibly, once they understand the basis for the charges. The most expensive items to recycle are old computer monitors ($16) and TVs ($23), because they are bulky to transport and break down, plus TVs contain very little material of value to offset against the recycling costs.
Where does it go?
We are working with RCN, a NZ-owned family firm in Auckland which will organise all the reprocessing and refurbishing of the e-waste collected round the country. RCN is committed to doing as much as possible of the recovery and processing of e-waste in New Zealand.
Some items will be refurbished or recycled in Auckland (cabling, metals, unleaded glass). Some materials have to be recycled off-shore (circuit boards, leaded glass, cartridges, batteries and plastic), because there is no option to do it in New Zealand.
Members of the RCN team have visited the off-shore factories, and report that their working conditions are of a high standard, and that they are ISO 14001 accredited and meet international regulations to minimise environmental harm. The factories are located in Australia, Singapore, Japan and China.
Product Stewardship
Wanaka Wastebusters is completely committed to product stewardship for e-waste. We want to see the computer industry take responsibility for the waste they create, and for the cost of safe and responsible recycling to be recognised as a cost of production. Until that happens, we will continue to do everything we can to keep electronic waste out of the landfill.
