E Waste In Adelaide
What is it? ‘E-waste’ or Electronic waste is the waste associated with the use and disposal of electronic equipment such as computers, televisions and printers. E-waste can contain a broad range of materials including toxic heavy metals, metal circuitry, mixed plastics, fire retardants and glass. Due to these hazardous type products E Waste Should not be disposed of in a landfill, recycling the goods helps save our environment. The problem with disposal of these items is growing significantly in Australia as there is a fast uptake and turnover of electronic products. Although Australia does not currently have a national e-waste recycling scheme, there are collection programs for some of these wastes. They include:

Computers and their Peripherals: There are a number of companies that either recycle, refurbish or reuse computers in your state. For locations in your area see the website recommended below. Also, The AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) has set up an Environment Special Interest Group to develop a national approach to computer recycling.

Televisions: The Consumer Electronics Suppliers’ Association (CESA) has formed a not-for-profit company called Product Stewardship Australia Ltd, in order to promote and manage environmentally-sound disposal and recycling of TVs. Visit the website recommended below to keep up to date with the developments on this project.

Printers/Photocopiers: If they are still in good working order or are fairly new, reuse or refurbishment may be an option. For locations in your area see the website below or contact the manufacturer.

Printer Cartridges: The voluntary extended producer responsibility program called ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ is supported and funded by seven of Australia’s leading print manufacturers. All types and brands of printer cartridges are accepted for recycling.

Mobile Phones: The official mobile phone industry recycling program is called MobileMuster. It is run by AMTA (Australia Mobile Telecommunication Association) and is funded solely by its members. For more information on this program and other mobile phone recycling programs, visit …

http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/computers/AdelaideSA

Looking to clean the place up a little? Don’t want to throw all your waste into landfill?
Save the environment, by recycling as much as you can first.

If you reside in the City of Perth your council has organised some great recycling options for you.
Check out this website for all the information you need:

http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/council/PerthWA

It outlines how to dispose of a particular type of rubbish (from asbestos to check out bags!)provides info on curbside collections as well as drop off facilities.

You may not equate the two of these right off the bat, but when thinking about the ingredients, you’ll find they shouldn’t be treated as normal rubbish.  Take nail polish for example.  When you are done with it (empty or not), do you simply throw it in the rubbish bin? For most people, the answer is probably ‘yes’.  Unfortunately, this is the wrong answer.  Have a look at this interesting article for more information which also includes a link to other potential items that cannot be disposed of  or recycled normally: 

http://www.bellasugar.com.au/How-Dispose-Nail-Polish-8022400

It is estimated that around 18 million waste tyres are generated in Australia each year. The disposal or re-use of waste tyres varies greatly between States and Territories but overall nationally, it is estimated that about 57% of waste tyres go to landfill and 13% are disposed of inappropriately through illegal dumping.

Apart from the costs to the community and Governments through littering our landscapes and waterways and taking up scarce landfill space, waste tyres are a source of health and environmental concerns: fires in stockpiles can release toxic gases and pollute waterways and tyre stockpiles provide breeding habitats for mosquitoes. Tyres going to landfill or being dumped are also a lost opportunity; waste tyres are a potentially valuable resource with various re-use, recycling and waste to energy options.

If you have tyres to dispose of the best thing to do is to find an outlet in your area that will recycle them.

• Reclaim (Aus wide) call them to discuss on 1800 685 454 www.reclaim.com.au
• Tyre Crumb Australia (VIC) Phone: 03 9357 3433 sales@tyrecrumbaustralia.com
• C and N Ruggiero (VIC) Phone 03 9314 8833 www.cnruggiero.com.au

E-waste is a major environmental problem - tons of resources, along with hazardous metals, are sent to landfill every year.  Here are nine reasons why eWaste recycling matters:

1. Each year 750,000 computers are sold in Victoria (3 million Australia-wide).
2. 560,000 computers in Victoria are redundant each year.  Three out of four used computers in Australia are dumped in landfill or stockpiled.
3. 182,875 are dumped in landfill each year in Victoria (731,500 in Australia).
4. In 10 years 1.77 million computers will be redundant each year.
5. The ACT is the only place that bans computer waste to landfill.
6. In five years, 30 countries will have take-back laws for electronics (Australia has no law).
7. Making one desktop computer and monitor uses the same amount of chemicals (22kg), water (1500kg) and fossil fuels (240kg) as a mid-size car.
8. The biggest computer users are small and medium businesses (28%); followed by large corporates (23%); government (18%); households (17%) and education (14%).
9. In just over a decade, the number of personal computers worldwide increased fivefold—from 105 million in 1988 to more than half a billion in 2002.

What to do with your used computer?  Computers contain a variety of toxic materials that make disposal hazardous to the environment. Until manufacturers take financial and logistical responsibility for the end-of-life of their products, consumers should be aware of current disposal options.

A typical computer monitor contains lead, barium and hexavalent chromium. Other toxic ingredients include cadmium in chip resistors and semiconductors, beryllium on motherboards and connectors, and brominated flame retardants in plastic casings. 70% of lead, cadmium and mercury in landfill comes from electronic waste.

RECYCLE OR REFURBISH IT!

1. Support Byteback: the first computer take back service of its kind in Australia. Byteback is a free service for residents and small business owners in Victoria who want to dispose of their old computers in an environmentally responsible way. The centre is located in the City of Boroondara.
2. Make use of purchasing power. Buy or lease a new computer only if needed and choose the most environmentally sound option - for example, look for labels indicating the machine is energy efficient.
3. Don’t throw away old electronics. Contact manufacturers that take back old computers – such as Dell – Ring them for a quote on pick up. Urge manufacturers to dispose products responsibly.
4. Ultimately you can make a difference by writing to your Federal or State Environment Minister or local member urging them to take action to bring Australia into line with the new international standard of producer responsibility.

For more ideas and further information visit Environment Victoria at http://www.envict.org.au/index.php

Tasmanians generate approximately one tone of waste per person annually, so if we are not doing our bit to help the environment you can only imagine the amount of waste we will collate over the next ten years.

One way to reduce the quantity of rubbish we dump into our landfills is to recycle. By transforming waste materials into useable resources, recycling reduces landfill and conserves resources, provides a way to manage solid waste while reducing pollution, conserves energy, creates jobs and builds more competitive manufacturing industries.

Check out your pile of junk….some of the things that can be recycled include the following items:

• Clean dry clothing and material
• Car batteries without cracks
• Newspapers, brochures and magazines
• Milk, cream and juice cartons
• Cleaned glass bottles and jars
• Aluminum and steel cans
• PET, HDPE and PVC plastic
• Non waxed or plastic coated cardboard

Use the addresses below to find your local council and see where the nearest recycling facility is located.

Break O’Day - www.bodc.tas.gov.au
Brighton - www.brighton.tas.gov.au
Burnie - www.burnie.net
Central Coast - www.centcoast.tas.gov.au
Central Highlands - www.centralhighlands.tas.gov.au
Circular Head - www.circularhead.tas.gov.au
Clarence City - www.ccc.tas.gov.au
Derwent Valley - www.derwentvalley.tas.gov.au
Devonport City - www.dcc.tas.gov.au
Dorset - www.dorset.tas.gov.au
Flinders - www.flinders.tas.gov.au
George Town - www.georgetown.tas.gov.au
Glamorgan Spring Bay - www.gsbc.tas.gov.au
Glenorchy City - www.gcc.tas.gov.au
Hobart City - www.hobartcity.com.au
Huon Valley - www.huonvalley.tas.gov.au
Kentish - www.kentish.tas.gov.au
Kingborough - www.kingborough.tas.gov.au
King Island - www.kingisland.tas.gov.au
Latrobe - www.latrobe.tas.gov.au
Launceston - www.launceston.tas.gov.au
Meander Valley - www.meander.tas.gov.au
Northern Midlands - www.northernmidlands.tas.gov.au
Sorell - www.sorell.tas.gov.au
Southern Midlands - www.southernmidlands.tas.gov.au
Tasman - www.tasman.tas.gov.au
Waratah Wynyard - www.warwyn.tas.gov.au
West Coast - www.westcoast.tas.gov.au
West Tamar - www.wtc.tas.gov.au
Tasmania Central Portal - www.tasmaniacentral.tas.gov.au

Some waste can’t be disposed of in Skip Bins…so where do you put it? Recycling is the option!

Electronic Waste: Sims E-Recycling Braeside (03) 8586 7777

Computers: Com.IT Computer Recycling (Refurbished and donated to charity) (03) 9416 2604 www.com-it.net.au

Or Australian Computer Recyclers 1300 727 787 www.pcrecyclers.net

Ink Cartridges: GreenWorld Mulgrave (03) 9545 0700 www.greenworld.com

Mobile Phones: Clean Up Australia (Recycled or resold in developing countries) 1800 282 329 www.cleanup.com.au

Please contact us if you are looking for further info and hopefully we can help point you in the right direction!