Recycle your e-waste for free

1 October 2008

As part of National Recycling Week, The City of Sydney will be holding an electronic waste drop off day on Sunday 16 November at the Bay St Depot in Ultimo.

City of Sydney residents can bring along their e-waste which includes just about anything with a power cord such as televisions, computers, toasters, stereos, printers, mobile phones and VCR/video players.

The City will collect the e-waste and take it to the Sims E-waste facility at Minto, where the raw material will be recovered and reused in manufacturing. Between 95 and 98 per cent of the waste will be recovered and reused, which will save between three and five tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions for every tonne recycled.

E-waste can contain materials such as lead and mercury which when thrown into the garbage and sent to landfill can leach through the ground and into the water table and cause irreparable environmental and human harm.

Usable electronic products which are still in working order but no longer wanted should be given to charity organisations or re-use centres such as Reverse Garbage in Marrickville.

The collection day is part of the City of Sydney's commitment to the environment and Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent compared with 1990 levels. The City also has an ongoing campaign www.zerowaste.org.auwhich encourages people to move away from a throw-away society to one that consumes and wastes less, and thinks about using waste as a valuable resource

People with smaller items are encouraged to walk, cycle or catch public transport to the depot to reduce congestion and carbon emissions.

There are an estimated 24 million computers in the Australian marketplace, with that figure increasing each year as more electronics are bought and discarded at an alarming rate. In Australia, 97% of this disused e-waste currently goes to landfill, which results in total irreversible environmental contamination.