Xtreme Waste and its partners are proud to announce their next waste-minimization project in Raglan.
Each year 80,000 tonnes of electronic-waste or ‘E-Waste’ gets disposed in New Zealand landfills; this includes 30,000 tonnes of lead, plus other heavy-metals such as cadmium and mercury, and other toxics such as PCB’s and brominated-flame-retardants. These toxics are highly mobile and poison life.
Additionally this land-filling looses precious materials from our manufacturing systems; amidst the 1000 materials used in electronics is Indium (for cell-phones and flat-screen displays) which New Scientist magazine estimates that there is 4-13 years mineable supply remaining in the earths crust.
We are familiar with the images of electronics being smashed and burnt to recover copper-wiring in Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam and Indonesia – this burning douses workers (often children) in a shroud of carcinogens and dioxins. New Zealand has ratified (along with 172 other countries, excluding the U.S.A.) the Basel Convention, a treaty to stop the export of Hazardous Wastes from developed to less-developed countries.
Last year the Community Recycling Network (CRN) which represents 35 recycling organizations from Kaitaia to Bluff applied to the Waste Minimization Fund to setup New Zealand based E-Waste processing. An Auckland company, RCN Group also applied and the result is a joint venture to setup 20 sites across New Zealand, with dismantling of TV/CRT’s (Cathode Ray Tubes) at plants in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Until now the options have included paying to get TV/CRT’s to Australia, or the government sponsored annual ‘E-Day’. These expensive options are being phased out in favour of an every-day user-pays system that will progress towards full Product Stewardship – where the cost of recovery will be incorporated into the cost of new TV’s, computers and cell-phones.
Waikato District Council has chosen to partner the introduction of this programme by partly covering this recovery charge – for Raglan only. We are proud to be working with WDC to provide the first true E-Waste solution available in New Zealand to the people of Raglan. Xtreme Waste, WDC, RCN, CRN and MfE thank the people of Raglan for their passion for re-cycling.
The charges:
·Small TV/Computer CRT Monitor: $7
·Large TV and Flat-screens $10
For further information contact Xtreme Waste, pickup a flyer at our shop, or visit the following websites:
