About eDay
eDay is a community initiative designed to raise awareness of the hazardous nature of electronic waste (e-waste), while offering an easy way for households to dispose of old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sustainable manner.
eDay was created in response to a growing concern about the volume of e-waste being dumped in landfills around the country with a potentially toxic effect on the environment.
The event was launched in Wellington in 2006 with an extremely successful pilot sponsored by Dell. Fifty-four tonnes of unused computer hardware were collected in one day. In 2007, eDay was extended to 12 locations throughout New Zealand where a total of 6,900 cars dropped off 415 tonnes of e-waste. This included more than 26,000 computer items including monitors, CPUs and printers.
Check out the Ministry for the Environment’s e-Waste Survey for eDay 2007
eDay 2008 is to be held in over 30 centres across the country on the 4th and 5th of October. Find out more.
The aims of eDay
- Increase community awareness of the hazardous nature of electronic equipment, making it clear that disposal in landfills is not a sustainable option.
- Provide a mechanism and convenient drop-off points for households and community organisations to dispose of computer equipment and mobile phones that are no longer being used.
- Recycle of obsolete computer and communications equipment in an environmentally sustainable manner
How can I get involved in eDay 2008?
Who are the eDay 2008 partners?
How can I dispose of e-waste after eDay?
What happens to e-waste after eDay?
All equipment will be sorted at the drop-off site on eDay before being transported to recycling plants within New Zealand or overseas. All equipment dropped off at an eDay site will be recycled by accredited recyclers using accepted international practices to ensure the safety of workers and maximise the recovery of materials. Recyclers have advised that over 95% of the materials in a computer can be recovered and re-used.
Please find below some frequently asked questions about eDay’s recycling process. If you have any additional questions please email them to info@eday.org.nz
Which companies will be involved in recycling the e-waste collected on eDay?
Computer monitors will be sent to Computer Recycling Limited in Auckland for testing where those in good condition will be made available for re-use; the remaining monitors and all other eDay e-waste will be shipped to DBI Tech Ltd in South Korea for recycling. Downstream processing is provided by Yongnamsuji (plastics), Samjingup (waste glass, CRT monitors, wire) and LG Niggojeryun (printed circuit boards). The equipment is disassembled so that the component materials, including precious metals such as gold, can be separated out and re-used in the manufacture of new products.
How do you know if these companies will safely recycle the e-waste?
All equipment will be exported under a Basel Permit already secured by SMT Limited, the New Zealand partner for DBI Tech Ltd in South Korea.
International legislation titled The Basel Convention, which New Zealand and South Korea are signatories to, ensures that the e-waste we export for processing is sent to a facility with appropriate environmentally sound management and processes. The Ministry of Economic Development, together with Customs, ensures that only e-waste with a Basel permit is exported.
The DBI Tech plant in South Korea has ISO 14001 accreditation. ISO accreditation is only given to companies whose processes meet high international environmental standards.
How is the computer equipment recycled?
Once it arrives at the recycling plant in South Korea , all non-working monitors are manually disassembled and the following materials recovered for re-use:
- copper wire and polymer coating
- circuit boards and valuable metals such as copper, lead and zinc.
- unleaded glass
- plastics
- steel and other metals
Circuit boards contain lead and precious metals and they are sent to LG Niggojeryun for environmentally acceptable processing. Glass from CRT tubes contains lead. The glass will be sent for processing by Samjingup. Plastics from CRT housings will be recycled by Yongnamsuji into new products.
All computers and computer peripherals, including printers, scanners, keyboards, mice and cables, are recycled using automated machinery to extract component metals for re-use.
How are mobile phones recycled?
For eDay 2008, we have partnered with Vodafone New Zealand to reuse or recycle the mobile phones dropped off. Vodafone has an established relationship with Enable Community to provide re-usable mobiles to entrepreneurs in developing countries. All other mobiles are sent to accredited mobile recycling facilities where component materials are extracted for re-use. . For example:
- mobile phone chargers can be recycled to recover copper
- handsets and accessories can be recycled to recover the plastics
- circuit boards inside handsets can be recycled to recover precious metals such as gold, silver and other materials like copper, lead and zinc
- rechargeable batteries are recycled for their nickel, iron, cadmium, lead and cobalt.
Click here for more information on Vodafone's recycling programme
How much will be diverted from landfill?
On average, over 95% of the materials collected on eDay will be diverted from landfills. Your old equipment will no longer be sitting around your house gathering dust, nor will it be lying in a landfill posing a threat to the environment. Instead it will be turned into other products that can be used before being recycled again. And so the cycle continues…
Why isn’t the e-waste being processed in NZ?
CANZ has investigated the processes of e-waste recycling plants here in NZ and offshore. The conclusion: New Zealand does not yet have recycling facilities that can compete with the automated and very efficient processes used by off-shore recyclers. This may change in the future, when New Zealand recyclers can be assured of an ongoing e-waste stream.
We welcome the establishment of e-waste processing facilities in New Zealand and will monitor this closely. However, New Zealand recyclers must not only demonstrate that they can meet international standards for recycling e-waste, but also that they can do this competitively.
Where possible, we will seek a re-use market for eDay equipment. In particular, all monitors will be tested and those in good condition exported for re-use (the market for CRT monitors in New Zealand is rapidly disappearing). We expect that at least 50% of the monitors will be suitable for re-use.
What is the benefit to the environment if the e-waste is shipped offshore anyway?
Our eDay objective is to prevent e-waste being dumped in landfills. The recycling facilities in South Korea use very efficient automated processes to recover metals and plastics for re-use. In many cases, the value of the recovered materials is enough to pay for the cost of international shipping. Most New Zealand recyclers rely on manual processes and are unable to recover the cost of labour from the sale of recycled materials. Furthermore, they inevitably face a challenge in extracting the lead from CRT glass and typically this needs to be sent offshore anyway for processing.
e-waste is the fastest growing type of waste in the world and is more toxic than normal household rubbish. Computers and other electronic devices can contain toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury. The plastic casing and wiring of computer equipment can also contain hazardous materials, such as brominated flame retardants. More about e-waste.