Posted 12 Nov 2015
New Zealand’s e-waste volumes are growing but there is little in place to ensure that waste is disposed of safely.
Two Eco Choice licensees, Croxley Recycling (a business unit of stationery supplier Croxley) and technology company Ricoh, recently partnered to address the e-waste issue.
The agreement means Ricoh will see Croxley Recycling collect and recycle all Ricoh e-waste nationwide.
New Zealand’s most recent figures, from the e-waste coalition’s report for the Ministry of the Environment, show that in 2011 around 100,000 to 130,000 tonnes of e-waste was disposed of in public landfills.(1)
Landfill disposal of electronic products and devices poses major environmental and health risks, with e-waste leaching chemicals including lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride. (2) E-waste is hazardous waste and without specific product stewardship the hazardous waste will impact the environment and potentially human health.
This agreement sees Croxley Recycling collect all Ricoh’s e-waste from its nationwide dealer network. Croxley Recycling has been operating for eight years and developed New Zealand’s largest network of e-waste collection points with 14,000 locations. Croxley collects from businesses of all sizes, schools, universities, hospitals, government departments, banks, home users, retailers.
Sources and URLs
- The last figures available in NZ, source, Report: E-Waste, prepared by the e-Waste coalition for the Ministry of the Environment 2011
- Communicator magazine: Creating a afterlife for E-waste
