Policies

Why recycle electronic waste

E-waste or electronic waste is the term given to a broad range of electronics that have reached their end-of-life, or the point where they need to be discarded or replaced.

The materials contained within electronic waste, many of them produced from non-renewable resources, make e-waste both an environmental hazard and a potentially valuable resource, depending on how it is handled. When dumped in landfill, illegally exported or otherwise handled incorrectly, many of these materials become unstable and readily contaminate soil and groundwater.

However, when handled correctly, at least 90% to 95% of these materials can be recycled, which greatly reduces the environmental impact of landfill dumping, sourcing new materials, pollution and contamination.

Some of the benefits of recycling electronic waste in Australia include:

Removing toxic materials from landfill and groundwater
Preserving landfill space
Better control of final disposal – ie transparency on where it all ends up
Minimizing illegal export of hazardous e-waste materials to developing countries
Conserving non renewable resources
Creating new jobs in the electronic waste recycling and green technology sector
Supporting and encouraging electronic waste recycling in Australia

Although so-called e-waste recycling has existed in Australia for many years, large volumes of electronic waste continue to be dumped in landfill sites or exported overseas. Australian recycling levels compare extremely poorly with European and other countries. Currently, Australia recycles under 10% of all end-of-life computers and less than 1% of TVs.

The reason for this is perhaps partly due to the perception of landfill dumping as a ‘cheap and nasty’ solution for waste, but it also reflects the fact that, until recently, Australia has lacked national waste legislation with sufficient incentives to redirect e-waste from landfill and into recycling.

Innovative solutions

From the development of new technology to simple refinements in business processes, innovation can happen at any scale, and the benefits are measurable.

MB Recycling processes create a positive flow-on effect upstream. Because the breaking down of e-waste into components is central to the recycling process, MB Recycling is able to receive lightly crushed or damaged e-waste. For our customers this means greater recycling capacity at a reduced cost, because we are able to increase the volume of each shipment of e-waste, reducing the overall number of shipments required.

Business solutions

MB Recycling offers a complete range of e-waste recycling solutions to suit any business. MB Recycling range of e-waste solutions for business encompasses end-of-life solutions, secure destruction and re-use solutions. MB Recycling also works closely with established waste companies seeking to offer e-waste services to clients or not-for-profit organisations handling electronic waste.

End-of-life & secure destruction

MB Recycling offers a true end-of-life solution for your business electronic waste. End-of-life means nothing is re-used; everything is destroyed as part of the recycling process. Our processes ensure the electronic waste is useless in terms of information retrieval or re-use. Should you require a greater level of security, such as individual hard drive destruction, talk to us about tailored secure electronic waste solutions.

Electronic waste disposal

E-Waste Policies

In an effort to combat the problem of e-waste, Government and Non-Government organisations the world over have negotiated and implemented policies and treaties that regulate the trade and disposal of hazardous waste such as consumer electronics.

Some of the leading policies and treaties that affect Australia include:

National Waste Policy

The Australian Government’s National Waste Policy sets the direction for Australian waste disposal over the next ten years by ensuring less waste production and better waste management through increasing resource recovery.

For more information see:

http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/index.html

Proposed National Product Stewardship Legislation

The Australian Government is developing national Product Stewardship legislation to provide for the sharing of responsibility for disposal of electronic products to be properly managed during and at the end of life. A National TV and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme is a key element of the Government's National Waste Policy and is due to be implemented in September 2011.

Responsibility will be shared by all stakeholders involved in the supply/user chain including manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

Discarded (ie end-of-life) Computers and TVs will be the first products affected by the legislation. Government's objective is to dramatically increase recycling rates for end-of-lifeTVs and Computers from the current low <10% to over 70% by 2030/31. For more information see:

www.environment.gov.au/ewaste

The Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an international treaty of which Australia is a signatory, designed to reduce and manage the movement of hazardous waste between nations and, specifically, to prevent the transfer of hazardous waste such as discarded electronics from developed to less developed countries.

The convention is also intended to minimise the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation and to assist developing nations in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate.

For more information see:

http://www.basel.int/convention/about.html

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