Sydneysiders could soon have a permanent place to get rid of their e-waste in the CBD.
Councillor Irene Doutney has proposed City of Sydney install an e-waste collection machine in Town Hall House.
Councillor Doutney based the suggestion on a machine that she saw in Kyoto. She said it could become a ‘viable solution’ in Sydney.
“I’ve got e-waste but I don’t have a car and I never know when those quarterly e-waste collections are so when I saw it in Japan I thought: ‘what a good idea’”.
Electronic waste (e-waste) refers to old electronic equipment from televisions and computers to mobile phones and household batteries.
Griffith University lecturer in Environmental Engineering, Dr Sunil Herat, specialises in waste management. He says e-waste collection and disposal is crucial.
“We can’t allow these products to go into landfill because the toxic metals in them can seep into the environment,” he said.
Aside from environmental concerns, Councillor Doutney also noted how rare metals could be retrieved from e-waste collection.
Dr Herat agreed.
“The metals in [e-waste] are quite valuable so we don’t want to lose them,” he said. “Resource recovery is very important.”
According to the council, Australians produce over 140,000 tonnes of e-waste each year.
“Since the first collection day in November 2008, the City has received more than 3,400 electronic waste items – equating to more than 115 tonnes – 95 per cent of which have been recycled,” said a Council spokesperson.
Electronics retail assistant, Greg Nicolas, 26, said his Broadway customers would benefit from this type of machine.
“There needs to be somewhere, especially for batteries,” he said. “People always come in and ask where to dispose of them and we don’t
know what to say.”
Council will now be looking into the feasibility of installing the machine.
City of Sydney will be doing another round of e-waste collection on September 11. Residents can drop off items to the Bay Street Depot, Ultimo.
By Tara Blancato
