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Waste Waste Streams
Equipment with the potential to be reused and markets for reused equipment
This page provides information on the type of equipment with the potential to be reused and markets for reused equipment.
There is a strong and important reuse sector in New Zealand and overseas. It comes under a number of names - repair, refurbishment, remanufacture, remarketing - but the common theme is that all these activities:
- collect equipment
- assess its condition
- repair where necessary
- resell or provide for free whole units or components.
The main types of equipment with potential to be reused and the markets for the reused equipment are shown in table 4.
| Type of EEE | Organisations | Markets |
|---|---|---|
| IT equipment | Remarketing companies Smaller remanufacturers reliant on local business and household equipment IT service providers Not-for-profit organisations providing training and workplace agreements |
New business users Schools Charities Individuals People on low income New markets overseas |
| Whiteware | Mainly not-for-profit organisations providing training and workplace training opportunities Note: activity in New Zealand seems to be limited, which differs from experiences in other countries, such as the UK | Often linked to furniture reuse projects and distributed to people on low incomes |
| Mobile phones | Remarketing companies | Remanufactured mobile phones are often sent for sale in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Eastern Europe, where the cost of handsets is prohibitively high |
| Other | Recycling companies, local councils and contractors operating recycling centres and goodwill shops | Resale or donation to community organisations or the public |
The type of activity and level of reuse affects whether an operation is classed as a second-hand dealer and needs to comply with second-hand dealer legislation.
The legislation in this area is complex. Different operators may undertake different types of preparation for reuse and may not do all activities. This is illustrated in table 5. Depending on the stated level of reuse, operators must comply with all or some of the standards identified in table 7.
| Description | End user | New Zealand example |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1: Repair (make safe only) Electrical safety testing and labelling in compliance with all legislation Clear labelling of products as compliant (or not) with electrical safety Sold as seen by consumer – buyer beware No removal of data (disposer responsibility) Faults corrected Functional unit |
Any | The Supershed is a shop in Christchurch where reusable household items, sporting goods, and construction materials collected at the eco-depots (facilities for recovering resources from the waste stream) are sold to the public. Whole items in good workable condition are electrically checked, repaired if necessary, labelled and sold. No representation is made about the functionality of any item. Whole items that fail the electrical check and/or do not work correctly have the leads cut off and can still be sold legally with a sticker that indicates the item is not ‘electrically safe’. These items are also sold for spare parts. |
Level 2: Refurbished |
Charities, schools, community groups |
Refurbishers approved by Computer Access New Zealand work to approved standards for redistribution to schools and provide a minimum six month warranty. |
The key difference between level 1 and level 2 is whether the equipment is refurbished or whether it is sold as seen to the new user. Both of these types of operation fall within New Zealand law and divert significant quantities of waste from landfill. Note that not all of the standards in table 7 apply to all who reuse.
Last updated:15 March 2011
