e-Waste Survey for eDay 2007

Executive Summary

eDay 2007

eDay 2007

In September 2006, a pilot eDay, supported by Dell Computers, was held in Wellington to raise public awareness about e-waste. Electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, covers a wide range of equipment, including computers and computer peripherals, television sets, home entertainment equipment and other electronic appliances. For practical reasons, the 2007 eDay was restricted to computer and computer-related equipment, such as printers, scanners, fax machines and computer peripherals such as mice and keyboards. The 2007 eDay also collected unwanted mobile phones.

eDays are community-based events, supported by corporate partners, local and central government as well as a large number of volunteers. They provide an opportunity for households to drop-off obsolete computer equipment at no charge, knowing that the equipment will be safely recycled. The purpose of eDay is to raise awareness about the hazardous substances in computer equipment and provide an alternative to landfill disposal.

A total of 53 tonnes of e-waste was collected at the 2006 eDay and sent to Melbourne for processing. This high level of participation confirmed the need for an e-waste disposal scheme. Fourteen communities from Invercargill to North Shore City expressed an interest in holding local eDays on the weekend of 29–30 September in 2007. After some months of planning, two centres withdrew (Dunedin and Christchurch) mainly because of the lack of a suitable collection venue. Ten centres held an eDay on Saturday 29 September and the two Auckland centres (Manukau and North Shore) on Sunday 30 September.

The events were advertised as “cars-only” events. A special promotion to schools in the collection areas provided an option for the disposal of bulk equipment during the week preceding eDay.

Surveys

Three surveys were administered as part of eDay 2007:

1. Driver Survey: to identify the level of public awareness about the potential environmental impacts of inappropriate disposal of e-waste, especially computers and mobile phones.
2. Equipment Survey: to identify the mix of equipment by brand being dropped off.
3. Equipment Totals: survey data from each drop-off site was reported in each hour to a central data entry site and used to provide aggregated summary data to the website and to the media.

Equipment collected

Information gathered on eDay indicated that just under 300 tonnes of e-waste was collected from the 12 participating centres. However, shipping data indicates the actual volume of e-waste was 415 tonnes. The discrepancy was caused by the high traffic volumes at some collection sites where volunteers were unable to maintain an accurate equipment count. Summary national statistics based on the eDay surveys are as follows.

Number of cars	6974
Total number of:
Monitors	8938
Miscellaneous equipment	5364
Cellphones	1279
Computers	6498
Printers	4229
Total e-waste tonnage	294

The total weight of equipment shipped for recycling was as follows:

CRT monitors: 189 tonnes

Computers and computer peripherals: 226 tonnes

The total tonnage of equipment collected, as recorded on eDay, is as follows. This is compared with the projected tonnage, which was used for planning purposes. The projected figure was based on a simple ratio of the number of households compared to the volumes collected in Wellington in 2006 (53 tonnes).

	Projected tonnage	Total tonnage per area
North Shore	57	38
Manukau	86	27
Tauranga	32	26
Whakatane	10	16
Hamilton	36	42
Rotorua	19	7
Wanganui	11	23
Wellington	53	79
Wanaka	3.5	5
Queenstown	3.5	3
Alexandra	6	6
Invercargill	16	21
Total	333	2942

The quantity of equipment collected in each centre is summarised below.

View quantity of equipment collected in each centre (large table).

The following average equipment weights were used to calculate the total tonnage for each collection point:

Monitors 16.5 kg

Desktop computer 12.46 kg

Peripheral 6.84 kg

Cellphone 0.1 kg

The total tonnage for each site is summarised below and then presented as a pie chart.

View total tonnage for each site (large table).

Tonnage of ewaste by area

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Tonnage weight representation

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Equipment mix – national

Special efforts were made to record the brands of equipment dropped off at each site. It was not possible to record all equipment, especially at the larger sites, because of the high volumes. However, sufficient numbers were recorded to provide an indication of the mix.

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The data in the above chart is based on is the “total” equipment column in the table below, and as such includes all equipment, including monitors, computers, printers and other peripherals.

View equipment mix - national (large table).

Equipment mix – Wellington

For the Wellington equipment survey the “other” category was split into “other branded” equipment and “other unbranded”. The results are summarised below.

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The above graph is based on the following equipment counts.

View equipment mix - Wellington (large table).

Driver survey

Drivers dropping equipment off on eDay were asked to complete a short questionnaire. The results are summarised below.

Were you aware computer equipment contains hazardous materials that if disposed of incorrectly can be harmful to our groundwater and drinking water?

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Who used the computer equipment you brought in today?

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Do you have other ewaste such as TVs that you could like to have brought with you?

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Who do you think should pay for the safe recycling and disposal of computer equipment?

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What would be the easiest way to recycle your computer waste?

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How did you hear about eDay?

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Equipment disposal

Ninety-seven percent of the e-waste collected on eDay will be diverted from landfills.

The desktop computers are manually disassembled – plastics, scrap metal and electronic components (circuit boards) separated – and shipped to waste processors. Computer monitors are disassembled with metals and plastic being extracted for re-use.

Monitors collected from the two Auckland sites were sent to RCN & Associates, a North Shore computer recycler. RCN has a partnership with Abilities Group Limited and Rose Engineering to disassemble the monitors and recycle the materials – plastic, copper, aluminium, printed circuit boards, leaded and unleaded glass.

All other monitors were sent to TIC Group, a computer recycler in Melbourne, Australia.

All the other equipment collected (computers, printers, cellphones) was sent to a recycling plant in Singapore, operated by TES-AMM.

Future eDays

As a result of the high media profile achieved for eDay 2007, the Computer Access New Zealand Trust has received enquiries from another 10 communities that would like to participate in a future eDay. Planning is already underway for eDay 2008, to be held on 27 September 2008.

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