While getting the actual garbage collected from homes and suburbs has been uppermost in most Buffalo City Metro residents’ minds these past few weeks, there is one form of waste not normally dumped on the rubbish heap but is a nuisance to get rid of nonetheless – e-waste.
What happens to the batteries, broken phones and old computers that lie around home – where should they be dumped?
Simply throwing out discarded electrical or electronic devices – e-waste – can have a disastrous impact on the environment.
Within all electronic appliances including computers, televisions, printers, cellphones and even washing machines, are motherboards and chipsets which can be recycled.
Ben Carelse, who founded East London-based Inca Metal half a decade ago, said recycling of these products was not only a growing business but also the environmentally conscious thing to do.
He said that some of these appliances and their parts contain “toxic chemicals” like lead and even mercury which, when dumped in a landfill, could seep into the earth and rivers.
Carelse said that not only could e-waste be dropped off at his facility in Chiselhurst, but that he could also be called for collection.
Once the gadgets are at his depot they are stripped and all the parts separated and sent off to recyclers around the country. He said that what can be reused is, and what can’t be reused is melted down and recycled.
Carelse said that even batteries could be recycled.
“Recycling is a hell’uva lot cheaper than mining [for new minerals to manufacture new components] and much better for the environment,” he said.
Richard Patten, of Waste Management Systems, assists Johannesburg-based Bolunga e-waste in collecting electronic waste in the East London area.
Patten said that he accepted “anything with a battery or a plug” whether it needed to be dropped off at his depot or collected, although collections are charged for.
He collects the e-waste until he has about four to five tons and then sends it to Johannesburg for processing.
Patten said that the industry, which is very labour intensive, was growing as people had begun to only use electronics for a small period of time before getting an upgrade.
Patten can be contacted on 082-924-8320 for queries and collections.
Carelse can be contacted on 071-056-5019 for collections...