Electronics being recycled.
Over 90 per cent of East Coast’s consumer electronics now recyclable
That old TV gathering dust in the basement has the potential to save money and the environment by circulating back into the consumer economy as materials through today’s electronics recycling programs.
Last year, over 4,136 tonnes of e-waste was recycled in Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador through the Electronic Products Recycling Association (EPRA). Since its launch in 2007, over one million tonnes have been recycled across Canada.
The smallest Canadian province, P.E.I., averages 500 tonnes each year, a “considerable amount” according to Gerard Maclellan, executive director of the EPRA in Atlantic Canada.
The list of accepted electronics is growing, too. Nova Scotia and PEI passed legislation, effective January 2020 and August 2019 respectively, expanding the accepted electronics lists to include consumer items such as microwaves, GPS units, video game consoles, electronic readers, hard drives and modems.
“We don't want to plug up our landfill space with materials that can't be recycled,” said Maclellan. “We just want to try and get as much of that material back into the commodity market and reuse it as new products. There’s no real downside to recycling electronics.”
WHAT HAPPENS
The EPRA is an industryled non-profit that operates e-waste recycling programs across nine of the 10 Canadian provinces. When consumers pay an environmental handling fee for new electronics, that money goes toward the programs.
After someone drops off their electronics at no cost, EPRA transporters take them to contracted processors. Some items are manually disassembled while others are shredded, and certain processing systems can extract and separate materials.
These elements are sold back to the commodity market and manufactured into new products.
“We have people being employed through collection sites, transporters and recyclers,” said Maclellan. “It’s a great program and I think it offers a great service to the residents of Atlantic Canada.”
ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Landfill space is costly, and most of Atlantic Canada uses second-generation landfill technology, said Maclellan.
“The more you can keep out of it, then you're going to be saving taxpayers’ dollars,” he said. “And if you can recycle all those elements and metals, then you're not having the requirement to go out and actually start up new mines in various locations around the country.”
Some products can be difficult, like your grandparent’s wooden television, but about 90 per cent of e-waste gets recycled. This results in valuable elements such as gold, silver, aluminum, copper, palladium, glass and some plastics that can’t be recycled elsewhere being recirculated.
Many of the 146 drop-off centres across N.S., PEI and N.L., which range anywhere from retail stores to depots, have reopened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Locations cover most areas and can be found on the EPRA website.
Maclellan said that the EPRA is always looking for ways to provide more access for residents. Currently, they are working to place a drop-off in Dingwall, N.S., populated by approximately 600 residents. For especially remote areas, the EPRA will partner with local hosts for special collection days.
ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO REPRODUCE
Some people might consider donating their electronics to those in need before going to a recycling drop-off.
Johanna Adams, 23, of Bonavista, N.L. is planning to donate her old iphone 7, which is slow but still usable. She remembered seeing a Facebook post about a year ago from the St. John’s Status of Women Council asking for phone donations to give to sex workers. Even without a plan, smartphones are safety tools that can be used for emergency calls and on wi-fi.
Adams, who identifies as a feminist, is always looking for ways to support those at risk in her community.
“I know that sex workers, especially during this pandemic, have had a big hit to their industries,” said Adams. “I can help them out a little bit. Not going to cost me anything, but just supporting them feels really good.”
Another way to donate phones is through the Canadian Institute for the Blind’s Phone it Forward program. Other local community groups might also source computers for those who require online learning during the pandemic.
Waste Reduction Week, an awareness campaign led by the Recycling Council of Ontario along with a Canada-wide coalition, continues until Sunday.