Eight tonnes all in an eDay's work

Wanaka Wastebusters business collections manager Jeremy Bisson (foreground) with (from left)...
Wanaka Wastebusters business collections manager Jeremy Bisson (foreground) with (from left) Southern Lakes Christian School volunteers Richard Hart and Simon Purvis, and Wanaka Wastebusters recycling runner and processor Jason Francis, collected eight tonnes of e-waste from Wakatipu residents at the Wakatipu Recycling Centre on Saturday. Photo by James Beech.
An old Sharp computer, bought for $7000 by a Queenstown man in 1981 and complete with two floppy disc drives, was the most unusual item dropped off for free at the Wakatipu Recycling Centre during "eDay" on Saturday.

The Sharp PC-3201 was believed to be still in working order and was likely to be sent to the Wellington eDay New Zealand Trust for auction on Trade Me, Wanaka Wastebusters business collections manager Jeremy Bisson said on Saturday.

Funds would be channelled back into the national initiative, which aimed to divert 1000 tonnes of electronic waste, which contained toxic heavy metals, from New Zealand's landfills.

Mr Bisson said Wakatipu residents had a "very successful" eDay, with "people very keen to use the service".

Sixteen pallets of e-waste were taken from the Frankton centre after the six-hour collection.

A constant flow of residents, visitors and representatives from schools, hotels and internet cafes, many of whom had waited all year for eDay, disposed of a remarkable eight tonnes of obsolete technology.

The large number of box-shaped cathode ray tube computer monitors was noted, a sign consumers had upgraded to flatscreens, Mr Bisson said.

Eight pallets of monitors, five pallets of computers, three pallets of printers and 10 bags of peripherals, such as mice and mobile phones, were hauled away by the end of Queenstown's third annual eDay, about one tonne more than last year.

The Wakatipu collection will join eDay hauls from Wanaka, Cromwell, Alexandra and Dunedin.

All will eventually be delivered to Christchurch.

Mr Bisson said the Ministry for the Environment had tendered for the correct disposal of the collected e-waste.

There was no guarantee eDay in Queenstown would happen again, depending on government or industry funding, but e-waste can be taken to Wanaka Wastebusters, on the corner of Riverbank and Ballantyne Rds, for disposal, for a small fee.

 

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