Waimakariri District Council solid waste asset manager Kitty Waghorn says the amount of E-waste has been growing steadily at the Rangiora and Oxford transfer stations.
‘‘From 2020 to 2023 we have moved on average over 11 tonnes of E-waste each year from the Southbrook resource recovery park and Oxford transfer station.
‘‘It was all packaged up on pallets and sent to Kilmarnock Enterprises in Wigram, Christchurch, to be dismantled and sent away for recycling.’’
Staff at Southbrook say it has been an eye opener just how many large sized flat screen TVs have turned up this year.
Bex Rossiter says many have come in from people who were upgrading to smart TVs.
‘‘Some are resold back to gamers seeking a much bigger screen to play their Xbox or PlayStation games on but many are sent into Christchurch for recycling.’’
Statistics show three years ago people started off-loading their DVD players and CRT television monitors as new online streaming media became popular and DVD movie stores like Blockbuster closed.
At the same time home-based PCs fell out of favour due to portability of lap tops and tablets, showing up now in the low numbers due to earlier recycling.
But the growing trend still appears to be Flat Screen TVs with nearly 600 disposed of during the past three years alongside almost 450 inkjet printers as the price of inks continue to rise.
In the Hurunui region E-Waste can also be taken to transfer stations.
A Hurunui District Council spokesperson says the volumes of e-waste in Hurunui are not high compared to other areas.
At the Amberley Transfer Station in the last 12 months they received 79 items of E-Waste (computers, printers etc) and 68 televisions. The E-Waste is brought back to the main transfer station in Amberley where it is dismantled and the components sorted.
The parts are then sold to a merchant in Christchurch City and the income received is put back into helping to fund transfer station infrastructure.
Both councils staff remind people a charge will be made for most items of electronic waste, including old CRT monitors and TV sets.
Noel Lemmings advertise an E-Waste scheme in many of its stores nationwide but not in Waimakariri.
