Tick for Sydney City Council call for e-waste recycling

Thursday, 15 March 2007 01:12

“Sydney City Council has rightly added its voice to the growing call for the NSW Government to act on e-waste. Councils are at the frontline of this fight against toxic waste being dumped in landfill as they confront it with each garbage collection and e-waste dumped on the streets ”, said Jeff Angel, TEC Director.

“You have to ask why councils and rate payers are having to absorb yet another expense that should be borne by industry. Inaction today by manufacturers and the State Government carries not only this financial burden but also a heavy burden for the future. The cocktail of toxic substances contained in computers has the potential to leach into the environment from landfill sites. The leaching of these substances impacts not only on ecosystems but potentially has very serious human health impacts - and we are wasting resources”, he said.

“We encourage other local councils to pass similar motions to Sydney City, Woollahra and Marrickville Councils and urge the NSW Government to take decisive action on the mounting problem of e-waste.”

Of the 2.4 million computers sold in Australia every year 1% is recycled. NSW has had the power in legislation to mandate producer responsibility for five years, but despite the mounting volumes of toxic waste and the computer industry’s failure to establish a voluntary scheme, the Government has failed to act.

“We congratulate Councillor Marcelle Hoff who proposed this motion for taking this initiative on the urgent e-waste problem”.