AUSTRALIA'S E-WASTE CRISIS

Tuesday, 06 October 2009 10:11

The Total Environment Centre and Environment Victoria have released a new report today detailing the spiralling electronic waste (e-waste) problem in Australia. The 2009 Update of the Tipping Point report estimates that there are 234 million items of e-waste in or on their way to landfill.

This is a marked increase in what was originally predicted in the 2008 edition of the report.
Director of the Total Environment Centre Jeff Angel said: “Australians’ hunger for electronic products underscores the urgency for Environment Ministers to get the ball rolling at their 5 November meeting with a national television and computer recycling scheme. Next to zero recycling rates can no longer be tolerated alongside sales figures and the waste of resources that is going through the roof.”

The Report shows that a recycling scheme for televisions and computers would create 2,570 jobs nationally by the year 2015. This could be increased to 6,190 new jobs if all electronic waste items were included.

Environment Victoria Campaigner Fraser Brindley said that e-waste recycling made economic sense. “The government’s own figures show that a recycling scheme for televisions and computers would have a net economic benefit,” Mr Brindley said. “We’ve shown that this will translate into thousands of green collar jobs across the country.”

Mr Brindley also said that a recycling scheme for televisions and computers was a good start, but that the federal government should include all other e-waste in the future. “Televisions and computers are only 38% of the e-waste going to landfill,” Mr Brindley said. “We also need to deal with the mountains of mobile phones, printers, games consoles, videos and stereo that are not being recycled.”

This 2009 Update follows the release of the consultation regulatory impact statement (RIS) for televisions and computers. This is a government process that will inform the 5 November 2009 meeting of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC), at which Ministers have promised to announce a recycling scheme for televisions and computers.

The Total Environment Centre and Environment Victoria have joined with recyclers and industry groups in supporting an import license model for televisions and computers. This model would require importers of televisions and computers to join an organisation responsible for the collection and recycling of end-of-life televisions and computers.