I dropped off my e-waste

Thursday, 11 March 2010

I have been one of very few people I know to have had a laptop function as long as it has. I must admit though, there were a few times when I thought that I would wake up one morning it wouldn’t switch on.

I don’t remember ever having to use a PC or laptop as much as I did in my final year at varsity. I suppose the nature of my studies and the manner in which practically everything was conducted required regular use of these electronic machines.

So my beloved machine finally gave in after what some would consider abuse. It no longer qualifies as a functioning laptop. I can’t say I am disappointed though; it survived well beyond its life expectancy.

So for the past few months or so I have been keeping it in its case until I came across some information about e-waste. Up to this point I was familiar with green systems put in place to take care of something like a laptop.

The annual sum of e-waste produced from end-of-life electrical and electronic products (WEEE) is estimated to be in the million tonnes. Not surprising that this estimation has been predicted to double in the coming decades, what with all the developments happening in technology.

Electrical garbage

eWASA – also known as e-Waste Association of South Africa, is an organisation that has taken it upon themselves to help with the recycling of electric and electronic materials.

According to eWASA, e-waste is a term generally used “to describe old, end-of-life or discarded appliances using electricity”, such as my little machine that gave in.

This would include computers, consumer electronics, etc. which have been discarded by their original users.

What eWASA does is probably one of the most important things that can contribute to the well-being of the environment. Year after year technology always whips up some new and exciting gadget for the world to adore and ultimately purchase.

That usually results in the unnecessary and rather outdated equipment that is either no longer required or desired.

e-waste Away

At the moment they provide collection points of e-waste in several locations throughout the country, with the exception of two provinces, namely Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.

They also provide a list of products that can be brought back to them to be recycled, which I think is very useful because people can get confused as to which products go where with all the recycling that is happening.

They have collections points in:

• Gauteng
• KwaZulu Natal
• Western Cape
• Eastern Cape
• Free State
• North West
• Limpopo

What really impresses me the most is the fact that they give companies an opportunity to register with them and become members. This way you can make sure that any used and old equipment from your business or company will be treated and disposed in an environmentally friendly manner.

It’s definitely a huge service to the environment what these guys are doing. So make use of those locations next time your machine dies and drop it off at a collection point. They will take care of it for you.