The federal government’s program to recycle e-waste - old computers, televisions and other electronic equipment - won’t be completed until 2016, three years after the opening of one of Australia’s largest e-waste dumps.
The switch-over from analog to digital and 3D transmission in 2013 is already causing a huge increase in discarded televisions in both landfill and second-hand charity stores, according to the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations.
This is occurring even though old televisions can be equipped with an inexpensive set-top box to receive digital broadcasts.
E-waste is not only expensive for charities to dispose of in landfill, it also contains pollutants such as cadmium, mercury and arsenic.
The program - known as the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship scheme - will begin in September and gradually cover Australia over the following five years, according to the Federal Department of the Environment. The program is to provide a free service whereby householders can drop off their e-waste at centralised collection points.
Some councils provide an e-waste service but only an occasional kerbside pick-up.
The program will announce in March which parts of Australia will and won’t have the stewardship scheme prior to the 2013 transmission switch-over. The scheme aims to recycle 80 per cent of e-waste by 2021.
Libby Hynes, of Darebin City Council, said that in the past five years ”our dumped rubbish callouts have doubled and TVs have been a big part of that increase”.
Ms Hynes said Victoria’s eight Byteback centres accepted computers for recycling, but not TVs.
”What we don’t have covered [for recycling] is TVs and they’re coming out on nature strips in our municipality and others.”
A National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations survey in June 2010 showed 52 per cent of charities were receiving increases of up to 50 TVs and computers per week in the past half year, and another 30 per cent were getting up to 100 extra units per week. Furthermore, 70 per cent of charities were forced to dispose of donated televisions to landfill.
Kerryn Caulfield, executive director of the association, said charities faced ”a veritable tsunami of e-waste”.
She said the federal government’s $900 stimulus payment (per taxpayer) had caused a surge in e-waste in 2009.
”As families upgraded their TV … they dumped the old ones on to the charities … [which then] had massive landfill fees.”
A department spokesman said the scheme would take five years to roll out because there are ”practical and logistical limits on how quickly the computer and television industry can put in place a national scheme.
”The phased rollout allows the television, computer and recycling industries the time to develop appropriate collection infrastructure and recycling industries capacity to meet public demand.”
Opposition spokesman for the environment, Greg Hunt, said the opposition ”offered in-principle support for the national plan” although ”the government appears to have dragged its feet in implementing this strategy”.
