Green day success for Lambeth

Gadgets and gizmos galore disposed of responsibly

Tim Smith, Computeract!ve 20 Mar 2006

A home electronics recycling event held in London went really well according to the company behind the one-day event held last Saturday, 18th March.

London Remade, the company behind the event, said 130 people in Lambeth, London had made the effort to go green and had brought in a total of over three and a half tonnes of old gadgets and gizmos.

Many of these were old computers and peripherals as well as more usual household waste such as washing machines and TVs that the local Lambeth council, picks up.

Of the 580 items collected, printers were the most numerous electronic items that turned up on the day, with 41 being taken to the dump. But other electrical and electronic devices collected included 33 keyboards, 35 computers, 31 monitors and five notebooks.

Goods such as the ones collected on Saturday will soon be covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Electronic (WEEE) directive and manufacturers will have to provide a means for their disposal.

The introduction of this legislation has been delayed for a fourth time to 2007 whilst a review into the cost to businesses takes place.

This means at the moment there is no established system for disposal of this waste even though many items, including monitors and computers are considered hazardous waste.

Although a website has been set up so that consumers can find out more about how they can recycle WEEE and find their local recycling points, a representative for the Industry Council for Electronic Recycling (ICER) told Computeractive that there is very little that consumers can do to have many electronic devices recycled apart from taking them to Community tips.

So although local councils must take some of these devices, such as TVs and computer monitors, there is no obligation to recycle them. Moreover, provision for disposal is up to individual councils. This means most items find their way into landfill sites, despite the many toxic materials found in them.

What made last Saturday different is that London Remade worked in collaboration with an organisation called Technowaste which will now recycle this waste at its reprocessing plant in Essex. Where ever possible, materials used in the devices will be reclaimed and reused in other products.

Angela Howarth, from London Remade, told Computeractive that the attendees were very positive about the event and hoped it would be a regular event. She said the company will now be discussing the possibility of more events with Technowaste in other London boroughs.

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