Diverting Ewaste from landfill

Diverting electronic waste or Ewaste from landfill is an important part of the sustainability work undertaken by Citycare Group.

The Molten Media Community Trust recently collected 700 kilogrammes of outdated computers, laptops, screens, keyboards, mice, and monitors in Christchurch to be recycled, Citycare Water IT Manager Ryan Brinch says.

This brings the total Ewaste collection to 1.5 tonnes in the last 18 months.

The trust is a registered charity which promotes recycling and diverts many tonnes of potentially toxic Ewaste from the waste stream.

At the same time, the Christchurch-based social enterprise provides low-cost refurbished computer equipment to other charitable organisations and a place for people to work off their court fines.

“The equipment is repurposed if it’s in good condition. This helps to reduce the technology divide, giving kids and families the opportunity to be part of the future environment and grow a passion to be future knowledge workers,” Ryan says.

The longer you use electronic equipment, the less of it ends up in landfill, he says.

Plus, the alumunium, copper and plastics in modern equipment can be reused.

Molten Media has a goal to achieve zero waste to landfill as Ewaste often contains toxic materials which could be harmful to the environment.

The main photo shows Wayne McClarron and Rudy Kremers from the IT Team loading up the collection for Melton Media Community Trust.