Government announces major e-waste spend
Environment Minister Nick Smith today announced that $1.15 million in grants from the Waste Minimisation Fund will be used to fund eDay 2010 and a new national e-waste processing network.“New Zealand needs to recycle more of the 80,000 tonnes of ele
Nina Fowler
Wed, 06 Oct 2010
Environment Minister Nick Smith today announced that $1.15 million in grants from the Waste Minimisation Fund will be used to fund eDay 2010 and a new national e-waste processing network.
“New Zealand needs to recycle more of the 80,000 tonnes of electronic waste that goes to landfill each year to recover resources and reduce pollution,” Dr Smith said.
“Our strategy is to support eDay 2010 to help co-ordinate collection and raise the profile of e-waste but also to fund a new initiative to ensure better recycling and processing of the waste."
The first grant announced today, of $750,000, is to the 2020 Communications Trust to run eDay across more than 40 venues around New Zealand, with the event to be held on November 6, 2010.
The second grant of $400,000 is to a joint venture between the RCN Group and the Community Recycling Network toward developing a nationwide network of 20 permanent depots for e-waste, as well as recycling facilities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
“We need to move beyond just eDay to a permanent solution for New Zealand’s electronic waste where we have the capacity to collect and recycle all year round,” Dr Smith said.
The popular eDay event ran into problems late last year when ministerial officials discovered that appropriate export licences for hundreds of tonnes of collected waste had not been sought.
NBR understands that the company that was sub-contracted to process and export the waste has been prosecuted for fraud.
Dr Smith said that this year's eDay would engage e-waste professionals to ensure "best practice in recycling and in managing the residual waste."
Nina Fowler
Wed, 06 Oct 2010
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