making sense of e-waste - small home appliances

The brand new, stylish computer you just opened the package looks great and works much better than the pokey garbage it replaces --
But there is only one question: how will you deal with outdated machines?
Most Canadians put unwanted electronics in the trash can, but it just makes them invisible.
As has been realized in BC, Alberta, SA and Nova Scotia, one solution is to transfer e-commerce
Garbage flows into the recycling plant from the landfill.
Now, Ontario is prepared to significantly change the way residents buy and dispose of electronic products and join Canada and other European jurisdictions, which have been common for many years.
The amount of e-waste in Canada is amazing.
We throw away more than 140,000 tons of computer equipment, telephones, televisions, sound and small household appliances every year.
Environment Canada notes that the annual emissions of e-waste are equal to "the weight of 28,000 adult African elephants" or that there is enough uncrushed e-waste to fill the Toronto Rogers Center every 15 years.
"Many of those seemingly harmless old electronic devices also contain nasty hidden toxins.
Canadians throw away gadgets an estimated 4,750 tons of lead each year.
5 tons of cadmium, 1.
1 ton of Mercury is discharged to landfill sites, all at risk of penetration into groundwater.
These toxic substances are related to diseases such as kidney damage and nerve damage.
Environment Canada says the volume of this waste logistics is expected to double over the next five years. Ontario's e-
Although these old computers, mobile phones and television sets contain toxic substances, they are also filled with useful black metal, aluminum and copper, not to mention gold and silver.
The booming commodity market is worth a lot of money.
The Ontario waste transfer agency is a provincial agency responsible for developing a strategy to remove the available waste from the landfill.
It has been working with retailers, computer and electronics manufacturers and importers for the past two years and now the results are ready for use.
We need an incentive to make e-commerce simple and convenient.
Waste collection and disposal. '—
WDO's Glenda GiesWDO, which is scheduled to be submitted to the Ontario Minister of Environment in March 31, is expected to be passed fairly quickly in the legislature and is collecting taxes on all electronics sold in Ontario, to cover its appropriate cost of recovery and disposal.
The proposed levy will be about $12 for desktop computers, about $2 for laptops, about $10 for televisions and about $11 for computer monitors.
"We need an incentive to make e-commerce simple and convenient
"Waste collection and disposal," said Glenda Gies, executive director of WDO . ".
"When you buy a new TV, the store will deliver it to the door and bring your old TV back to the store.
They will be paid for collecting old electronics and a truck will come over and pick up everything and recycle it.
"Consumers can also use their outdated devices there for free.
While not finalized yet, WDO wants to build partnerships with both retailers and non-retailersfor-
Outlets in profit sectors such as Salvation military and goodwill, as the plan is to provide a small amount of revenue for those who provide facilities for the declineoff.
The plan has received some criticism as it proposes to collect taxes from customers rather than from manufacturers or importers.
But Jay Illingworth, director of electronics management, Canada (
Industry agencies working with WDO and other provincial agencies)
In provinces where similar plans have been taken, consumers don't seem to mind the concept of disposal fees, he said.
"They found a non who paid taxes.
In B. The profit institution that pays the recovery feeC.
"The province of SA and Nova Scotia," iringworth said.
"They feel like they are doing their part.
"He added that Ontario's plan has not yet been finalized, so it has not been determined whether consumers will pay taxes outside the purchase price or whether the amount will simply be rolled into the shelf price of the product.
The concept of the manufacturer on board does not seem to encounter the resistance of the manufacturer.
In fact, some large computer manufacturers have expected this and are already solving the problem of e-commerce.
Waste yourself. Hewlett-
For example, Packard, Dell computers and Lenovo account for the largest share of computer products and peripherals sold in Canada, with all three companies having recycling plans over the past few years.
Hewlett-Packard said that more than 0. 113 billion of technology hardware and printing cartridges were recycled worldwide last year, accounting for more than 2006.
In the United States, the company says it has recovered about 30 million kilograms of equipment.
It's also charged.
Frances Edmonds, HP's director of environmental projects, said the collection-based system is aimed at corporate customers who need to process equipmentPackard (Canada)Ltd. in Mississauga.
"This is a problem in the IT industry --
Anyone in the electronics industry
"I need to face the reality," Edmonds said . " He noted that all participants in the production chain, including parts suppliers, must be added.
Efforts are being made to make electronic products easier to disassemble and recycle, she added.
HP also uses recycled plastics as a source for ink-jet printing cartridges, which produced more than 0. 2 billion such cartridges last year, with the proportion of recycled plastics between 70 and 100.
"We 've been trying to get the design right so there's no problem with the backend.
Mike Pearce, director of environmental affairs at Lenovo, said the company provides free electronic product recycling in many countries.
In Canada, it will charge a small fee to recycle computers of any brand, and in return, it will give people a discount on buying Lenovo.
Lenovo is phasing out specific chemicals used for manufacturing to ensure that these machines produce fewer toxic by-products.
This also increases the number of recycled materials in the machine itself and in the packaging.
Another big electronics company, Dell Canada, offers free pick-up services to customers who purchase new Dell products.
The customer fills in the online form and packs the equipment for pickup.
HP's Edmonds says the goal is to start recycling some of the materials we throw away.
"Imagine it as an underground mine with all these materials.