Upward trend in recycling e-waste

Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 22 Jan 15;

SINGAPORE: More people are recycling their electronic waste, with companies involved in such programmes observing an increase in the amount of recyclables collected.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), about 60,000 tonnes of such electronic waste are generated every year - equivalent to the weight of 160 Boeing 747 jets. Items include unwanted television sets, printers and computers.

Half of it comes from households and the rest from industry, such as information and communications technology equipment from industrial sectors.

Ms Siti Farhana Mahadi, senior executive for outreach and programmes management at the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), said: "With the increasing use and popularity of electronic devices in Singapore, more people need to know how to dispose e-waste properly, and to recycle them.”

“Although electronic waste constitutes an insignificant amount of total waste generated in Singapore annually, it is still important to ensure that e-waste is disposed of carefully because they contain certain components which can harm humans and the environment,” she added.

Consumers and companies alike have stepped up on this front. StarHub and recycling firm TES-AMM started a programme in 2012 to recycle electronic waste, called REcycling Nation's Electronic Waste (RENEW).

It has seen an increase in the amount of electronic waste collected. In 2012, the amount collected was around 2,700 kilogrammes. Last year, it went up to 8,700 kilogrammes.

Currently, there are collection bins in about 100 locations, and StarHub hopes to expand this to another 100 locations by the end of the year.

Mr Adam Reutens-Tan, senior manager of corporate sustainability and responsibility at StarHub, said: "We actually do hope that as more site owners take on the RENEW bins, the others will also be encouraged to approach us and ask for RENEW bins as well. There is no cost to the site owners.”

“As more sites take on a RENEW bin, hopefully we will have economies of scale and be able to make this a self-sustaining programme,” he added.

Under the programme, items collected are sorted and dismantled. Precious metals such as silver and gold are then extracted to be recycled as raw materials.

Computer makers are also collecting more electronic waste. Toshiba has collection points at its service centres for customers to drop off their old laptops and batteries. It has reported an upward trend in the items collected. This is also the case for Dell, which provides recycling services for customers to donate or recycle their old IT equipment.

However, the SEC said more can be done. It pointed out that e-waste recycling is still a niche market. Some companies also do not have adequate facilities, which means that electronics collected have to be flown overseas to be recycled, or sent to scrap yards.

SEC hopes authorities will assess the situation and, if necessary, encourage more players to enter the market.

- CNA/dl

South East district expands e-waste recycling programme
Seven neighbourhoods, including Marine Parade, Mountbatten and Potong Pasir, will be involved
MATTHIAS TAY Channel NewsAsia 23 Jan 15;

SINGAPORE — More residents living in the South East District of Singapore will find recycling their e-waste easier, with the latest phase of the “Heartland E-waste Recycling Programme”.

As an expansion of the six-month long pilot programme that took place in July 2013, the second phase will extend e-waste collection points to seven neighbourhoods in the South East district of Singapore.

Neighbourhoods involved include Marine Parade, Mountbatten, Braddell Heights, Geylang Serai, Kembangan-Chai Chee, MacPherson and Potong Pasir.

Collection drives will be set in these neighbourhoods on a monthly basis and most residents can expect the drive to visit their area twice.

The programme, which recycles unwanted home appliances and electronics, will last for a period of nine months.

The first collection — scheduled to begin on Feb 1 — will kick start at community centres in Braddell Heights, Potong Pasir, MacPherson, Mountbatten and Katong.

Dr Maliki Osman, Mayor of South East District said today (Jan 23) that the move to expand the programme to even more neighbourhoods was spurred by the positive results of the pilot test.

“We have received very encouraging results where we had the target of 5000 kg of e-waste (to be recycled). We manage to go beyond 10,000kg — more than twice the amount expected,” he said.

Gadget recycling kicks off in 7 areas
The New Paper AsiaOne 26 Jan1 5;

Residents in seven neighbourhoods in the South East District will soon find it easier to get rid of unwanted mobile phones or laptops.

They will be able to dispose of gadgets that they do not want, at 25 locations, through monthly collection drives over the next nine months.

Collections will be done on the first Sunday of each month and rotated across Marine Parade, Mountbatten, Braddell Heights, Geylang Serai, Kembangan-Chai Chee, MacPherson and Potong Pasir.

Each division will be visited twice over nine months.

The first collection will be at Braddell Heights, Potong Pasir, MacPherson, Mountbatten and Katong Community Centres on Feb 1.

The details were announced yesterday, when the second phase of the Heartland E-Waste Recycling Programme was launched by Dr Maliki Osman, mayor of South East District, and Member of Parliament for Mountbatten Lim Biow Chuan.