The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA), leaders in the waste management industry and committed to supporting professional waste management practices, urges South Africans to support eWASA and to dispose of e-waste correctly.
“E-waste falls under the larger waste spectrum and the general public are urged to dispose of electronic waste correctly; e-waste can be defined as anything that runs on electricity and includes goods that require batteries to operate”, says Dr Suzan Oelofse, president of IWMSA.
Keith Anderson, chairman of eWASA, says e-waste should not be discarded with municipal waste, as it contains heavy metals such as mercury, which can contaminate water resources.
It should be collected and separated, as the discarded equipment contains valuable, rare and hazardous materials.
“The valuable and rare resources can be recovered and enter the product life cycle again as raw materials, while the hazardous components need to be treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner,” he says.
South Africa has a well-developed, formal e-waste management system that collects, refurbishes, dismantles and recycles discarded products.
Most urban centres have various collection points for e-waste, and eWASA member companies and their partners, including retailers such as Makro and Pick n Pay, are working to expand the current footprint of 635 collection sites.
“Recycled e-waste plastics are used to manufacture fence droppers, roof tiles and guttering. ”
”Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass can be used for road surfacing and Waste2Art projects create crafts, jewellery and arts using dismantled e-waste,” says Anderson.Separate your e-waste from the rest of your rubbish and take it to a collection point near you.
Visit www.mywaste.co.za or www.ewasa.org to find a collection point in your area. – @CarmenBoksburg
