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Photo:
Michael Mullaney dismantles a computer at the MRI Drop Zone recycling facility in Canberra. (ABC Radio Canberra: Penny Travers)
Millions of televisions, computers and mobile phones are discarded in Australia each year.
So what happens to all that electronic waste?To prevent it ending up in landfill, the Federal Government introduced the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) in 2011.
Under the industry-funded scheme, companies that import or manufacture more than 5,000 televisions, computers or printers per year are required to help recover end-of-life products and divert them from landfill.
They do this by being members of one of four authorised recyclers which organise collection and recycling of e-waste on their behalf.
Each year 40,000 tonnes of computers, tablets, televisions, printers, scanners, photocopiers, keyboards and mice are recycled through the scheme.
How does the recycling process work?
There are more than 1,800 collection points across the country where householders and small businesses can drop off their unwanted televisions, computers and accessories for free.The items are then collected by one of the authorised recyclers and dismantled.
"So for a TV, they'll remove the plastics, they'll remove the glass," MRI Drop Zone chief executive Rose Read said.
"If it's an old CRT (cathode ray tube) television, they'll separate the leaded glass from the normal glass.
"In the case of computers, they'll take off the plastics and the casings, they'll remove the circuit boards, separate the batteries, and then they are further recycled."
The leaded glass is processed at a smelter in Port Pirie to recover the lead.
Circuit boards go to Japan where precious metals like gold, silver and copper are recovered through a heat and chemical process.
"The batteries will go to a company in Korea where they are further processed to recover, in the case of lithium ion batteries, lithium and cobalt," Ms Read said.
"In the case of nickel-cadmium batteries, they recover cadmium."
Steel, copper and aluminium are also recycled in Australia while some plastics are sent to China for processing.
"As a result of those processes we recover more than 95 per cent of the materials that are collected," Ms Read said.
What about computer data safety?
Ms Read said there were no data safety issues under the NTCRS.Australian e-waste in African dump
A computer monitor from St George Bank is found on a toxic e-waste dump in west Africa.
"All of the elements will be physically dismantled and destroyed, so if there is any data left on the computer it will be destroyed through the process," she said.
However if you decide to donate your computer for re-use, for example through a charity organisation, it is important to wipe the hard drive first.
"You need to be very careful about your own personal data on those computers; it's your responsibility to remove that data if you're going to pass it on down the reuse pathway," Ms Read said.
"Or you need to make sure the company you give it to does do data wiping and provides a data wiping certificate for you."
Can I recycle my old phone safely?
Mobiles phones are recycled under an industry-led voluntary scheme called Mobile Muster which began nearly 20 years ago.The scheme is funded by major carriers and retailers through a 42-cent levy on each of the eight to 10 million handsets that are imported annually.
Each year Mobile Muster collects more than one million handsets, batteries and accessories for recycling.
"Everything collected by the program is recycled for resource recovery so it's a safe and secure way of disposing of old unwanted phones," Mobile Muster's Spyro Kalos said.
Like with televisions and computers, everything collected through the program is dismantled in Australia into its various components ahead of further processing.
Batteries are either processed in Singapore or South Korea.
Circuit boards go to Singapore for processing while plastics, steel and copper are smelted in Australia.
"Ninety-eight per cent of your mobile phone can be recycled back to its former material and put back into the supply chain for making new products," Mr Kalos said.
Clean up before dropping off
Mobile Muster does not reuse or resell any items that it collects, and all data is destroyed in the recycling process."We do encourage people before they drop off their phone to remove any data they want to keep like pictures, music files," Mr Kalos said.
"But if you can't turn the phone on and it doesn't work, it will get destroyed through our recycling process.
"We don't switch anything on or test anything to see if it is working as it comes through the program."
Consumers can drop off their old handsets and accessories at one of more than 3,000 Mobile Muster collection points across the country, including at all major retailer shopfronts.
"If you can't get to one of those drop-off points, you can actually pick up a free reply-paid satchel from Australia Post and post back your old unwanted phone and accessories," Mr Kalos said.
Why recycle e-waste?
Electronic waste is growing three times faster than any other type of waste in Australia."TVs that would stay in a house for seven, 10, 12 years are now being turned over in two years," Ms Read said.She urged all householders to recycle their old electronics and prevent hazardous materials going to landfill.
"They are also made of finite resources which are becoming more and more scarce.
"The material in TVs and computers is very recyclable ... and can be recovered and reused as raw materials for new products including electronic products."
Earlier this month the Federal Government announced it was conducting a review of the Product Stewardship Act 2011 which oversees the NTCRS and Mobile Muster.
DVD and VCR players are not currently covered under the NTCRS and Ms Read said she was hopeful the scheme would be expanded to include television peripherals as part of the review.
To find your local e-waste recycling collection points, visit the Recycling Near You website.
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