Chinese e-Waste Collection Scheme

China is implementing an e-Waste collection scheme, similar to that recently implemented in Australia. The "Regulations for the Administration of the Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electric and Electronic Products" officially came into force 1 January 20122, but may take some time to implement, as they are more comprehensive that the Australian scheme, which only covers TVs and computers (Product Stewardship Televisions and Computers). As with the Australian scheme, manufacturers and importers will be levied to pay the cost of collection and disposal of eWaste by local government. It took Australia about four years to get the collection schemes in place. It will be interesting to see how long China takes.

Re-heel School Shoes With Recycled Soles

Articles such as "How to Resole Shoes", describe the process for dress shoes. But something more radical is needed for repairing school or walking shoes with deep treads.

The Replacement Heels you can buy for shoes are usually a thin sheet of plastic or rubber, with little tread. This is not enough for a heavy duty school or walking shoe. The shoes can have so much wear the replacement is not thick enough.

Shoes with thick soles can be repaired with a more radical approach. Shoes normally wear out at the heels first, so you can use the sole from an old shoe to make the heel for another.

First use a small wood saw to cut the sole from an old shoe. You may have to saw through the leather of the shoe to get at the sole and then use the saw to cut the inner lining from the sole of the shoe. Leave the sole larger than the heel you are repairing, as you can trim it to size later.

Now use a saw to cut the bottom off the heel of the shoe you are repairing, to match the thickness of the sole you are using to replace it. You may have to cut 5 mm, or more, from the heel. Don't worry if the heel has voids in it, or is not completely flat.

Normally Contact Adhesive is used for gluing shoe soles, but it requires very flat surfaces to stick. Something thicker is needed for more radical repairs, where the surfaces are uneven and there are holes to fill. I found that the Silicone Sealant, as used for windows and around bathtubs, works well. This sticks to rubber, plastic and leather and also is thick enough to fill in holes and uneven surfaces.

Select a colour of silicone to match the shoe sole (usually black). Buy the large corking gun tubes of sealant, as you get a lot more silicone for your money this way.

Make sure you are wearing old clothes and have gloves on, as the silicone sealant is very messy, particularly in black (it sticks well to clothing).

Smear a generous amount of the silicone to the shoe heel, filling in any voids (some shoe heels are hollow). Now smear silicon on the replacement heel and press it in place, lining up the tread.

Leave the sealant to dry, which may take up to a week. It is important to leave the sealant to set all the way through. It may look set around the edges you can see but still liquid in the centre. If you try to walk on the heel in this state it will slide off the shoe, which could be dangerous.

When the sealant is set, carefully saw the excess from around the heel. You can clean this up with steel file.

The result will not be as pretty as a new shoe but will be very serviceable.

Solar energy for effluent treatment

Greetings from the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, where Dr K Srithar, visiting from Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, is speaking on "Industrial effluent treatment using solar energy". He preceded the talk with some photos of the Meenakshi Amman Temple ( மீனாட்சி அம்மன் கோவில்).

Tanning leather create large quantities of effluent which is traditionally treated by drying in open ponds. These take large amounts of land. Dr. Srithar experimented with running a thin sheet of water over an inclined dark solar plate collector and a spray system. A combination of these were three to four times as effective as ponds for evaporation and used less than half as much land. There was a cost as pumps were needed. The spray system also had the advantage that it would continue to work at night.

Dr. Srithar then discussed how to increase the efficiency of solar stills, to produce fresh water from salty. These use a shallow pond of brackish water with a sheet of glass over it. He found that including sponges, sand, rocks or a roughened surface increased efficiency. The efficiency could be further increased by pre-heating the water in a solar pond, before introducing it to the solar still.

Industrial effluent treatment using solar energy

Dr K Srithar , Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, will speak on "Industrial effluent treatment using solar energy", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 3pm today, 19 May 2011.

Industrial effluent treatment using solar energy

Dr K Srithar (Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India)

SOLAR SEMINAR SERIES

DATE: 2011-05-19
TIME: 15:00:00 - 16:00:00
LOCATION: Ian Ross Seminar Room
CONTACT: daniel.macdonald@anu.edu.au

ABSTRACT:
Dr. Srithar will present a review of his experimental work in the field of solar desalination and treatment of effluents. These include novel designs of a pilot plant using the solar flat plate collector- and spray- systems for treating tannery effluent, and a range of solar desalination systems integrated with solar pond. The designs are now being practically implemented in India for solar treatment of industrial effluents to produce distilled water. Dr. Srithar is a holder of an Australian Endeavour Executive award Award providing for his 3 months stay and research at CSES, ANU.
BIO:
Dr. K. Srithar is currently an Assistant Professor in Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, Tamil Nadu at India. He has total 20 years of teaching experiences and two years research experience at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. His field of interest is solar desalination and alternate fuel for IC engines. Dr. Srithar has published 24 papers in International journals and 5 papers in International Conferences. Dr Srithar is a holder of an Australian Endeavour Executive Award, covering his visit to ANU. ...

From: "Industrial effluent treatment using solar energy", Australian National University, 2011.

PC Recycling Saves Money and the Planet

Last week I visited Brenda Aynsley at the ACS PC Recycling SIG, now located in the Australian Computer Society office in Adelaide. This is a special interest group of the South Australian Branch of the ACS, which takes donations of old computers, refurbishes them and then sells them to non-profit community groups for a nominal amount. Those eligible include pensioners and TAFE students.

Volunteers scrub hard disks, make any repairs or upgrades needed to the hardware and install new copies of Microsoft Windows software (Linux is also available as an option). This is a useful way to keep some hardware out of landfill and provide a service to the community.

National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Details of the Australian National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme are in the latest "Television and Computer Scheme E-bulletin" from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. The Department issued a Product Stewardship Legislation Consultation Paper for comment 10 November 2010 and the 45 submissions received are avialable online. The need for such legislation is made more urgent by the success of the federal government's switch-over to digital TV, resulting in householders replacing old analogue sets with new digital models. The National Broadband Network is similarly likely to result in obsolete networking equipment needing to be disposed of from millions of households.

Unfortunately the e-bulletin is designed as a poorly formatted printed brochure provided in PDF and as a large Ms-Word document, not as an easy to read web page. Here is the text of the latest issue, converted to HTML (minus some images):

TELEVISION AND COMPUTER SCHEME E-BULLETIN

National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Inside this issue

• Message from the department
• Progress made in 2010 towards establishing a national scheme
• Dates to note in 2011
• Byteback wins International Best Practice Award

Upcoming events

February 2011 - Television and computer regulation consultation paper and public meetings

Useful links

• National Waste Policy environment.gov.au/wastepolicy
• E-waste One-stop Portal environment.gov.au/ewaste

SUBSCRIBE NOW

To keep up to date with the development and implementation of the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme, subscribe to the e-bulletin at: environment.gov.au/ewaste

Message from the department

As 2010 comes to an end, the department wishes to acknowledge the significant contribution and commitment from our many stakeholders in progressing the development of the national product stewardship legislation and the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme is expected to be operational in late 2011.

Since the decision by the Environment, Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) in November 2009 that the Australian Government would, under the new product stewardship legislation, implement regulation to support an industry-led scheme to collect and recycle end of life televisions and computers, a considerable amount of work has been undertaken. This final issue of the e-bulletin for 2010 contains a record of achievements made by the Scheme Implementation Working Group, as well as key dates and opportunities for further engagement in the development of the Scheme in 2011.

Of key note is the upcoming release of a consultation paper on the television and computer regulations, scheduled for February 2011. The consultation paper will provide the opportunity for all interested members of the community to be consulted in the development of the Scheme and to hear more about the proposed regulatory arrangement. More information will be made available at environment.gov.au/ewaste closer to the release date.

The department would like thank all subscribers for their continued support and interest in the development and implementation of a solution for end of life televisions and computers and looks forward to building on the substantial progress made in 2010.

On behalf of the IWG, we wish you a relaxing and safe break shared with family and friends.

Progress made in 2010 towards establishing a national scheme

The National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme (the Scheme) Implementation Working Group (IWG) was established in March 2010 to:

• facilitate planning arrangements for the Scheme;
• consider the relationships between the operational aspects of introducing a national product stewardship scheme for televisions and computers;
• ensure industry developed schemes are consistent with government policy; and
• deliver on the core product stewardship objectives.

The IWG comprises representatives from the computer and television industry and Australian and state governments.

Since 30 March 2010 the IWG has formally met eight times; participated in three workshops; and established five sub-groups to focus on key areas of communication, standards, performance indicators, the national geographic roll-out plan and governance arrangements for the industry-led arrangements. As a result of this ongoing work the IWG has:

• created a formal work plan, risk management plan, stakeholder engagement strategy and communications plan;
• launched the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme one-stop portal and e-bulletin service;
• received approval from Standards Australia to establish an Australian Standard for the collection, storage, handling, transport and treatment of e-waste;
• assisted the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and Product Stewardship Australia (PSA) to develop the draft interim industry standard for the collection, transportation and recycling of televisions, computers and computer peripherals.
• developed a draft set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the Scheme; and
• developed a draft geographical roll-out plan for the Scheme.

In addition to these achievements, the IWG has actively engaged and consulted with many stakeholders throughout 2010. The IWG plays a vital role in disseminating information and educating interested individuals about the Scheme.

The IWG consulted stakeholders via the Stakeholder Reference Group (SRG) on the:

• an appropriate definition for e-waste;
• factsheet on the Responsible disposal of unwanted televisions and computers;
• interim industry standard;
• KPIs for the Scheme; and
• Scheme roll-out plan.

The IWG has also reached out to a broader audience by attending various conferences and events. In 2010 the IWG participated in:

• E-waste 2010, Brisbane (21 July)
• Enviro 2010, Melbourne (21-23 July)
• Zero Waste Summit 2010, Sydney (13-15 September)
• International Product Stewardship Summit, Sydney (9-10 November)
• Australian Waste and Recycling Expo, Sydney (10-11 November)
• Community Recycling Network Australia, National Meeting, Melbourne (19 November)

Further consultation has also occurred through meetings between the IWG and all sectors impacted by the Scheme. The IWG consulted through the Australian Government, with both Austraian Government and state government agencies. The IWG has also consulted with local councils, retailers, recyclers, reverse logistics, waste management operators, community and environmental non-government organisations, charitable and social enterprise organisations, and television and computer suppliers and manufacturers.

The many accomplishments listed above are a reflection of how much has already been achieved and outlines the focus to deliver the Scheme in 2011.

Byteback was honoured with an ICT Best Practice Award because it was considered by the judges to be the best excellent example in the region of how policy and project implementation through a public-private partnership can achieve significant outcomes for the ICT industry and broader society.

AIIA's National Policy and Program Manager for Sustainability, Josh Millen, who accepted the award in Taipei on behalf of the Byteback program, explained, "The Byteback program has proven that an effective collection and recycling program could be scaled up and delivered to the Australian community. The information collected over the past three years during the trial has already been informing the development of the national e-waste take-back and recycling scheme which will roll-out in 2011."

The brands involved in Byteback also share in this award with Sustainability Victoria.

"Sustainability Victoria is very proud to be accepting this award together with AIIA," Sustainability Victoria CEO Anita Roper said. The Byteback program is a fantastic example of how working in partnership with industry and local government can create solutions that improve resource recovery and recycling and create new business opportunities and markets. Since the program started in 2005, around 2883 tonnes of waste has been diverted, equating to about 11,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas avoided - or the equivalent of taking 2650 cars off the road."

"I would like congratulate and thank AIIA and its members for their commitment to Byteback, which is now set to roll-out as a national solution to e-waste," Ms Roper said.

Dates to note in 2011

2011 will see the planned introduction and passage of the Product Stewardship Bill through the Federal Parliament and the commencement of the National Television and Computer Scheme. There is still considerable work to be done to meet this timeline and the IWG will be continuing to work with all stakeholders to ensure outcomes are achieved.

The key dates for 2011 are:

• Jan - Frequently asked questions (FAQs) targeted to specific stakeholders available on the one-stop portal
• Feb - Public consultation on the Regulations (Information will be made available at: environment.gov.au/wastepolicy)
• Feb - KPIs for the Scheme finalised
• Mar - Scheme roll-out plan finalised
• March - Interim industry standard finalised
• September - Commencement of the National Television and Computer Product Stewardship Scheme

Byteback wins International Best Practice Award

AIIA's e-waste collection and recycling program, Byteback, was awarded a regional ICT Best Practice Award by the Asian-Oceanic Computing Industry Organisation in front of a Gala Dinner featuring the who's-who of APAC IT business leaders in Taipei on Friday 3 December. Byteback is run in partnership with Sustainability Victoria, leading IT equipment manufacturers (Apple, Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Lexmark) and with support from sites in Boorondara, Moonee Valley, Darebin and the Barwon Region council areas, and Officeworks in Ballarat and Dandenong. ...

From: "Television and Computer Scheme E-bulletin", Issue 4, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, December 2010.

Proposals for recycling old TVs and Computers

The Australian and New Zealand governments are considering how to recycle old televisions and computers. The Environment Protection and Heritage Council of has released a Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement: Televisions and Computers" (170 pages, 1.23 Mbyts of PDF, July 2009). Forums were held and written comments are invited by 13 August 2009. Of the nine options in the report, my preference is for option 1 (joint responsibility for collection) followed by option 2 (major computer brands responsible for their own products).

Available are:

1. Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement: Televisions and Computers - July 2009Code of Practice for Managing End-of-Life Televisions - July 2009
2. Willingness to pay for e-waste recycling - July 2009
3. Submission template - Television and Computer Product Stewardship Consultation Package
4. Statement on End of Life Televisions and Computers - Nov 2008

Executive summary

This document is a consultation regulatory impact statement for end of life televisions and computers put out by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council.

Introduction

Electrical and electronic products, in particular televisions and computers, constitute a significant element of Australia's material consumption, domestic environmental impact and waste to landfill. In 2007/08, 31.7 million new televisions, computers and computer products were sold in Australia, which is equivalent to 1.5 new units per person every year. In the same year 16.8 million units reached their end of life, which is close to one unit per Australian. Of these units, it is estimated that 88% were sent to landfill, with only 9% being recycled. Over the next 20 years, a significant volume of televisions, computers and computer products for disposal/recycling is expected to be generated, with expectations that the end of life volume will more than double. Waste volumes are increasing with shorter life spans of product and increasing ownership of electrical products, with the number of televisions, computers and computer products reaching their end of life expected to grow to 44.0 million by 2027/28.

Internationally, programs are being developed or implemented to reduce the environmental impact of electrical and electronic products. The European Union and Japan have already implemented legislation requiring the recovery and recycling of televisions and computers whilst other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are in the process of introducing a range of mechanisms to address this issue.

Australia’s consideration of an approach for managing e-waste has been ongoing since the 1990s when national electrical and electronic waste management was put forward as an emerging priority by industry to the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC), the precursor to the current Environment Protection and
Heritage Council (EPHC).

In 2002 Environment Ministers agreed that national action was required in relation to waste electrical and electronic equipment. On behalf of the EPHC, a multi-jurisdictional working group, known as the Electrical Equipment Product Stewardship Sub-Group, examined the issue of waste electrical and electronic equipment and identified televisions and computers as first priorities for action as a result of their higher levels of hazardous
components relative to other types of electrical products, and the lost opportunities for conserving non-renewable resources due to products being sent to landfill. In 2008 EPHC committed to the development of a national solution to the problem of end of life televisions and computers.

In parallel with government consideration of the issues both the television and key players in the computer industries are keen to engage in large scale national action, with national regulatory support to ensure a level playing field in the market.

In this document computer and computer products are defined as including: computer displays, computer desktops and similar, computer mobile units (e.g. laptops), computer
peripherals (e.g. keyboards, mouse, hard drives, scanners, speakers, web cams, power cords, internal power supplies, external power supplies, fans, miscellaneous/other parts), personal or desktop laser and inkjet printers, and multi function devices.

While each jurisdiction has its own regulation setting out waste minimisation policies (refer to Appendix D), currently only the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government has a ban on disposing television screens and computers monitors in its landfill. Other jurisdictions are considering bans and a number of take-back schemes have been trialled. In addition, a number of local governments across Australia have implemented or are
considering bans or charges for disposing of e-waste in landfill. The number of responses to addressing television and computer waste, and more broadly e-waste, in Australia, demonstrates the significance of the issue to the community and the drive to take action

This document is a consultation regulatory impact statement. Its purpose is to examine the impacts of implementing consistent national arrangements for end-of-life televisions and computers. The regulatory impact statement assesses proposed options to address identified problems with end-of-life televisions and computers. This consultation regulatory impact statement does not propose to address the whole issue of end of life electrical and electronic products, but rather it is part of a proposed incremental approach. ...

The television and computer waste problem

Currently in Australia, each jurisdiction has its own waste minimisation legislation or policies. The broad powers provided to each jurisdiction by waste minimisation legislation means that there is a tangible risk that each jurisdiction will implement a different approach to the television and computer waste problem in the absence of a national approach. Due to this, Environment Protection and Heritage Council each jurisdiction has been working through the EPHC towards seeking a national solution. Specific television and computer waste responses have already begun to vary in different jurisdictions. For example the ACT has banned the disposal of computer monitors and television screens in landfill, and Victoria is trialling Byteback, a government-run computer collection and recycling scheme.

In addition, some private sector schemes have arisen to deal with the increasing volumes of waste television and computer products (e.g. Dell offers free recycling of any Dell branded equipment, and Apple offers free recycling for purchases from particular stores). However, these schemes are brand-specific so are not whole-of-waste solutions, and in addition it is not clear how easy it is for households to participate. While some television and computer waste is currently recycled, the financial value of the recycled
material resources (metals, glass, plastic, etc.) is not high enough to fund an
expansion of recycling beyond its current levels. In other words, recycling of
these products is financially unviable without government support.

Despite some government and private sector intervention, the recycling rate remains low at 9% of units reaching end of life (excluding export of used items), or 10% based on tonnage - with the remainder being landfilled and a minor proportion that are exported.

Considering whether there is a case for government intervention to improve recycling or reduce landfill of television and computers in Australia, it is important to identify the possible problems with the current situation. The following problems have been identified for stakeholder consideration:

* Conservation of non-renewable resources. ...
* Community expectations are not being met. ...
* Free-rider problem. ...
* Landfill externality costs. ...
* Landfill direct costs and opportunity cost of land. ...

In addition to the problems with the current disposal methods, there are a
number of policy factors that add to pressure for Australian governments to
address these problems. These policy pressures include:

* Australia is a signatory to the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal (the Basel Convention) and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (the Stockholm Convention). ...
* international pressure from countries that have already implemented television and computer recycling schemes.

Policy objectives

The objectives of a regulatory impact statement when considering government intervention should include broad-ranging concepts that can be applied to a range of problems. More specifically relating to end of life televisions and computers should be to address the conservation of non-renewable resources; meet community expectations regarding resource
recovery and recycling; address market and regulatory failures; and avoid, where possible, any negative environmental impacts associated with waste going to landfill, while being consistent with broader government policy.

Consistent with the Council of Australian Governments’ Best Practice Regulation A Guide for Ministerial Councils and National Standard Setting Bodies (2007) (the COAG guidelines) the following specific objectives have been agreed.

Acknowledging that the above objectives will require implementation, administration and other costs, whilst generating a range of social and environmental benefits, an overriding objective in line with the COAG guidelines, will be to obtain a net benefit (benefits minus costs) for the community. This will be considered when alternative approaches to intervention are considered in a cost benefit analysis framework.

Policy options

Considering the problems identified and objectives established, a set of policy options have been identified that seek to address television and computer waste problems and wholly or partly achieve the stated objectives.

In order to identify the most feasible options, the following process was undertaken:

* identification of policy options ...
* identification of funding approaches ...
* assessment of policy and funding combinations ...
* most feasible options selected ...

Considering findings of the qualitative analysis of each policy option, the nine options for a change in government intervention and the base case that are considered worthy of further cost benefit analysis are:

* Base Case: business as usual ...

* Options 1 & 2: Co-regulatory state-based Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme – implemented as a National Environmental Protection Measure (NEPM) with an exemption if the importer belongs to an industry scheme. This scheme is assumed to be administered by an industry-run Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), and makes use of a regulatory safety net to encourage participation that is administered by state and territory government. Two options for industry involvement were also considered:

- Option 1: television and computer industries are jointly responsible for the collection of all products under a common PRO (including historic and orphan products).

- Option 2: television industry responsible for the collection of all products (including historic and generic). Major computer brand owners responsible for historic waste from their own brand and importers of generic computer parts and equipment are responsible for all non-branded and historic products. There are two PROs.

* Options 3 & 4: Co-regulatory Commonwealth-based EPR – with an exemption if the importer belongs to an industry scheme. This scheme is assumed to be administered by a PRO, and makes use of a regulatory safety net to encourage participation that is administered by the Australian Government. Two options for industry involvement were also considered:

- Option 3: television and computer industries are jointly responsible for the collection of all products under a common PRO (including historic and orphan products).

- Option 4: television industry responsible for the collection of all products (including historic and generic). Major computer brand owners responsible for historic waste from their own brand and importers of generic computer parts and equipment are responsible for all non-branded and historic products. There are two PROs.

* Options 5 & 6: Co-regulatory Commonwealth excise (levy) – with an exemption if the importer belongs to an industry scheme. This scheme is assumed to be administered by a PRO, and makes use of a regulatory safety net to encourage participation that is administered by the Commonwealth Government. Two options for industry involvement were also considered:

- Option 5: television and computer industries are jointly responsible for the collection of all products under a common PRO (including historic and orphan products).

- Option 6: television industry responsible for collection of all products (including historic and generic). Major computer brand owners responsible for historic waste from their own brand and importers of generic computer parts/ equipment are responsible for all non-branded and historic products. There are two PROs.

* Option 7: Mandatory Commonwealth levy with a government-run subsidy scheme for collection/recycling – a Commonwealth administered scheme whereby regulations impose a fee to be paid on all imports, and subsidies are paid to recyclers for collection/recycling of televisions and computers;

* Option 8: Mandatory import license requirement – producers must hold a license to import televisions and computers, which involves membership of an industry scheme to collect and recycle waste items (involving an industry PRO administering the scheme on behalf of importers); and

* Option 9: Mandatory state-based EPR (NEPM) – involves an industry-run PRO administering a collection/recycling scheme on behalf of importers (who are required by regulation to take part in the scheme). Administration of required regulation could be undertaken by the Australian or state or territory governments.

Cost benefit analysis of options

Analysing the costs and benefits of the identified policy options using economic Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), indicates that the nine television and computer recycling schemes assessed in this regulatory impact statement will result in net economic benefits to society. As the CBA is based on a range of estimates and assumptions, the appraisal results provide a general view about the likely expected economic outcomes that are subject to these assumptions. Despite this, the appraisal results in an overall conclusion that the options have positive economic outcomes, with relativities between options not expected to change with amendments to key assumptions.

In addition to establishing positive net economic benefits from implementing a scheme, the cost benefit analysis also compared nine possible policy options against the status quo.

The CBA and analysis of broader considerations indicates that:

* all nine recycling policy options assessed result in net benefits, with net present values (NPVs) ranging from $517-742 billion;
* there is little differentiation between the schemes in terms of the present value of costs and benefits; and
* any differentiation has been found to be due to differing ramp up of recycling rates, and varying administration costs.

Given the closeness of the options it is preferred that the community be given the opportunity to comment freely on which option might be the preferred, hence approach in the consultation regulatory impact statement is that no individual options are recommended and all will be considered through the consultation process. ...

From: Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement: Televisions and Computers", prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in association with Hyder Consulting (Hyder) for the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC), July 2009).

Australian PC Recycling Service

I was standing at a Tram stop in Adelaide yesterday on waiting to try the new Glenelg Tram when I had a call from Brenda Aynsley from the ACS PC Recycling SIG, inviting me to see how they refurbish old computers for community use. The Sig is based at Glandore, about 81 metres (according to Google maps) from the South Road tram stop. So I went along to have a look at the operations.

The PC Recycling Sig is a special interest group of the South Australian Branch of the Australian Computer Society. They take donations of old computers from companies and individuals, refurbish them and then sell them to individuals and non-profit community groups for a nominal amount. Those eligible include pensioners and TAFE students.

This is a sophisticated operation, with volunteers taking the equipment through a carefully documented and controlled process process. The computers are assessed, the hard disks erased using a special program, components checked and where necessary replaced. The Sig is licenced by Microsoft to install the Windows operating system and other software (with careful records kept about which machines the software is installed on). Linux is also available as an option. The computers typically have a floppy disk drive (still used by many people) and a CD-ROM drive (DVD burners are harder to come by). Laptops are also provided, but these seem to be in short supply.

The Sig also provides a computer club to help community memebrs learn about computers and provide each other with support.

Apart from providing low cost computers to the community the Sig also has an environmental role in keeping computers running longer and thus reducing the amount of materials going to landfill. At my talk on Green ICT last night there was a representative from the SA Government's Zero Waste initiative. I suggested they look at helping the ACS replicate their PC recycling scheme accross South Australia.

The ACS would be happy to help set up similar groups in other locations. They can provide the procedure and forms to use to manage the process of wiping hard disks on computers, providing a standard configuration, providing help to users. The ACS can provide a package of materials and procedures and also can provide the licence registration for groups.

Pre-charged Nimh C Cell Batteries

The low self discharge AA batteries I installed in a String Trimmer seem to have lost their charge after just under a year. This may be because they were left plugged into a dumb charger (the batteries are supposed to be disconnected from the cgarged when the are charged and then hold their charge). Or perhaps a year is all that can be expected in a heavy duty application from these batteries. Sub C cells, which the trimmer originally had, should offer more power.

Tenergy are offering Pre-charged Nimh C Cells on Amazon.com. The catch is that they are only 3000mAh capacity. It is likely these are actually AA cells fitted into a larger empty metal cylinder to make them up to C cell size. Other C cells are usually 5,000 to 10,000 mHa.

See also:

1. Pre Charged NiMH batteries
2. String Trimmers
3. glue guns
4. Battery chargers
5. replacement battery packs

How many old computers are recycled?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics asked for data sources for measuring Electronic waste. There are mobile phone recycling schemes in Australia, with estimates of how many are recycled. Are there similar figures for recycling of computers and peripherals? Any suggestions would be welcome.

About all I could think of was the AIIA sponsored scheme might have some figures. ByteBack scheme (similar to the phone muster).