Computers get a second life as possible e-waste mountain looms

A spaghetti bowl of black wires and cords is among the pile of e-waste intercepted at an Auckland recycling centre near old laptops destined for a new life.

At the Silverdale plant, Greenbox country manager Wayne Angus said New Zealand produced about 100,000 tonnes of e-waste every year.

That’s the weight of a small cruise ship, and at about 20kg per person, in line with the volume of e-waste Australia produces per capita.

Wayne Angus says too many old laptops and other tech devices end up in landfills. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

“Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up in landfill,” Angus said.

Angus said Greenbox aimed to ensure everything it touched was reused or recycled.

He said more New Zealand business leaders wanted to do something useful with their old IT.

“Gone are the days of throwing it out in a skip and hoping for the best. There’s a real growth in the desire to do something useful.”

Angus said Greenbox cleared all the data off the devices before refurbishment.

Then the devices were sold, usually to developing countries.

“They might end up in a school in Pakistan or perhaps even in the Pacific Islands, places that can use these assets for a second life,” he said.

Inside the Greenbox e-waste facility in Silverdale, which recycles and repurposes used IT hardware. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

“Also, increasingly savvy business leaders in New Zealand are realising that they don’t need to buy brand new every time,” he said.

“Three-year-old good quality corporate laptops, for instance, certainly have a second life and will last another two or three years and within businesses.”

He said that part of Greenbox’s business was growing.

Telco company One NZ has set up an e-waste strategy, aimed at diverting tonnes of equipment and used devices from landfill.

One NZ aimed to recycle at least 95% of its network waste.

Sukhbir Sandhu, University of South Australia Associate Professor in Sustainability, last week said less than one quarter of the world’s e-waste was recycled.

Sandhu, writing in The Conversation, said perceived obsolescence happened when people discarded functioning products in favour of newer models.

And planned obsolescence was when manufacturers built in a use-by date, such as by not offering software updates, she said.

Some commentators have said the end of support for Microsoft’s Windows 10 in October could lead to a flood of new e-waste.

Microsoft has said Windows 10 will reach its 'end of support' on October 14. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10. Photo / Juha Saarinen

On its website, Microsoft said it had a free mail-back program for New Zealand customers, who could mail one device at a time.

Microsoft has also said it encouraged Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11.

Windows 10 was released in 2015 and the company said within five years more than 1 billion machines were using it.

Angus said he hoped companies took any defunct laptops to recycling centres, rather than hoarding or dumping them.

“Business leaders are starting to acknowledge that they can’t just fill up all the spare cupboards with old IT laptops.”

Angus said about 10% to 20% of devices could not be refurbished.

“They’re either smashed beyond repair or they genuinely have reached the end of their useful life.”

But even those devices had some value.

“For instance, the precious metals that are inside, the motherboards and the like, they get reused and are often used for making new IT devices,” he added.

“So you’ve got a real circle in the economy there, and it means that very valuable product is not going into landfill and being wasted.”