KEY POINTS:
We all like to get a new computer and flat screen monitor at work. But the old gear we were so pleased to see five years ago is starting to cause problems - not least in clean, green New Zealand.
It is estimated that around 450,000 computers were sold in New Zealand in 2002. But they are now coming to the end of their life and dumping them in the ground is many people's first thought as a way of disposing of them. Out of sight, out of mind.
Trouble is, they are filled with poisonous metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury.
Once in the ground these chemicals seep into rivers and waterways when it rains and poison the water.
Surprisingly, councils allow this to continue despite the clear implications, not just to health but to the lucrative tourism market.
However, keeping old computers and monitors out of landfills is a passion of Kevin Ruscoe, managing director of RCN.
The firm was founded in 1992 and mostly handles ex-lease equipment that it refurbishes and sells on. But equipment beyond its useful life is recycled - Ruscoe says the company sends nothing to landfill.
The firm, based on Auckland's North Shore, handles more than 100,000 items a year, with about 60,000 being returned to market. The rest are stripped down and recycled.
The company started out as an IBM broker before expanding into the remarketing of IT products. But a few years back it took on the job of recycling 99 per cent of the old gear left on its shelves.
Ruscoe says his firm has doubled in size in recent months due to the volume of obsolete computers coming in. Not just from large firms wanting to do the right thing, but also from the annual E-Day it helps sponsor - giving Joe Public a chance to dispose of their old computers responsibly.
"People in this country like to believe we have a clean green environment but we don't," he says.
Ruscoe says he got his wake-up call during a trip to the United States where he saw a huge landfill of computer gear. "I joke that we started at the top at IBM and now work in the rubbish industry," he says. "But I realised the impact some of these old computers and CRT screens can have on humans - particularly the lead found in older monitors and TV screens."
Ruscoe worked with Rose Engineering to develop a way to safely breakdown CRT screens to remove the lead - splitting the glass from the lead coating. It is then shipped to Australia where it is used in a smelter to help produce more lead.
"The reason we decided to split the screens here is that we just can't trust anyone else to do it properly. There is no money in it. And even some firms who claim to recycle old computer gear do not do it to our high standard. We not only have our reputation to consider, but that of our clients."
He says all the plastic is reused from monitor and computer housings and, if it is flame retardant plastic, then it ends up in the construction of roads as supports for steel mesh.
"There are two types of printed circuit board (PCB)," says Ruscoe. "Older ones have a small amount of gold - but it's no gold mine. But everything is broken down. Nothing goes to landfill. Even the wires are stripped and recycled, PCBs go to Singapore to an ISO-rated plant."
Ruscoe says he settled on Singapore because it has a "good Ministry of the Environment".
"We got into this because it was the right thing to do, we had a look at our own backyard, and with what I saw in the US I thought we could do better. I have become more passionate about it over time and realise the impact these things have on humans. Many recycling centres advertise themselves as environmentally friendly when, in reality, all they are doing is salvaging the remaining value found in old gear and just dumping the rest."
Another organisation doing its bit is the Computer Access NZ Trust. It collects older computers, refurbishes them and puts them into schools.
In a report it published in 2006 called "e-Waste in New Zealand", it said dealing with the growing problem is "a challenge and a threat that New Zealand cannot ignore".
The report, written by John MacGibbon and Laurence Zwimpfer, says that "New Zealand's track record in minimising waste is not good".
"Though we have improved waste management in some sectors, the overall volume of waste that we generate continues to grow. This includes e-waste. New Zealand has not yet focused on solutions for e-waste."
Writers of the report hoped it would "kick-start an industry-led response to the e-waste problem".
