Australians dispose of approximately 18 million printer cartridges a year
Friday, 05 November 2010
Australians are some of the biggest consumers of new technology, disposing of approximately 18 million printer cartridges each year.
Australia Post is supporting Planet Ark's National Recycling Week (November 8 - 14) by making it easy for Australians to recycle their e-waste through the 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' and MobileMuster programs at participating Australia Post outlets.
"E-waste is increasing at three times the rate of household waste and is a problem that must be addressed," Australia Post General Manager Corporate Responsibility, Alex Twomey said.
"While recycling of aluminum cans and newspapers has improved dramatically in the past decade, more than one million personal computers and millions of printer cartridges end up in landfill in Australia each year."
In order to address these figures, Australia Post is offering free and simple recycling services at participating Australia Post retail outlets.
"Research conducted for Planet Ark shows that about one third of people still throw their used printer cartridges in their home garbage bins," says Brad Gray, Planet Ark Campaigns Manager. "By making e-waste recycling so accessible, Australia Post is helping to encourage more and more people to get involved."
"To recycle used printer cartridges, people can simply visit a participating post office and place their old cartridges in the 'Cartridges 4 Planet Ark' recycling bins located in store," Mr Twomey said.
Some of the toner cartridges collected by the program are returned to their original manufacturers for re-manufacturing or component recovery. The remaining cartridges are converted into new products such as park benches and rulers.
"The build up of old mobile phones is another major contributor to e-waste," Mr Twomey said. "Across Australia there are approximately 16 million old mobile phones sitting in people's cupboards and drawers. If you collected all of these old phones and laid them out end-to-end, they would stretch from Brisbane to Adelaide."
"To recycle old mobile phones, customers can collect a MobileMuster Reply Paid satchel from their local Australia Post retail outlet, place the phone with the battery connected in one section of the satchel and accessories in the other section, and post it for free in any street posting box."
National Recycling Week runs from November 8 to 14. To locate your nearest participating Australia Post retail outlet or to find out where you can recycle your electronic items, visit: www.RecyclingNearYou.com.au or for more information about mobile phone recycling go to www.mobilemuster.com.au.