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  Channel NewsAsia 25 Apr 07
Over 800 units of e-waste collected during HP recycling week

Channel NewsAsia 20 Apr 07
Recycle gadgets at SingPost outlets during National Recycling Week

SINGAPORE: If you have an old gadget collecting dust at home, you might want to drop it at a SingPost outlet as part of computer-maker HP's first island-wide National Recycling Week.

This is being held in conjunction with the United Nations Environmental Programme's Global Business Summit for the Environment, currently taking place in Singapore.

Copper, platinum, silver and gold - just some of the metals found in old mobile phone, PDAs, and computers that are simply too precious to be thrown away. So these metals are harvested when unwanted electronic devices are recycled.

According to industry watchers, all equipment can be recycled. After they are dismantled, copper parts, plastic and aluminium casings are all sorted. They will then be sold to their respective recyclers to be turned into copper wires and plastic toys. They can also be smelted and remoulded into casings for new computers.

Of all equipment, monitors should be recycled most because these CRT tubes contain significant amounts of lead. And lead could end up poisoning groundwater, if it is not properly disposed of. Another hazard - lead dust could enter human respiratory systems simply by breathing it in.

Therefore it is wise to think twice before throwing away electronic devices. "If you just dump it down the chute, and let's say the whole thing [crashes], and the PCB oil leaks out. You're not doing justice to the person who's clearing the rubbish, because if he's not protected with proper gear, skin contact and all that, you may get skin irritation, and so forth," says Cori Ong, of CH E-Recycling.

Besides proper disposal of hazardous materials, another reason why one should leave e- waste with reputed recyclers and not the rags-and-bone man, is proper data erasure.

One of the reasons why some people are hesitant to send their personal computers in for recycling, is that they are worried confidential or corporate data left in the hard disc may be left open to unauthorised access.

But reputed recyclers usually have a standard procedure of erasing all data on the hard disc, before refurbishing the computer for reuse.

Currently, most manufacturers like Nokia, HP, IBM and Dell have take-back programmes aimed at reducing their own e-waste. Most of them work with reputed recyclers certified by national agencies, so there is no need to worry about confidential data left on hard discs being misused.

"It's a good thing to send it to a reputed recycler... who've invested a lot in the process. We understand what is actually in the composition of all these electronic items. So we would plan out how to recycle all these items bit by bit. All the processes in the recycling plant are audited by the MNCs which send items to us for recycling. All the processes are approved by the National Environment Agency," says Cori Ong.

If more electronic devices can be recycled, there will be less wastage of the Earth's limited resources.

For more information about HP Recycling Week, which runs from 19 April until 25 April, and a list of participating SingPost outlets, visit http://h50055.www5.hp.com/ipg/ supplies/sg/recycling_promotion.asp - CNA/yy

Channel NewsAsia 25 Apr 07
Over 800 units of e-waste collected during HP recycling week

SINGAPORE: Computer maker HP wrapped up its first National Recycling Week on Wednesday and it managed to collect over 800 units of old electronic products.

HP said it is an encouraging start and believes legislation will be able to manage e- waste in an environmentally friendly way. Hundreds of people dropped off all types of unwanted electronic products at 20 SingPost outlets across Singapore during the HP National Recycling Week.

Half of units collected were old printers. The other half was made up of old PDAs, keyboards, CPUs and laptops. HP estimates some 4 to 5 tonnes of electronic waste has been collected.

The response pales in comparison to HP's similar collective drives in Australia and Europe. Although HP would not disclose how much the collection exercise cost the company, it revealed that SingPost outlets would not be their permanent drop-off collection centres.

For the e-recycling movement to succeed, HP said other tech manufacturers need to play their part.

Jean-Claude Vanderstraeten, HP's Asia-Pacific & Japan Environmental Director, said: "We do not intend to turn that into a permanent structure. It's a one-off. We have to find a more suitable, effective way to encourage recycling. If the public is not ready, it will not be effective for us to invest in a permanent infrastructure.

"So we want to make sure the timing is right and the collection system is right to satisfy our customers. If we adopt a permanent programme, we would like to focus on HP products only."

One of the ways to encourage more recycling of electronic products is to legislate a law, requiring all computer makers to have a take-back programme, so that consumers can return and recycle their e-waste.

But industry-watchers said the level of awareness of e-recycling in Singapore is still relatively low. So any plans for such a law will have to be shelved, at least for the next two years.

And it will be years before Singapore can catch up with the likes of Japan and Korea where legislation is in place to make it mandatory for electronic product makers to take back unwanted products from consumers.

Mr Vanderstraeten said: "The benefits of having a legislation in place is that it forces a producer to take back their own brand of products so producers have the motivation to create products which are easy to recycle. It's certainly a cost to companies. To produce products that can be recycled, there are a lot of standards which we would like to achieve."

And it seems making recycling a legal matter does not sit well with some Singaporeans.

Mr Vanderstraeten said: "Consumers may still see it as a loss to them because they're used to street collectors picking up their items at their doorstep and paying them something for it. They would probably prefer that approach.

"What consumers may not fully appreciate is that in some cases, the street collectors may not achieve the same level of environmental standards as we would when we collect back products. There's a risk."

Meanwhile the National Environment Agency (NEA) has said currently, Singapore's waste-to -energy plants do not receive much e-waste or unwanted electronic equipment. So it is premature to consider making it mandatory to recycle e-waste.

NEA adds there are many venues in Singapore for consumers to re-use or recycle e-waste - such as selling or giving them away to second hand goods traders, donating them to charity, or trading them in, when buying a new appliance. Several computer makers and mobile phone companies like Nokia and Motorola also offer take-back programmes.

But NEA says it will continue to monitor the situation in case the need to legislate e- waste recycling should arise in future. - CNA/so/yy
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