Recycling from a cyber graveyard at Kimbriki

Consumer hunger for the latest-and-greatest electronic gadgetry is leading to record volumes of unwanted items awaiting disposal.

But thanks to e-waste collection and recycling programs from local councils and waste management c e n t r e s , m o r e t h a n 90 per cent of this material is now being recycled.

Manly Council’s recent kerbside, e-waste pick-ups netted 341/2 tonnes of the obsolete material, which is now waiting at Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre before being transferred for further processing.

From the mass of discarded televisions, computers and peripheral items, 18 tonnes of glass, 10 tonnes of scrap metal, 3 tonnes of plastic and 0.65 tonnes of copper are expected to be harvested.

Kimbriki senior project officer Mark Winser said while people once might have held onto a television for 15 years, modern electronics tended to have a very short lifespan, leading to increased levels of e-waste.

Mr Winser said the vast majority of the waste could be recycled, with Kimbriki shipping the material to a company which then broke it into its component parts for processing.

‘‘E-waste has an enormous amount of resources in it, things like precious metals,’’ he said.

‘‘Electrical goods, in particular, tend to have a very short life, so a lot of these products are maybe two or three years old. That’s the potential for a lot of valuable waste to be going into landfill.’’