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Squamish company to offer year-round e-waste program

Whistler planning e-waste collection day

By Andrew Mitchell

One of the fastest growing and challenging forms of consumer waste is electronic waste, or e-waste. A 2003 study by Environment Canada discovered that Canadians throw away 140,000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, homes, and small appliances each year, or roughly 4.5 kilograms per person.

Three years later that statistic has almost certainly grown.

While landfill space is always a concern, one of the biggest issues of e-waste is a lot of waste materials are toxic, such as lead from CRT monitors, lithium and cadmium from circuit boards and batteries, PCBs from circuit boards, and mercury from batteries, circuit boards and wiring. Various plastics used in electronics also carry toxic fire retardants. Even in small quantities these substances can be harmful to humans, animals and plants.

At the same time some of the materials used in electronics are rare, valuable and can be recycled for a small cost. Although there is no mandatory program in place just yet, the B.C. government announced in December plans for a standard e-waste recycling system.

Starting in June companies that manufacture and sell electronics in B.C. and Canada will be required to charge a recycling fee up front, while the province will set up a network of permanent and mobile collection services throughout the province using a mix of private and public facilities. All the companies that process these materials will have to comply with standards being developed by Electronic Products Stewardship Canada, and auditors will work to ensure companies are meeting those standards with regular inspections.

For the Sea to Sky region, one new company has started e-waste recycling. To introduce themselves and the services they offer, Chiefs Metals Agency (CMA) of Squamish is holding free e-waste collection in Whistler from Jan. 19-20, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at municipal compactor sites in Function Junction and Nesters, in cooperation with the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

According to the company website, CMA is certified by the International Association of E-Waste Recyclers, and will offer a pick-up and drop-off service through its Willow Crescent shop.

All sorting will take place at the shop, with the separated materials going to companies in the Lower Mainland that will resell them for reuse in manufacturing.

The owner, operator of CMA, Guenter Frankenberg has 10 years experience with e-waste through his family business, and is certified by the German program to handle all forms of electronic waste. When the provincial and national standards are finalized he will earn those certifications as well.

“We still have a lot of details to discuss with authorities, and we’re meeting with the SLRD to discuss a few ideas,” he said. “My basic idea is to implement the same system we have in Germany which is to open all of the (waste and recycling) collection sites throughout the year for the public to drop off their e-waste, as well as businesses and industries.” CMA will also pick up e-waste for commercial clients.

During the e-waste collection days, all audio-visual equipment, electronics, CDs, DVDs and scrap metal will be accepted, as well as household items ranging from stoves and toasters that will be defined as e-waste in the future. For people concerned about data stored on their personal electronic devices, CMA also offers complete physical data destruction. The only items CMA cannot accept are fridges and freezers.

Unlike previous residential e-waste collection days, businesses and larger organizations are also invited to bring their electronic waste to CMA.

“From time to time we build some of our own e-waste and have a difficult time finding a home for it,” explained Ron Sander, manager of operations at the RMOW. “Guenter Frankenberg of CMA approached us about six months ago to let us know that he was moving towards opening a facility in Squamish that can handle e-waste, and that he was interested in partnering up with us to see if together we can remove some of this stuff that would wind up in the waste stream to the landfill.

“There will be fees down the road to dispose of some stuff, but we’re still a few months away from when that kicks in in June, and it’s usually pretty reasonable. It’s a pretty responsible thing to do.”

According to Sander the municipality is talking to Carney’s Waste Systems about the possibility of offering regular e-waste bins or collection at municipal sites. There is a cost to recycling some forms of e-waste, mainly televisions and computer monitors that are difficult to dismantle, but after June at least some of that cost will be covered up front in the purchase price.

B.C. surcharges are expected to be similar to Alberta’s, with televisions in the range of $15 to $45 depending on size. Other electronic devices, ranging from computers to cell phones to stereos, will be taxed accordingly.

The money collected by recyclers and stores will help to subsidize the recycling costs of processors, which will also make up a portion of their costs by reselling the materials they collect for reuse in other products.

According to Frankenberg, there is a market for most recycled e-waste products.

“Plastics are 100 per cent recyclable, glass is 100 per cent recyclable, metal is 100 per cent recyclable,” he said.

“We expect only one to five per cent of what we collect to go into the waste stream, everything else can be reused in some way.”

Frankenberg has an agreement in place with Carney’s Waste Systems to further recycle recovered plastic and glass, and Carney’s will continue to take fridges and freezers. CMA is also in discussions with two B.C. processors who handle used printer cartridges, and other recovered waste — including toxic materials — will go to specialty processors in Vancouver.

Frankenberg’s business model is still uncertain, as he’s still waiting to see what arrangements he can make with Sea to Sky municipalities and how e-waste will be managed by the province once details are finalized. For the next few months he will do most of the work himself with the help of some part-time employees, but he believes that he may need to hire some full time employees down the road if the numbers work out.

Including appliances he believes that people in the corridor average between five and 10 kilograms of e-waste per person, per year, and based on the permanent population he estimates that he will take in around 300 tonnes of e-waste per year if municipal bins are approved.

A corridor recycling system and waste reduction strategies have already cut per capita waste in half. A centralized composting facility in Squamish is currently on hold while local governments decide if its feasible, which is expected to remove approximately 30 per cent more garbage from the waste stream. There is also a construction waste program in effect that ensures some of the wasted material can be reused.