E-WASTE Explained
"Hazardous electronic waste” means: Main frames, computers, printers, copiers, CPU's peripherals, hard drives, circuit boards, any old equipment destined for recycling, will contain;
- Cadmium, lead, beryllium-containing circuit boards;
- Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) can be found in non-digital TV screens and monitors.
- CRT glass (unprocessed)
- Batteries containing lead, mercury, and/or cadmium and are flammable.
- Mercury beryllium and Polychlorinated Biphenyl-containing materials, components, flour lamps and devices.
- Non-working parts and whole equipment or devices exported for repair or reuse unless assurances exist that hazardous electronic waste (such as CRTs, batteries, mercury lamps, or circuit boards) will not be disposed of in the importing country as a result.
The definition of “hazardous electronic waste” does not include:
- New equipment going for use or sale (as opposed to recycling or disposal)
- Non-hazardous waste such as copper unless it is contaminated with a Basel Convention hazardous waste such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, PCBs, mercury, etc. (constituents listed in Basel Annex I);
- Electronic equipment or materials that are to be used as a direct feedstock in manufacturing without further processing or preparation (e.g. cleaned, furnace ready, CRT cullet), and the ‘competent authority’ of an importing country makes a written determination that the material is not a waste, and therefore not a regulated waste under Basel. Such a determination provided in writing by the legitimate ‘competent authority’ and provided to BAN will be required to exercise this exemption.** Developing countries:
- Following the definitions of the Basel Convention and its Basel Ban Amendment, developing countries are any country not belonging to either the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or Liechtenstein. For a complete list of OECD countries see www.ban.org/country.
When your business computers, printers etc come to the end of their useful life, there are two possible choices.
1. Throw it away
In 2006 Australians disposed of more than 1.million computers into landfill. Not only is this a terrible waste of the mineral resources in those computers, it also present pollution hazards in the form of equipment leaching poisonous chemicals into the environment as they break down. Within a matter of years, laws will be passed in Australia as they already have in other countries, banning the dumping of technology waste.
2. Recycle the components
Most parts of electronic equipment can be recycled. Many organisations are keen to do their part for the environment and avoid e-waste ending up in landfill. Register with a recycling centre, having "green credentials" is becoming an ever increasingly important aspect of the business world.
What is a Green Certificate?
A Green Certificate also known as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) is a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents generation of 1 Megawatt hour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varies from certificate trading scheme to trading scheme. Usually, at least following sources are considered as renewable:
- Wind (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
- Solar (often further divided into photovoltaic and thermal)
- Wave (often further divided into onshore and offshore) and tidal (often further divided into onshore and offshore)
- Geothermal
- Hydro (often further divided into small - microhydro - and large)
- Biomass (mainly biofuels, often further divided by actual fuel used).
Here in Australia as at July 2009 our "Politian's and advisors otherwise known as "red tapers" are still arguing the point over Carbon Trading details and Kyoto protocols whilst most all European countries are acting with environmentally responsible trading schemes as shown below. We hope eventually when Australia can agree on a suitable scheme recycling of old technology will attract carbon credits as a renewable energy source.
Green certificates represent the environmental value of renewable energy generated. The certificates can be traded separately from the energy produced. Several countries use green certificates as mean to make the support of green electricity generation closer to market economy instead of more bureaucratic investment support and feed-in tariffs. Such national trading schemes are in use in e.g. Poland, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), and some US states.
Renewable energy certificates (RECs), also known as green certificates, green tags, or tradable renewable certificates, represent the environmental attributes of the power produced from renewable energy projects and are sold separate from commodity electricity. Customers can buy green certificates whether or not they have access to green power through their local utility or a competitive electricity marketer. And they can purchase green certificates without having to switch electricity suppliers.