Fears Over e-Waste Glut

Australia’s largest electronic waste recycler warns of insufficient capacity to handle an expected avalanche of obsolete equipment as industry-run computer and TV recycling programs start to come onstream. Sims Recycling Solutions senior vice-president Kumar Radhakrishnan welcomed last week’s decision by state and federal environment ministers to adopt a product stewardship approach, but warned significant new investment would be needed to ensure appropriate handling of collected material. Mr Radhakrishnan said the national capacity for e-waste recycling stood at about 30,000 tonnes per annum, with 20,000 tonnes of that supplied by Sims’ hi-tech plant at Villawood, in Sydney’s west. NSW alone generates some 20,000 tonnes of electronic waste each year