Effortless Recycling
e waste & re use
Anything that runs on electricity has a life cycle, and at one point or another becomes obsolete. Electronic and electrical products include: computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones, household appliances and some less obvious items such as spent fluorescent tubes, batteries and battery-operated toys that have been discarded by their original users when they become obsolete they get dumped, this is referred as “e-waste”.
All the years of dumping e-waste has placed pressure on our landfills, as it was unmanaged. In 2008 the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) was established. eWASA aim to manage the establishment of a sustainable environmentally sound e-waste management system for South Africa. Generally e-waste consists of expensive and more or less durable products used for data processing, telecommunications or entertainment in private households and businesses.
eWASA is a non-profit organisation and has been working with manufactures, vendors and distributors of electronic and electrical goods and e-waste handlers (including re-furbishers, dismantlers and recyclers) to manage e-waste effectively. With support from the “Global Knowledge Partnerships in e-Waste Recycling” program, initiated by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa), several projects have been initiated successfully in three South African provinces, namely KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng as early as in 2004.
eWaste is the fastest growing waste stream in South Africa today. From an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) point of view are supported by several IT corporations who show increasing commitment in setting up and supporting initiatives nationally to address the challenge of e-waste. eWASA now formally established as a non-profit organization have officially received its mandate to develop integrated e-waste management solutions, e-waste initiatives and networks continue to grow rapidly to fulfil the current demand for such services.
The electronic recycling process can be seen as a three phase operation. The first phase of the electronic recycling process is to visually inspect each unit and to sort out any units that can be reused or refurbished. Units that are sent for reuse will be tested and/or refurbished and sold to downstream re-use markets. The second phase is where the electronic equipment that does not pass visual inspection will be sent to a processing area. The electronic equipment will then be de-manufactured and separated into metals, plastics, and glass. The individual components that are re-marketable will be harvested and sent for re-use. Finally there is the third phase after de-manufacturing the electronics, all of the components and materials that remain will be processed and sent back into the recycling stream to be used in making new products.
Effortless Recycling helps you
Effortless Recycling ensures that all items of electronic waste are recycled correctly with the environment in mind. All items are stripped and separated into basic raw materials, steel, plastic, aluminium, copper, and so forth. Once separated, the raw materials are sold off to companies who will reuse this material to manufacture new items. The steel from your old computer case could be used in the manufacturing of your new car. Effortless Computer Recycling is a registered member of eWASA (Electronic Waste Association of South Africa), and they recycle in accordance to their specifications. Effortless Recycling (ER) offers the following services to all their corporate customers:
Onsite collection: Free of Charge
ER offers a free of charge collection service within Gauteng. Collections are usually completed with 48 hours of request. They have different sizes of vehicles they use for collections, so it is important to provide an estimate of the amount of equipment needing to be collected.
Bar Code Scanning of Asset tags: Free of Charge
ER performs onsite asset tag recording of all equipment collected. ER utilise their laptops with barcode scanners on site to ensure speed and accuracy when recording of client’s assets. A customizable spreadsheet is then created for the customer detailing serial numbers and asset tag numbers.
Physical Hard Drive Destruction: Free of Charge
ER specializes in the destruction of hard drives, and understands the customers’ need to protect information. Hard drive destruction can be done onsite with our specially made mobile crusher, and this can be arranged for larger collections. Alternatively customers are also welcome to view the hard drive destruction process at ER’s workshop.
Certificate of Compliance issued: Free of Charge
Customers also receive an e-Waste Compliancy Certificate once the collection is completed. Each collection will have a unique reference number which will be displayed on the certificate. All documents related to the collection will have the same reference number. The certificate is used to prove the customer is recycling their electronic waste correctly.