E-waste disposal

We’ve made three trips to the rubbish tip today, getting rid of odds and ends we don’t want to take to Mount Gambier.

The biggest items were an old lawnmower that doesn’t work and two unwanted broken hard drives I couldn’t be bothered repairing.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder has possibly the only free landfill site in Australia; certainly it’s the first free tip I’ve encountered. Maybe it’s a Western Australian thing.

I’m not sure if keeping it free sends the right environmental message and it’s definitely not in keeping with the user-pays philosophy that most councils proclaim.

Ironically, it doesn’t stop people dumping rubbish in the bush either. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive service and we’ve been pleased to take advantage of it recently.

We told the man at the weighbridge ramp we had a lawnmower and computers. He scratched his head, thought about it for a while and pointed towards some bicycles and whitegoods in the distance.

The computers could go with the whitegoods and the lawnmower with the bikes, he said.

I felt guilty about taking the computers to a landfill, but that’s hopefully not where they will end up. A quick web search revealed several e-recycling programs in Australia.

We didn’t throw them in a hole; they were left standing forlornly, presumably to be sorted and disposed of appropriately.

Seeing all the fridges at the tip left me wondering what will happen to them. Again, Google shows there are metal recycling programs available.

I’m not a greenie, but waste disposal is one area we all need to improve and to a large extent that’s happening.

The take-up rate of people using their own carry-bags at the supermarket is a good example of positive change.

I read recently there are more mobile phones now than people in Australia. That’s working phones, not abandoned handsets.

I’ve got two handsets I’m never likely to use again. There are occasional collection days and I should hand them in. I don’t know what happens to them after that.