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eDay diverts nearly 300 tonnes of computer waste from NZ’s landfills

Kiwis cleared their homes of nearly 300 tonnes of old computer equipment and mobile phones this weekend in New Zealand's first national eDay.

The free drive-through event was held in Auckland from 10am to 2pm on Sunday 30 September at the North Shore Events Centre and the TelstraClear Events Centre in Manukau, and in Wellington, Invercargill, Wanaka, Alexandra, Queenstown, Wanganui, Rotorua, Whakatane, Tauranga and Hamilton Saturday 29 September.

Both Auckland collections attracted 1,735 customers, 775 on the North Shore and 960 in Manukau. Although the North Shore collection had fewer visitors, it received more items than Manukau, because most people had more than just one computer and accessories in their car. This made it very difficult for the volunteers to keep up with unloading the cars.

North Shore City organiser Harry Livesey said that it was very pleasing to see so many people who are keen to dispose of their computer equipment in an environmentally sustainable way. “It is regrettable that we got so busy we could not keep up with demand”, Mr Livesey said,” but this was a trial only and we have learned a lot about collecting e-waste. We now go back to the drawing board to find ways of improving the service.”

The Manukau collection experienced less difficulties, and customers were generally pleased with the efficiency of the collection.

The collection on the North Shore received 1,362 monitors, 668 computers and 445 printers. In Manukau, 900 monitors, 574 computers and 404 printers were collected. A large number of miscellaneous items such as keyboards and mice were also received.

eDay gave people the chance to dispose of their old computer equipment and mobile phones quickly in an environmentally-friendly way, and was aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of e-waste dumped in landfills.

In the Auckland region, eDay was supported by RCN, the Auckland City Council, Auckland Regional Council, Manukau City Council, North Shore City Council, Papakura District Council and Rodney District Council. The councils will use the experience gained from the local eday collections to develop a long-term e-waste collection system for Auckland region residents.

eDay 2007 is supported nationally by Computer Access New Zealand (CANZ), The Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Education, 2020 Communications Trust, Divers, Remarkit, TES-AMM, Dell and Trade Me.

To mark eDay Dell is offering New Zealanders 10 per cent off a new Dell Inspiron notebook or desktop. All you need to do is use coupon code 36139E378E6F when you order at www.dell.co/nz. The offer is valid until Thursday, October 4, 2007

eDay 2007 Results by area
Number of cars Total tonnage per area
North Shore 774 38
Manukau 959 27
Tauranga 673 26
Whakatane 313 16
Hamilton 834 42
Rotorua 167 7
Wanganui 481 23
Wellington 2243 79
Wanaka 56 5
Queenstown 59 3
Alexandra 78 6
Invercargill 337 19
TOTAL 6974 293

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