E-waste recycling – from Cape York to the Apple Isle

This is the TechCollect site at Ramingining Community in East Arnhem Land. During the wet season each year recycling gets put on hold, and the Council undertakes an e-waste drive with local businesses and communities to collect unwanted e-waste.

Here is an image of e-waste collection in progress from a number of East Arnhem’s very remote island communities. The TechCollect site at East Arnhem Land Council services nine remote communities in the Top End – Galiwinku (Nhulunbuy), Angurugu, Umbakumba, Yirrkala, Marngarr – Gunyangara, Gapuwiyak, Milingimbi (Maningrida), Milyakburra, and Ramingining Communities. We have recently processed 900kg of e-waste collected from these communities, which was predominately IT equipment, and could have otherwise ended up in landfill.

This image features a recent container-load of e-waste collected on Thursday Island, north of the mainland of Cape York Peninsula. The e-waste travels on a barge to the mainland, and is then transported by road to Cairns to be responsibly recycled.

At the beginning of the year we partnered with Litchfield Council and opened a TechCollect drop-off site in Humpty Doo near Darwin (picture above). This is our first permanent TechCollect site in the area and we are very excited to be able to provide our service to communities here.

Karratha residents and surrounding communities can now drop off their e-waste at Gap Ridge, as we have just partnered with their local waste transfer station. The e-waste featured in these images is being prepared for palletisation and shrink-wrapping.

We now have three TechCollect e-waste drop-off sites in Tasmania, servicing both the north and south of the state. They are situated in Mowbray, Baretta and Mooreville. Pictured below are full stillages at our Launceston site.