A report conducted by Enviros-RIS, Toronto, for the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), Mississauga, includes an outline for a national electronics recycling system in Canada.
“The Industry Roadmap - Overview Of A National Action Plan For Management of End Of Life IT And Telecom Equipment In Canada” has been circulating in Canada for the past three months.
The report examines options for recovering end-of-life information technology (IT) and telecommunications equipment through municipally run depots. A national program is envisioned as a “shared responsibility model,” according to a summary by the Recycling Council of Ontario (RCO), Toronto. Municipalities and consumers would take differing operational and financial responsibilities for collection of IT and telecom equipment.
The proposed system would involve “bringing this equipment to consolidation centers, and industry paying for the cost of transportation from consolidation centers to processors and for recovery of equipment.”
By 2007 the plan could result it he recycling of more than 2.5 million units of IT equipment, equaling for than 20,000 metric tons of material. A materials breakdown calculated as part of the study sees more than 20 percent of the material recovered being ferrous scrap, while another 14 percent would consist of aluminum, captured copper another seven percent. One quarter of the material by weight would be silica and glass, while plastic would make up another 23 percent.
Calculated as part of that stream were personal computers, monitors, laptops, peripherals (such as printers and scanners), telephones, cellular phones and fax machines. If work began on the program next year, it could be fully implemented by 2007, according to the report’s authors.
City and regional municipal collection systems would be used, although they would receive funds from a “front-end fee” applied to IT and telecom equipment sold through retail outlets.