A peek at the College’s e-waste stockpile. Not to worry, it will all be recycled.

Do you have old, broken or unused electronic equipment or small appliances sitting at home or in your office collecting dust and being as useless as a chocolate teapot? If so, we want it!

E-waste, short for electronic waste, refers to all waste that comes from or is caused by electronics. Items like old computers, phones, and radios and televisions, media waste (CDs and floppy disks) and light bulbs are all e-waste.

Disposal of these items is a growing concern, because of the health and environmental hazards contained within the electronic components themselves.  Materials like lead and mercury can leach out into the ground water, soil and air if not properly disposed. There are also several non-renewable resources – like tin, nickel, zinc, aluminum, copper –  that can be recovered and reused from these items.

In Canada, the volume of e-waste is staggering. As Canadians we discard 140,000 tonnes of computer equipment, phones, televisions, stereos, and small home appliances each year. That’ s enough to fill 300 Olympic sized swimming pools.

The good news is that these items don’t need to take a dead-end trip to the landfill. There are many e-waste recycling centres across Canada and here in Winnipeg.

On April 22, as part of Red River College’s State of Sustainability and Earth Day celebration, we’re holding an e-waste blitz. All students and staff are invited to drop off your e-waste from work and home.

Here are the details:

Where                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Notre Dame Campus, Library Hallway or Roblin Centre, William Building, near Print Services

When                                                                                                                                                                                                                Between 11:00am – 2:00pm

What                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Items like, fluorescent light bulbs, microwaves, TVs, CDs, batteries, printers, VHS tapes, floppy and hard disks and others can be dropped off.

To keep this event manageable, please only bring what you can carry. And staff, if you are disposing of College property please record its asset information beforehand.

All e-waste collected will be sent to Responsible Electronics Recycling for proper end-of-life recycling.

For more information contact Sustainability Coordinator Sue Hayduk, shayduk@rrc.ca.