Environmental Choice answers call for e-Waste management

Media Statement
Monday, 21 September 2015

Environmental Choice answers call for e-Waste management

Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ) says there is an existing e-waste specification currently in use to manage New Zealand’s e-waste.

The statement follows a call from the Waste Forum Wellington Region to Minister for the Environment Nick Smith “to respond swiftly and decisively to the disappointing “do nothing” report on e-waste, released by the Ministry for the Environment,” according to a 10 September Scoop article: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=81615

Robin Taylor, General Manager of the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust which operates Environmental Choice New Zealand, says the specification was developed during the past two years.

The environmental specification (End-of-life Services for ITT Equipment) and pathway to manage e-waste at the end-of-life (collection and recycling) was a developed in collaboration with Croxley Recycling, a business arm of stationery supplier Croxley.

Croxley Recycling became the first recycling operation in New Zealand awarded the Environmental Choice label for managing e-waste.

Taylor says Environmental Choice operates to the ISO14024 standard "Environmental labels and declarations - Guiding principles. The standard requires environmental labelling specifications to include criteria that are objective, reasonable and verifiable.

“The principles require that environmental criteria be set, based on an evaluation of the environmental impacts during the actual product or service life cycle, to differentiate product and services on the basis of preferable environmental performance. There is a multi-criteria assessment that is independently verified by a third party,” he says.

Croxley Recycling has operated since 2007 and developed New Zealand’s largest network of collection points with 14,000 locations. Croxley Recycling collects e-waste from businesses, schools, universities, hospitals, government departments, banks and retailers.

Croxley Recycling also recycles imaging consumables, such as toner cartridges, dismantling and recycling printers, computers, office electronic equipment, mobile phones and other electronic devices. Cartridges from major brands are accepted, including Ricoh, Brother, Canon, Konica Minolta and Sharp.

Through the scheme more than 400,000 cartridges (200 tonnes) of recyclable material, including non-biodegradable plastics, are diverted from landfill annually.

Croxley Recycling is the only total collection and recycling service for used imaging consumables and the only ECNZ-licensed e-waste recyclers in New Zealand.

-Ends-
ABOUT ECNZ
Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ) is a government-owned-label and is operated independently by the New Zealand Ecolabelling Trust. It is a non-profit charitable trust with assessments carried out by independent third parties.

• The Environmental Choice label is New Zealand’s official environmental label and is New Zealand’s only Type I ecolabel. This means that it looks at the lifecycle impact of the product, is audited independently by a third-party, uses multi-criteria assessment and meets the ISO 14020/24 principles. The rigorous multi-criteria assessment and independent third party verification process gives businesses (and consumers) the confidence of having met the highest environmental standard.
• Through Environmental Choice, businesses sign a declaration and must produce the tests, data and reports to show that their products comply and meet the requirements of the standard consistently.
• Environmental Choice gives businesses strong proof of their environmental performance and empowers people to make informed environmentally-friendly purchasing decisions.
• ECNZ provides support to businesses in manufacturing, distribution, retail and services.
• ECNZ provides a credible and independent guide for consumers who want to purchase products that are better for the environment.
• ECNZ is a member of the Global Ecolabel Network (GEN).
• ECNZ subscribes to guidelines of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

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