More Than Half Of Kiwi Small Businesses Haven’t Recycled E-waste In The Last Year

Improved business e-waste recycling hindered by know-how and time

• 61% of businesses have not disposed of e-waste properly with a recycler in the last year
• 45% of business owners say they don’t know what to do with their electronic waste
• 52% of business owners say they should be doing more to recycle their electronic waste
• Only 25% of businesses say they have formal policies around properly recycling e-waste
• 44% of businesses say they have no corporate social responsibility or sustainable policies at all

Over half (61%) of Kiwi businesses admit they haven’t properly disposed of electronic waste (e-waste) in the last year.

When asked why they didn’t recycle or dispose of their e-waste, 45% of business owners said they simply didn’t know what to do with their devices while 35% said they don’t have the time to dispose of e-waste properly.

These figures come from a survey commission by e-waste recycling organisation Echo, with CEO Patrick Moynahan saying the results reflect the unsustainable habits of Kiwi business owners.

“With so many businesses saying they haven’t properly recycled their e-waste over the last year, this signals a huge number of items potentially ending up in landfill rather than being disposed of responsibly,” says Moynahan.

“Clearly, there is an emerging awareness and desire to properly dispose of e-waste across Kiwi businesses, but some clear challenges have emerged, and this makes it hard for people to know what the options are.”

Additionally, half of all businesses (52%) believe they should be doing more to recycle their e-waste properly in the current climate of sustainability.

Despite this, only one quarter (25%) of Kiwi businesses have any formal policies around how to properly dispose of e-waste products, while nearly half (44%) have no corporate social responsibility or sustainability policies in place at all.

“This paints a stark picture of the state of e-waste disposal across the country and indicates Aotearoa is becoming a digital dumpsite for electronic waste,” says Moynahan.

“With approximately 98,000 tonnes of e-waste is of every year in Aotearoa New Zealand, this highlights a major opportunity for sustainability improvement across the country.

“Kiwi business owners play a pivotal part in this, placing them firmly in the driver’s seat to consciously dispose of e-waste and contribute to Aotearoa New Zealand’s circular economy.”

According to the World Health Organisation, e-waste is the fastest growing solid waste stream in the world, with 53.6 million tonnes produced globally in 2019.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, 19.2kg of e-waste is generated per capita - above the OECD average of 17.1kg and more than 2.5 times higher than the world average of 7.3kg. Only 2% of this e-waste is diverted from landfill and recycled properly.

“Policy-wise, there’s the opportunity for New Zealand business leaders to embrace change and make a difference in their own practices, and we encourage anyone interested in improving their sustainability practices to consider how they dispose of e-waste,” says Moynahan.

About Echo

Echo – formerly known as Computer Recycling – is New Zealand’s largest e-waste recycling company, providing a nationwide range of innovative tech re-use and repurposing services.

Their mission is to redefine technology’s lifecycle journey by providing sustainable, transparent, secure, and accessible ways to repurpose or recycle electronics across the country, for all New Zealanders.

They own the BLUBOX e-waste technology - the first in Aotearoa New Zealand - which diverts thousands of tonnes from the country’s landfills every year.

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