AIIA Heralds Hardware Recycling Program

By Greg McNevin

June 6, 2008: In honour of World Environment Day, Byteback, a free computer take-back program currently being trialled in Victoria, has announced a new collaboration with Officeworks that will see the opening of Byteback collection sites at two Victorian Officeworks stores.

The scheme is designed to help people and offices responsibly dispose of unwanted computer equipment, and from the end of June, Officeworks Dandenong and Officeworks Ballarat will be encouraging consumers and SMEs to dispose of unwanted computer equipment in a responsible manner rather than sending it directly to landfills.

Run by Victorian Government agency Sustainability Victoria in partnership with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) and founding partners Apple, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fujitsu, Fuji-Xerox, HP, IBM, Lenovo and Lexmark, the Byteback program is an Australian first.

“We are thrilled to have Officeworks on board as part of this ground-breaking recycling program – this is now the most comprehensive and sustained trial of its kind operating in the Southern Hemisphere,” said AIIA CEO Ian Birks.

“Australians are enthusiastic users of technology and we discard significant quantities of used computer equipment. It is very important for our future that we recycle this equipment responsibly and re-use the composite materials.”

The trial will run in Victoria until at least the end of 2008 and it is hoped that it will form the basis of a national recycling framework.

“The industry is committed to moving this program forward and we have had great support from the community, local government and particularly from the Victorian Government,” said AIIA Environmental Manager, Josh Millen.

The program accepts desktops, laptops, computer mice, monitors, printers, scanners, multifunction printers, keyboards, computer power supplies, printed circuit boards, motherboards, network cards, disk and CD drives. After being deposited, all equipment is broken down into separate components – such as plastics, glass, metals, wiring and circuit boards – then sent to recovery facilities for recycling.

Up to 97% of the materials recovered are reused in new products.

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