Computer clean-up sparks hazardous waste probe

A hazardous-material check has been ordered on 58 containers of electronic junk. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Tonnes of old computers and other electronic waste, collected on eDay six weeks ago, are sitting in containers around the country as a Government agency investigates whether hazardous waste has been mixed with recyclable items.

The Ministry of Economic Development has called in independent inspectors - at a cost of almost $30,000 - to check 58 shipping containers of products before they can be sent to South Korea as planned.

Organisers of eDay, a project held on September 12 to encourage people to recycle old computers, do not know exactly what allegations have been made against the company they contracted to export the waste for recycling, but believe it is to do with mixing recyclable items and hazardous waste.

The ministry did not want to reveal details of the investigation while inquiries were continuing, but a national enforcement unit investigator handling the case confirmed an allegation had been made about an eDay exporter.

The chairman of the 2020 Communications Trust that ran eDay, Earl Mardle, said the investigation was focused on one of eDay's recycling partners, CRTNZ, a company that deals with old electronics.

Mr Mardle said CRTNZ was responsible for moving the discarded electronic goods from collection points and exporting them.

He said different rules covered handling of electronics that could be re-used and waste products that could not.

The waste products were considered hazardous material, and Mr Mardle believed the ministry was concerned about the way the company had handled the two types of waste.

"We know there is an investigation, and that investigation is about whether our recycling partner has complied fully with the regulations governing the export of electronic waste."

He believed part of the inquiry was to see "whether there was mislabelling or whether there was deliberate insertion of electronic waste" into a container sent for export.

It was vital that electronic waste was handled in full compliance with environmental and health and safety standards failure to do so was a breach of contract.

"The stuff has to be handled in a safe way or there's no point doing eDay," he said.

"If it wasn't being handled in a safe way we might as well just take it down to the tip ... the proper handling of this stuff is the whole point of doing eDay.

"Any delay in getting it sorted out and getting the materials exported undermines the financial viability of eDay because every day's delay is an extra cost."

Some products were with CRTNZ, and others were still in containers in Kiwi Rail shunting yards, he said.

Internationally, there are health concerns about discarded electronics ending up as toxic waste in less developed countries, and security concerns because computer hard drives can contain private data including bank and credit card details.

Asked whether the investigation related to concerns of electronic recycling because of where people's hard drives could end up, the Ministry of Economic Development investigator said:

"Not really with regards to that, but it's probably part of that."

No one from CRTNZ could be reached for comment yesterday.

The company's website says: "Our main theme is to minimise the cost of IT disposal for our clients. And also to save our planet Earth at the same time."