The City of Casey is urging residents to dispose of their e-waste correctly in light of a new Victorian Government regulation, which has banned all e-waste from going to landfill from 1 July 2019.
This change will not impact any of our current services as Council does not send e-waste to landfill. The community is reminded that e-waste must be disposed of separately from your general waste and recycling.
E-waste is any unwanted electrical and electronic product, essentially, anything powered by batteries or with an electrical cord or plug.
Items include 'white goods' such as washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, ovens and microwaves, as well as home entertainment products, electrical equipment and smaller household items including toasters, kettles and irons.
These items should be disposed of via hard waste collections. Council provides two per year for each property.
Smaller e-waste items including (and limited to) old phones, cords, DVD's, cassette and video tapes can be dropped off at either the Bunjil Place or Cranbourne Customer Service Centre.
Alternative drop off centres for smaller e-waste items include your local Officeworks and Aldi stores.
City of Casey Mayor Cr Amanda Stapledon encouraged residents to consider how they dispose of their e-waste and get behind the new campaign by Sustainability Victoria, 'Take your e-waste to a better place', to reduce the amount being sent to landfill.
"E-waste is growing up to three times faster than general municipal waste in Australia," she said.
"It is estimated that just for televisions and computers the amount of e-waste generated in Australia will grow from around 138,000 tonnes in 2012-13 to 223,000 tonnes in 2023-24, an increase of more than 60 per cent.
"'Take your e-waste to a better place' is a fantastic State Government initiative that will act as a timely reminder to our residents about the impact that this type of waste is having on our environment."
If you have already used both of your hard waste collections and have more e-waste to dispose of, you can take it to any of the below three centres for collection:
• Outlook Resource Recovery Centre in Hampton Park
• Future Recycling Transfer Station in Pakenham, or
• Frankston Recycling and Recovery Centre.
Cr Stapledon added that by placing e-waste items, as well as batteries, in your household bins, residents are contributing to the contamination of landfill.
"E-waste contains hazardous materials including mercury, cadmium, arsenic, solvent, acid and lead, which can harm the environment and human health, she said.
To support the rollout of the ban, the State Government is investing $16.5 million to upgrade e-waste collection and storage facilities across the state and deliver on an education campaign to support the ban on e-waste in landfills.
