Recycling – where and how?

Matt from Rukuhia

I recently made a post here about recycling computers which got a lot of feedback and response. I thought I’d expand that by giving some general directions for recycling, not just computers, but electronic equipment and other kinds of materials. As I noted in that post, Dave from RecycleIT in Frankton (www.recycleit.co.nz, 0276295000) is the man to talk to if you’ve got some old computer equipment you’re looking to get rid of. It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s working. He will reuse, recycle and/or strip computer equipment for parts, and in some cases will even do pickup’s from your address.

The caveat to that is CRT monitors and TV screens (the big old clunky ones). Those need to be taken into the dump shop at the refuse centre (the dump) in Frankton, where a $5 fee will ensure they are recycled properly (this style of monitor contains many harmful substances like lead and mercury). As far as I know these are not taken with the inorganic rubbish collections. Other electronics, like metal waste in general, can be taken into most metal recyclers and exchanged for a bit of pocket change – I personally use Scrap Palace in Hamilton. This includes items like dishwashers, stereos and rusty old heaters.

As for the rest, here’s some places to take stuff:
Batteries (car or otherwise): Most metal recyclers will take these.
Clothing/Toys/Bikes/etc: I tend to drop off to the Sallies, but there's Hospice shops, Red Cross, you name it.
Clean rags/scrap material: Either the SPCA in Te Rapa (they get used for cleaning cages), or a local car mechanic might need rags on an ongoing basis to get the grease off their hands.
Food scraps: Know a pig farmer? (Or dig a square compost hole next to the garden, line the sides and top with wood to keep the rats out)
Cardboard/paper: The recycling collection services in the Waikato/Waipa will pick up a box of paper/cardboard approximately the size of your recycling bin, as well as what’s in your recycling bin. Just flatten any boxes.
General items/materials: Sometimes trademe is useful if the stuff is valuable, but if it’s not (or you’ve been burned by trademe in the past), Freecycle is an online recycling network where you can list stuff you want to get rid of, as well as stuff you want - anything from wooden pallets to computer monitors. The Hamilton group is here: groups.freecycle.org...

The main reason for writing this was the amount of good quality materials I see going to waste or left to rot in the rain whenever the inorganic collection season starts locally. By comparison, with a very small amount of effort you can possibly save someone else a lot of time and energy. As for computers, often it's only a very small part that needs replacing if they're faulty - I had a client who chucked out an entire machine because one stick of RAM was faulty (a repair/diagnosis cost of ~$50) and bought a new one at a cost of $600. Better to get it checked!


- Matt Bentley is a computer repair expert with Waikato Home PC Support.
Email info@homepcsupport.co.nz or phone 0211348576