Kāpiti people cleared their homes of nearly 47 tonnes of old computer equipment on Saturday as part of New Zealand’s fourth national eDay.
“That’s a magnificent effort,” Kāpiti Mayor Jenny Rowan said. “Last year there were 598 cars and 28 tonnes of eWaste collected.
“This year we were expecting around 600 cars but the final count was 1081 cars which brought 46.93 tonnes consisting of 4,280 separate items in a pretty steady stream throughout the day to the collection point at Southward’s Car Museum in Paraparaumu.
“We would like to thank the community for dropping off the eWaste and thank the volunteers and our local supporters for their wonderful effort in turning this eDay into an even bigger success!” Jenny Rowan said.
In addition to Jenny Rowan, Deputy Mayor Roger Booth and Councillors Diane Ammundsen, Ross Church and Penny Gaylor, as well as Paraparaumu-Raumati Community Board members Jonny Best and Trevor Daniell were among the volunteers who took part in sorting and stacking the gear. Candidates for the Mana electorate Hekia Parata, Kris Faafoi and Jan Logie along with Labour leader Phil Goff and local list MP Darren Hughes also took part.
Mayor Rowan also thanked sponsors Southward’s Car Museum and Kāpiti Hire for their support.
Nationwide, Kiwis cleared their homes of an estimated 900 tonnes of old computer equipment and mobile phones.
17,787 cars, the largest number since eDay’s inception in 2007, passed through eDay sites around the country dropping off an estimated 77,000 items of computer and computer related equipment and mobile phones for safe recycling.
The free drive-through recycling event was held in 53 drop-off locations across the country on Saturday, including Paraparaumu, up from 38 locations last year.
National organiser, Laurence Zwimpfer of the eDay New Zealand Trust, said the response around the country was phenomenal. “The amount collected today filled over 110 shipping containers which is a phenomenal result. It demonstrates that there is clearly a lot of old computers out there being stored in cupboards and garages and New Zealanders want a solution to disposing of this gear in an environmentally friendly way,” Mr Zwimpfer said.
